Downloads
Our guides and leaflets are available to download below.
To order hard copies please go to the OPA Shop to place your order. (Max 10 per book)
All content, medical text and information booklets on this website are copyright of the Oesophageal Patients Association. Please contact us for permission if you wish to reproduce any content.
A guide to life after surgery
This is the OPA’s most comprehensive overview of the surgical operation and the consequent life-altering pathway to the fullest recovery possible. Diagrams illustrate the nature of surgery for an oesophagectomy and for a gastrectomy, and the changes to the anatomy of the digestive tract. It is useful not only for those who have undergone either of the two surgical operations, but also for carers, relatives and friends of the patient. It will help them to understand what stages of post-operative treatment, gradual recovery, and consequent changes in life-style the patient has been, or is going through. It offers brief advice on questions to ask in preparing to undergo surgery, and detailed advice on managing the new patterns and problems of eating and drinking that post-surgical patients may experience. It also addresses other aspects of living that may change, such as driving, eating out, sleeping , family relationships and getting back to work, and ends with some detailed suggestions for healthy eating. This booklet can be read alongside the booklets listed below on: Preparing for surgery: ‘Oesophagogastric Cancer, the patient’s pathway’, and Problems, remedies and recipes for healthy eating: ‘Swallowing & nutrition – when it’s difficult’. DownloadSwallowing - Nutrition when it's difficult
Possibly the greatest change to the lifestyle of the post-oesophagogastric surgery patient occurs with eating and digesting food. This booklet offers advice on, and recipes for, balancing the diet, including the addition of food supplements. It addresses some of the principal eating problems such as loss of appetite, nausea, indigestion, and diarrhoea, and explains the effects of having a stent fitted, or undergoing radiotherapy of chemotherapy, on eating and digestion. Extra recipes can be found in the OPA’s booklet ‘Recipes for when food is a problem’.
DownloadOPA Recipes for When Food is a Problem
This is a book of recipes and food ideas for people who may need to put on weight, have difficulty in swallowing, or who are living with the after-effects of surgery on their stomach and/or oesophagus (gullet).
DownloadNotes for a Carer
Caring for a cancer sufferer or survivor is not a time-limited commitment, for which patience, understanding, empathy and warmth are indispensable qualities that can enhance the sufferer or survivor’s quality of life. This booklet offers useful advice, information and encouragement to those shouldering the role of carer, including related websites for working carers and – thanks to Age UK’s research and information services – advice on claiming Carer’s Allowances and Attendance Allowance. Details are also given for patients on obtaining Eli Lilly’s DVD ‘What can I eat now’, and on purchasing a subsidised bed wedge for elevating head and torso in bed.
DownloadThe Patient's Pathway
This gives a brief overview of the stages of pre-operative preparations following a diagnosis of oesophageal or gastric cancer, of the surgery itself, and of recovery and post-recovery follow-ups.
DownloadOPA Leaflet - Living with Oesophageal or Gastric Cancer?
This introduces the OPA and our group & one-to-one support services.
DownloadOPA Awareness Leaflet - Ref Lux - blowing the whistle on Cancer
The aim of this OPA awareness campaign is to educate the public, pharmacists, and GPs about the early signs for oesophageal cancer: heartburn, indigestion and food getting stuck. Owing to the difficulty in detecting oesophageal/gastric cancer early on, diagnosis will show that only about 30% of patients can be offered surgery with hope of a cure, but the majority will need palliative care over time.
DownloadOPA Fundraising Leaflet - What You Can Do To Get Involved
Introducing the OPA mission and different ways to help fundraise for the OPA.
DownloadOPA Card for patients eating out
Recognising that after surgery for oesophageal or gastric cancer, patients often cannot eat full restaurant portions, OPA has devised a two sided card that can be discreetly shown to waiting staff in a restaurant. The first side states "Due to a medical condition I require urgent access to toilet facilities". The second side states "Due to a medical condition I am unable to eat normal portions of food. Please provide me with a child's size portion". We have these cards in the following languages:
DownloadEnglish
DownloadDutch
DownloadFrench
DownloadGerman
DownloadGreek
DownloadItalian
DownloadPolish
DownloadPortuguese
DownloadSpanish
DownloadTurkish
DownloadWays to Fundraise
Hundreds of reasons to fundraise for the OPA!DownloadFundraising Permission Form
Download our fundraising permission form if you are planning to organise a fundraising activity for the OPA. Fill the form in and then email to charity@opa.org.uk or post to: Oesophageal Patients Association, 50 High Street, Henley In Arden, Warwickshire B95 5AN.
DownloadStanding Order Form
Set up a regular payment via a Standing Order and help support the OPA. Also contains instructions for Giftaid - if you are a UK tax payer we will receive and extra 25p for every £1 you give.
DownloadGiftaid Declaration Form for Single Donations
Giftaid declaration form for a single donation - if you are a UK tax payer we will receive and extra 25p for every £1 you give.
DownloadSponsorship Form with Giftaid Declaration
Sponsorship form with Giftaid instructions - if your sponsors are UK tax payers we will receive and extra 25p for every £1 they give.
DownloadDietary advice for patients experiencing dumping syndrome after oesophago-gastric surgery
Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham patient information leaflet on dietary advice for patients experiencing dumping syndrome after oesophago–gastric surgery.
DownloadOPA Legacy Leaflet
A gift in your Will is a special way you can help patients, their families and friends touched by oesoph ageal and gastric cancer, in what can be a lonely nightmare. If you would like to find out more about leaving a gift in your Will to the OPA download our Legacies Leaflet.
DownloadPsychology of Cancer
Courtesy of Macmillan Cancer Support. This is an edited version of a talk originally given by Dr Harvey at the annual conference of the Cancer Self Help Groups.
DownloadSigns and symptoms of Oesophageal Cancer from Cancer Research UK
How to spot the signs and symptoms and reduce your risk of Oesophageal Cancer leaflet from Cancer Research UK. In this leaflet you can find out about the signs and symptoms to look out for and how to reduce the risk of oesophageal cancer.
DownloadOPA Fiona Wade Appeal Leaflet
We are delighted to announce the launch of the Fiona Wade Appeal for the Oesophageal Patients Association. OPA Patron and TV actress Fiona Wade, better known as Emmerdale’s Priya Sharma has a personal connection with the OPA, having lost her father to Oesophageal Cancer. ‘I had never heard of his type of cancer before and I always feel to this day that if we had been more aware of oesophageal cancer or reflux disease then, for sure, earlier diagnosis would have made a huge difference and maybe saved his life.’
DownloadJames Gossage - 5th May 2018 AGM Presentation
Slides and notes from the presentation given by James Gossage - Consultant oesophago-gastric and general surgeon, Guys and St Thomas' at the AGM on 5th May 2018
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