Newly Diagnosed

My husband had surgery in April which went well. The surgeon will tell you all the risks and possible complications but that is the worst case scenario. Everyone responds differently … some may have a few bumps in the road others not so much. My husband was in hospital for eight days and was up walking the day after the op …. that’s the usual protocol if at all possible.  He didn’t have a feeding tube and is eating well now , small portions of course. He had a bad time with pre op chemotherapy so worked very hard on fitness before surgery ….. that made a huge difference to his recovery. 
Geraldine x

Hi,

He shouldn’t need to be ventilated. He’ll spend a few days in ICU and a few on the main ward. Some people are home in a week if everything goes ok. I had a complication which resulted in me having to be ventilated. As a result, I spent  8 days in ICU and another 8 on the ward. 

I went in for surgery at about 9am they called my husband at 5pm to say the surgery had gone well and they were just closing me up ! I wasn’t woken until about 11pm as they re inflated my lung slowly if this was on a ventilator I’m not sure! I when I was woken I was attached  to several machines for different things but got out of bed and marched on the spot for a few minutes they encourage you to sit out of bed as much as possible and walk about, which I did. I was in ICU for two nights before being moved onto the ward for another 5 nights ! Then home and have gone from strength to strength I have been lucky mine was text book they said ! They have to tell you the worst seniro ! I was also lucky that I had been in the hospital for a month before my operation so I knew what to expect xx

I’m reading this and his face is a picture lol but it sounds like it all went to plan, he can’t believe that it is happening to him and also he’s had 3 separate lots of biopsies and they have not been able to confirm it as cancer so that’s messing with his head although this week when we went to see surgeon he did say that there is now a 1cm nodule on his lung which has still grown whilst having FLOT chemo, waiting to hear from lung MDT next week to confirm if they are happy for surgeon to remove half of lung at time of doing the main surgery as the lung concerned is the one they will deflate anyway, so that’s worried him as it’s not as straightforward xx 

As I say mine was all straight forward so I can’t comment about any other complications! But I was treated at Bristol BRI and they were fantastic! He really needs to trust his team I went through several endoscopy’s CT scans CT PET scans laparoscopy and had a jej tube fitted before my chemo and surgery it seemed a long time waiting for results then to start chemo then to have the surgery but they will guide him through this. Just take it one day at a time !! X

Just looking at this post again if it’s not cancer and I hope and prey it’s not why are they giving him FLOT ?? And has he had any other tests scans etc ? 

My husband had his oesophagectomy in 2009 and it all went well but in 2012 the new consultant thought it was back.  After 11 weeks of biopsies and scans it turned out to be a rare, benign desmoid type tumour.  To ensure complete clearance six rib sections were removed and replaced with gore-tex and part of a lung was also removed. He made a quick recovery and he is fine, I hope this helps a bit - I know it’s a different situation for you but losing part of a lung hasn’t caused him a problem, I’m the one who was a bit frantic during COVID!

Hi CB

Like you I also suffer with reflux and a lot of coughing after eating and sometimes regurgitating half of what I’ve just eaten apart from that I’m doing really well

We were thinking about going on a cruise but have decided to knock it on the head for a couple of years

Work is going well as my fitness levels have improved vastly over the last couple of months although like you I still get tired very quickly 

Its nice to here that your doing ok and I’m sure over the next months/years things will improve 

Keep going onwards and upwards I’ll message you soon

Best wishes Alasdair 

So the surgery day is on Thursday. I am dreading it and am so emotional. I don’t know how I’m going to cope with all the tubes and drains and a feeding tube it’s frightening the hell out of me 

You will cope …... there will be so much support around you from the surgical team. You are going to be stronger than you think! Sending you best wishes ….. let us know. How you are doing.

Geraldine x