Oesophageal cancer

Hi,

My wife had the same surgery in February 2020. She has had no significant problems with swallowing at all, and has never needed any gullet stretching. So - that's a 'good news' story for you to hang on to!

One interesting comment on that: on account of the disruption caused by Covid, my wife's regular post-operative assessments were somewhat delayed. In the very early period of her recovery, she did have some minor discomfort swallowing, but, in time, those problems just went away - presumably, as a result of the internal joins fully healing.The surgeon has since commented that, had he seen my wife earlier in her recuperation period than he did, he might have considered stretching, but that he was now glad that he hadn't done that since the problems had now settled down by themselves. As he noted: the stretching process inevitably involves more trauma, and therefore more scar tissue, so it's not necessarily a simple fix.

Everybody's detailed experience will be different of course - but I wish you all the very best!

Thanks for those comments. I am terrified enough of this operation without having to worry about post-op problems. But I'll discuss this with Surgeon when I meet him

It's major surgery, for sure. But you'll be in good hands.

All the best with it!