Symptom Control With or Without Docetaxel in Treating Patients With Relapsed Esophageal Cancer or Stomach Cancer

DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:

* Histologically confirmed adenocarcinoma of the esophagus or stomach, including adenocarcinoma of the esophagogastric junction

  * Advanced disease not amenable to curative treatment
  * Documented progressive disease while receiving or within 6 months of completion of first-line chemotherapy with a platinum- and fluoropyrimidine-based therapy either for advanced disease or as neoadjuvant/perioperative therapy
* No cerebral or leptomeningeal metastasis

PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:

* ECOG performance status 0-2
* Life expectancy ≥ 12 weeks
* Hemoglobin ≥ 10 g/dL
* WBC ≥ 3.0 x 10\^9/L
* ANC ≥ 1.5 x 10\^9/L
* Platelets ≥ 100 x 10\^9/L
* Creatinine normal OR creatinine clearance ≥ 60 mL/min
* Total bilirubin normal
* ALT ≤ 1.5 times upper limit of normal (ULN)
* Alkaline phosphatase ≤ 5 times ULN
* Not pregnant or nursing
* Negative pregnancy test
* Fertile patients must use effective barrier contraception during and for 3 months after completion of treatment
* No clinically significant peripheral neuropathy (grade 2-4)
* No prior malignancy except for curatively treated basal cell carcinoma of the skin or cervical intraepithelial neoplasia
* No medical or psychiatric condition that would influence the ability of patients to provide informed consent
* No other serious or uncontrolled illness that, in the opinion of the investigator, makes it undesirable for the patient to enter the trial

PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:

* See Disease Characteristics
* No prior chemotherapy with taxanes

  * ≤ 1 prior chemotherapy regimen in advanced setting allowed