Anastomotic Leak after oesophagogastrectomy

3 replies
52 subscribers
502 views

Hi all

my husband had his op 10 days ago when suddenly became very unwell. The doctors discovered he had a leak in the join between his bowl and stomach (or what was his stomach). Today we have been told they are trying to resolve this with endoscopic vacuum therapy. He has started this today and they are going to have a look at this tomorrow to see if this an option to continue it. 30% of the join has not healed. The only other option is to completely remove his oesophagus, meaning he can never eat again.
if they go ahead with the first option, it would mean a GA twice a week which can last between 3 weeks to 6 months, with no food or drinking.

Has anyone else had this problem? Any insight into what to expect would be good. I am feeling very alone in all this, we were told he would be home this weekend on Friday and now we could be looking at months.

Many thanks in advance.

sistermoon over 1 year ago

Hi Zulu

I'm sorry to read of your husband's current problem. Either option you've been given is not favourable and will mean lifestyle changes. These are not easy decisions to make and I myself, would take whatever advice given by the surgical team. Has your husband got a CNS/ Macmillan nurse that you could talk to? Another option would be to ring the Macmillan helpline. I'm sure that they would have advice or contacts for you. This is the link https://www.macmillan.org.uk/about-us/contact-us

I have not had this type of cancer and therefore cannot provide personal experience myself. But by responding to your post, it will place it back at the top, where it may be seen by more members of the oesophageal group. I recognise that you may be feeling isolated and alone and it may help you to join the carers group on this forum, this is the link Carers only forum or the Family and friends forum may be worth a look.

I sincerely hope that matters improve for you and your husband. Best regards.

A x

Dreamteam over 1 year ago

My husband had the same issue post surgery May 2022, He had six evo vac procedures and was in hospital ten weeks.
He then returned home with a feeding tube for five weeks, so was nil by mouth for 15 weeks in total.
That’s very good if they are happy to put him under, my husband was only given a general once and that was whilst they filmed the procedure for training at Birmingham hospital… he found the other procedures very difficult

on a postive note at the 15 week point the leak had healed

Zulu over 1 year ago in reply to Dreamteam

Hi Dreamteam

thank you so much for taking the time to reply. He has been down again to change the tube under a GA and I’m going to see him tonight.

we have been told that this can take anything from 3 weeks to 6 months to heal, they do the procedure twice a week. It’s good to hear your husband only had 6 of these procedures, gives me hope that it won’t be too long.

He is Critical Care at present, hopefully he can return to normal word soon. It’s good to hear that someone else has been through this, I can’t find anything much about it.

Thanks again

More from this forum

Anastomotic Leak after oesophagogastrectomy