what will life be like after treatment?

It depends on the treatment you have had.

Surgery
For the first 24 hours after surgery, you will remain very sleepy. You will spend at least 48 hours in an intensive care unit after surgery. If you are kept there for longer it will be because it is needed. After that you will remain in hospital for two to three weeks.

The operation will cause pain and discomfort, but this will be controlled with injections and later tablets to give you pain relief for as long as you need it. There will be tenderness in the abdomen and chest where the operation took place. You will feel tired and need to rest often.

It may be difficult to swallow at first. You may feel stomach acid in your mouth, leaving a bitter taste.

You may be fed through a tube or an infusion into a vein at first. About 7 days after the operation you should have your drips, drains and catheter removed, and should be able to start eating soft, liquid foods.

After another a week, when you feel a lot better, you can eat small snacks. It helps to sit upright and raise the head of your bed at night. You will be taught special breathing and coughing exercises to keep your lungs clear.

You will have had major surgery, and your recovery will be gradual. It will take at least 3 months until you feel like you are over it. After six weeks you should be able to drive again. After three to four months, you may consider returning to work on a part or maybe full time basis.

Radiotherapy
How you will feel will depend on the dose and the part of your body that has been treated.

Radiotherapy to the oesophagus passes from the outside of your body inwards and has to pass through non-cancerous areas of your body in your chest and neck. This can cause unwanted side effects.

You may develop a dry, sore mouth and throat. If the upper part of your oesophagus is treated, you may find that you produce less saliva.

This treatment causes inflammation of the lining of the oesophagus, which causes soreness. The doctor will prescribe medicines to help with this. It should improve in two to four weeks. You may also feel as though you are developing a chesty cough.

Your gums and mouth may swell. Your skin may become dry, tender or red. You may be tired and feel less hungry than usual.

Hair loss only occurs in the area being treated by radiotherapy. Some men may lose their chest hair.

All of these unwanted side effects should go away gradually, once your course of treatment has ended.

Radiotherapy and its effects are covered in much more detail in the treatments section of this website.

Intraluminal Radiotherapy or Brachytherapy
This treatment involves an overnight stay in hospital. You might have problems swallowing for a few days after this treatment. This should improve after the first week. You might be offered liquid medication to help with swallowing and to soothe the soreness.

You will usually receive only one internal radiotherapy treatment to the cancer.

Chemotherapy
Your cancer specialist will consider whether chemotherapy is advisable for the kind of tumour you have.
Chemotherapy uses special drugs to kill cancer cells. The drugs reach the cancer cells wherever they are in the body. A number of drugs are available or are being tested to reduce the risk of a cancer coming back, or to treat it if it does recur.

Chemotherapy may make you feel tired and unwell - but this varies a good deal from patient to patient. Your treatment may last for several months, and it may be a few weeks after that before you feel you have recovered from it. Between chemotherapy treatments most of your everyday activities should, however, be possible.

The main unwanted side effects are nausea and tiredness. Hair loss is an unwanted side effect of many, but not all chemotherapy drugs.

Your immunity to infections will be weaker than it was before treatment. If you develop any infection at all during your treatment it is important to treat it soon with a course of antibiotics. The doctors and nurses treating you will give you advice about controlling infections before you start your treatment.

You may have an increased risk of bruising, bleeding, mouth ulcers and diarrhoea.

If you would like to know more about chemotherapy in detail, follow the link to the chemotherapy section of this website.

Laser Treatment
You will need to stay in hospital overnight. You will be sedated and only wake up when the laser treatment is over.

For 3 hours after the procedure you will not be allowed anything to eat or drink. It is quite normal to experience discomfort when you first begin to eat, as there can be a raw area in the oesophagus, caused by the laser. You can ask for pain relief, and continue to take tablets for as long as you need them.

You will be advised to eat soft, liquid foods when you return home. You may not notice an improvement in your swallowing immediately, as it takes some time for the cells that are burnt to fall away. You may have some inflammation from the laser treatment. This should gradually improve.

Sometimes more than one laser treatment may be needed. If swallowing becomes difficult again, it is important to let the hospital know, so that the laser treatment can be repeated.