I am posting this to give anyone who has had a complication post-Oesophagectomy (or their family) some hope.
My dad (61 at the time) was diagnosed with Oesophageal cancer in December 2021. He had 8 rounds of chemotherapy before an Oesphagectomy in May 2022 (key hole surgey and robotics). The operation went well and he was up and about over the next few days and feeling good. However, on day 5 post-op he was put on a ventilator and life support because of an anastomotic leak. One of the staples had come loose and was leaking fluid into his lungs. He had sepsis and his organs were at risk of shutting down. He had a procedure to flush out the fluid, around 4/5 drains were put in his chest, sides, and back, and a stent was put in his oesophagus to help it heal. He remained on life support and unconscious for 10 days, then another week or so in critical care, and over a month in hopsital total. He had quite severe delusion after he woke up and was not himself for many weeks (this was probably the most difficult thing we had to go through as a family in all of this). There was another 2 weeks of pretty much 24/hour care at home where we had to administer all his food and medication via a feeding tube and he was visited by a nurse every day. He also caught Covid in that time and his feeding tube fell out, so all in all it was pretty horrendous!
However, we are now almost 6 months on from the operation and he's doing amazingly. He is playing some low-level sport again, he can go for long walks, and he can eat almost everything he was able to eat before (as long as he chews it very well and has smaller portions). Although he has lost a lot of weight he is maintaining a healthy weight now. The delusion has subsided and he is more 'himself' again. There are still some challenges and we're not at the end of the road - for example, he still feels sick a lot of the time, he isn't back to full energy, and he's coming to terms with some of the trauma he experienced. But if you are in a similar situation with you or a loved one experiencing a post-op complication, please know that although it is terrifying and there are no guarantees, you can come out the other side. I hope this brings some comfort, and please feel free to message me if you need someone to speak to.
