David's Story 

Hi, my name is David, I’m 47 years old and I was diagnosed with stage 3 oesophageal cancer 10 months ago. The time it took between noticing symptoms and diagnosis was less than 3 weeks, and I never really considered cancer as being the cause.  

Once I received the diagnosis, I then set about telling family and friends, and learning all I could about this type of cancer and possible treatment options. 

Understanding my treatment plan

I was placed onto a curative pathway, the treatment consisted of 4 cycles of chemotherapy over 8 weeks, followed by surgery to remove the tumour (known as an Oesophagectomy), and then another 4 cycles of chemotherapy post-surgery. 

The first time I met the oncology team at the hospital they explained:

• the treatment plan, 

• the timings for when I would start and how often, 

• the type of drugs used and 

• what side effects I could expect, 

• as well as what the aims of the chemo were.

My first day of Chemo

The first day of chemo was like the first day at school, filled with nerves and excitement, nerves because I was having chemo and didn’t know how I would react both physically and emotionally, and excitement because I felt, for the first time since I was diagnosed, that I was somehow fighting back! 

Side effects 

I felt some effects of the chemo from day 1, as I sat in the chair in the chemo suite, I felt my fingers tingle and a strange cold sensation at the back of my neck and head, this sensation grew over the coming days, and I became very sensitive to anything cold, or touching items made of metal. 

I also experienced nausea and insomnia, but the meds I was given help to ease this. As I progressed through the chemo cycles, I started to feel new side effects. I had increased fatigue, and I lost my hair (on my head, my beard and body) after the second cycle. 

There are also non-physical side effects. Going through chemo can be hard, and it takes its toll on your mental wellbeing. I noticed people would treat me differently, like I was a sick person, even though for most of the time I felt fine. 

I sat down with my family and my children and explained that what was happening was normal, this helped them to understand what I was going through, and they were then able to provide support when I needed it. 

Working through chemo 

Before I started my treatment I sat down with my employer and explained what would be happening, and that I would like to continue to work as much as I could during my treatment. My employer was very supportive and together we agreed on how I could continue to work and manage my workload. 

There were days when I wasn’t able to work at all because of the effects of chemo, but the days I could work felt normal, and I was able to take myself away from the constant treatment haze I often found myself in.  I did eventually stop working for a short time whilst I had my surgery and 2nd round of chemo.

My 2nd chemo around 

My post-surgery chemo was a very different experience. The side effects were more severe, and the fatigue hit harder & earlier in the cycle.  

I discussed this with the oncology team, and they agreed to reduce the chemo dose to ease the side effects, this helped, and I was able to get through the 2nd and 3rd sessions with reduced illness. I didn’t get to the 4th session as I developed an infection and we agreed to stop treatment at this point. 

After treatment ends 

When my treatment ended, I was relieved, having gone through chemotherapy twice, and major surgery I was glad to be able to start putting my life back together again. 

Although having spent 9 months following a non-stop treatment plan, I did find that not having my day mapped out weeks in advance a little strange, but this time gave me the opportunity to make sense of what had happened and to plan how to move forward.

Thank you for reading.