How are people doing post oesophagectomy?

Hi, I had my Ivor Lewis surgery on 10 July last year followed by 4 more cycles of FLOT which finished in November. It took a while but I am now eating pretty well. I am eating around 3 meals a day th a couple of snacks and have a good sized portion. I have started putting on little weight after losing over 25 kgs. I am now a size 10 from an 18 . I am getting back to doing the gardening and walking regularly etc but do pace myself. I’m not sure when you had your eosophagectomy  and you are recovering well. It’s a long haul but we get there Good luck Linda x

I had my IL march last year ! Can believe it’s been a year next week. Everything Linda says is pretty much the same for me, I eat well and can eat most things, fair sized portions but don’t eat after 6pm. I do most things I did before yoga, bowls gym sessions but haven’t gone back to swimming as I can’t stand the cold anymore!  Weight has crept up annoyingly, I do tend to get tired but not sure if this is just age. But on the whole I feel life is good ! 

Afternoon.

had my surgery on the 23rd Feb this year.

I was pretty fit and healthy when I was initially diagnosed in October 2025 and spent the time I could either side of chemo trying to keep my fitness levels up in preparation for the operation so was in pretty good shape before going under the knife.

I am now nearly 4 weeks on from the op and doing ok aside from the ribs they broke as part of the the surgery which are still really sore and causing a fair amount of discomfort.

Eating wise is a bit hit and miss and a i'm still figuring out what works and what doesn't. Dumping is a problem and a really unpleasant experience which i'm really not enjoying. I've worked out that sugar causes this (in almost any amount) so I've cut this out of my diet entirely. Too much sloppy food e.g soup also appears to cause it as well as drinking too close to eating which i'm now managing.

These things aside I seem to be able to eat most things. The thing i am struggling with is, finding enough time in the day to eat and drink. Feels like if im not eating im having to remind myself to drink as I need to eat again in the next half hour. Getting a bit fed up with it now as feel like my day revolvs round these two things. Also found that i have no appetite so am having to force myself to eat even though i'm not hungry which is harder than it sounds. I am also struggling a bit with getting bad guts which l i think is linked to thr dumping and seems to cause stomach pain and diarrhoea a couple of days later.

Whilst i've still not cracked the eating thing, my main aim is not to loose too much weight during this early period as I am conscious that it will be a struggle to regain any weight / muscle mass thay is lost.

I am keeping a record of everything I eat along with times in order to a) work out any foods or patterns that cause dumping and b) to make sure I am eating regularly and getting enough food into myself.

Even doing all this I have lost around 12 kg of my pre-op weight.

Energy wise I am pretty good but my body is still recovering so I am fairly inactive. Managing a short walk out with the dog each day but no more than a mile after which I am pretty done in. 

Still doing a fair bit of napping during the day as well but these are getting less frequent.

Happy to help in any way I can.

I'm 45 years old and get the feeling I am a fair bit younger than most who have this surgery.

This was really apparent during chemo too as I always seemed to be sat in a room with people 20 years my senior.

Russ

Gosh reading your post makes me realise how lucky I am as I’ve never had any of the problems you describe ! But it is early days so hope you get over these problems soon ! Stay strong x