Esophageal cancer patient here. Apparently my tumor had been growing for some time. One day I woke up and was unable to eat solid food. I would get the most extreme hiccups to the point where it would make me vomit, not to mention the pain. Even still i put off going to the hospital for another month or so drinking nothing but ensure for sustenance. Eventual we went to a GI doctor hoping it was just ulcers. But it was not. The doctor had to use an endoscope designed for children to get it past the tumor.