Please do not judge or lash out with any negative comments , I need help to understand what to expect . My Father has Stage 2 Squamous cell carcinoma. Its a Esophageal Cancer. But his situation is so much more complicated because he has been a Heroine addict for over 30 years . He uses it I.V. and his immune system is deteriorated from it. My concern how will he be able to get treatment such as radiation or chemo if he is still abusing drugs . Yes I know and understand my father needs to get clean but in the reality he is 66 years old and I doubt he will get clean . I am sorry if my question seemed confusing but I am just concerned with this type of cancer and by him having a already weak immune system will Cancer treatment wipe him out because he barely has anything thing to fight with . The doctors yesterday gave him some meds to he give him strength and to help build him up . I am at a lost right now because my father is in the States and I live in Eastern Europe . So I am unable to speak with his Doctors personally and I am not confident my Father will tell me the truth about what will happened to him . Thank you for your time in reading this long post . I am sorry about the length , I am just desperate for some form of clarity .
I need help to understand what to expect in my Fathers condition . - 1266813
starrstojkovic
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Reply # - October 30, 2014, 07:55 AM
Hello Starr,
Hello Starr,
I am sorry to hear about what you and your father are going through. In most cases, stage II patients are candidates for surgery to attempt to remove all of the cancer. In your father's case, if his doctors believe that his cancer is resectable, it will be a question of whether they feel he is strong enough to undergo the surgery. That's a question on which only they would be able to express an informed opinion. But if he uses heroin very frequently, stopping it for the purpose of any treatment could make him very sick.
You can read about the staging of esophageal cancer here. There are a few paragraph at the bottom of that page which discuss surgery.
Good luck to him and peace to you.
JimC
Forum moderator
Reply # - October 30, 2014, 10:05 AM
Thank you so very much Jim C
Thank you so very much Jim C for your insight , I really appreciate the time you gave to reply to my post .