Surgery worries

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Hi all.

Can you please give me some info? my friend has been told they are having the cancer removed even though it had not shrunk.

How long was your surgery? how long was the recovery for you personally?

My friend is terrified about not surviving the surgery, can you give me any advice on what to say? I would really like to hear from people who have been though this please

Thank you :)

  • Sorry that your friend is going through this, some of your questions are easy to answer as for recover thats a hard question to answer.

    The surgery can be up to 9-10 hours, but your asleep so goes quick for the patient,

    The recovery is long. the first day you’ll be up and walking about as much as possible hospital stay can be up to 21 days, although due to complications I was in for 28 days then the recovery time they say is 16 weeks, but I’m 6 years post op and still not 100% back to pre op. 

    As for the tumour not shrinking neither did mine and the surgeon was not at all fazed by that. 

    As what to say just be strong and determined that’s all you can say. 

    I wish your friend all the best. 

  • Clive - you are so kind to reply to me. Can I ask your age at surgery? does that make a difference in terms of recovery? thank you again 

  • I had mine in Feb 2023. 53 male, Stage 4, 12cm @31cm <1mm from aorta. I believe FLOT reduced it to 7cm. 

    I didn't want the surgery, I focussed on the small percentage of those that find success with chemo and I started looking at proton beam therapy as a way to avoid surgery. I've always seen surgery like this as a last resort where everything else has failed and I hadn't tried everything else (alternative medicines can be safely ignored) 

    I was generally in good humour through diagnosis and treatment, some lows. During the prep for the surgery itself my hand started shaking - that was the first time I realised I was scared.  

    I had fully robotic 12hr(ish) - apparently 5th in that hospital. I was walking the next day in ICU but ran out of energy. Second day I was able to just keep walking and the physios clearly had others to go and deal with so they called the end of the walks. I believe I was ready to move to general ward after about 4-5 days after eating jelly and ice cream with no problems - no space in general I got there after 6 or 7 days. 

    In general I was up and walking around with no problems, and fetching coffee for another oesophagus cancer patient who had the surgery 3 days before me but was not robotic and was not able to walk out of the ward. Doctors said I was fine to go but kept me in just in case for a total of 9 days. I was released on the Friday, did the school run on the Monday. 

    I originally expected to be in recovery for up to three weeks.  Surgery, frankly, was a breeze. Regulating eating and portion control has been the main problem, intolerance to diary, energy dumps, etc. But otherwise I'm glad I went through the surgery, I'm not sure I'd be here today if I hadn't.  

    I wish all the best to your friend, it's a hard wall to climb over but once it's behind you the entire thing becomes a blur and you get on with your life. 


  • Hi,

    I had my surgery 8 months ago. Was in theatre for about 9hrs and in hospital for 16 days in total (half of them in ICU) The day of the surgery is tougher on the loved ones than the patient I reckon. I was 59 when I had mine. Recovery is a long, slow process and, although my medical team tell me I'm doing really well, I still feel like I have a long way to go. Life is different. They call it a “new normal”. I’ve had to change how I eat, how I sleep at night and get used to having to rest during the day and after meals. But it sure beats the alternative if I hadn’t gone through with it all. Good luck to your friend. They will need a good support team around them to get through it all and I’m sure you will be a part of that. CB

  • Thank you so much and I hope you are doing well :)

  • Hi 

    I'm assuming your friend has already had the pre-op chemotherapy? Even if the tumour hasn't shrunk that's really not important as it's whether it has spread to other areas that determines efficacy. I had Ivor Lewis esophagectomy five weeks ago today and it took around nine hours. The average time in hospital is around 11/12 days of which the first three or four will be spent in the ICU. I was up and walking on the day after the operation and back to eating puree food after about six days. Your friend will have an epidural which tbh is a Godsend as it blocks out most of the pain and you are in control as to when to have the pain relief. I think we are all worried about not surviving the surgery but the survival rate is up around 99.5%. I'm now eating most things albeit very small portions but I'm hopeful that will change over time. My energy levels aren't high but once again that will improve in time.

    Wishing your friend all the best on their journey 

    Anthony 

  • Thank you so much. I hope you continue to improve in your recovery :)

  • I was 43 so age was on my side, but the day before mine there was another person who was 70+ 

  • OMG what a great user name 

  • Anthony, thank you so much this is so helpful. Wishing you well too!