Husband scheduled for the Ivor Lewis op

Hi Fisher, 

My husband had the Ivor-lewis, aged 55 last June (2023). They were expecting complications with him for various reasons, surgery was 11.5 hrs due to spread to aorta and diaphragm but he was out of hospital after only 9 days. The recovery takes time. One year on he has been left with reduced stamina and nerve pain on the side that they cut under the arm/deflate the lung. The nerve pain is managed with medication. 

He was T4a N2 M0 after the path lab saw the tumour after the surgery and the margins were positive. He had further chemo-radiation to hopefully take care of this.

We have made it to a year and at the time of the surgery we weren't sure if he would. His quality of life is generally good. I hate the saying, but we have a 'new normal' and it takes time to adjust your expectations. Surgery is essential if you want a curative pathway, so you just have to adapt. I hope everything goes smoothly. 

Take care of yourself, try to enjoy the next few weeks. 

Steph

Will be praying for you  Lollypops and hoping you get to enjoy many more years of lollypops!

Hi Steph

 Thank you for your post- what an ordeal the op sounds  for you and your husband . .. but amazing to be discharged after 9 days. I wonder how much care he needed at that point?

I dont know what T4a N2 M0 means ? ... is it something to do with the 'regression scale' that they measure after surgery? Our oncologist mentioned this  'regression scale' for the first time with us today.

I think it will most definaiely be a 'new normal'-- it cant be the old normal - or most peoples' normal with all the changes it seems there will be  to eating, drinking and sleeping.... things we so often take for granted

 Good advice about enjoying  this patch .... we are enjoying  this little  interlude now before the op - such a relief  because  my husband can  eat a bit better and energy is returning- bit by bit - just a sweet interlude before  the next  part of the journey and being broken down again- hopefully to rise again... like the phoenix--

Fisher said:

I dont know what T4a N2 M0 means ?

Grading for cancer is complicated, and varies depending on the cancer type. But you can find an explanation of the 'TNM' system for oesphageal cancer at www.macmillan.org.uk/.../staging-and-grading-of-oesophageal-cancer

Briefly:

• T describes how far the tumour has grown into the oesophageal wall.
• N describes whether the cancer has spread to the lymph nodes.
• M describes whether the cancer has spread to other parts of the body (metastases).

The lower the numbers, the better. The 'best' grading would be T1 N0 M0.

Sorry I didn’t see this post. Hopefully the link that has been added to the stream will explain the TNM numbers. My husband is back in hospital for the second time in 2 weeks with pneumonia. We found out 2 weeks ago that his cancer has now spread to his liver and spleen. We have had 12 months since his surgery and we have been in America while he worked. None of that would have been possible without the surgery and the skill of the surgeon. He’s not currently well enough to start and treatment so I’m hoping this hospital visit will get him back on track. It’s such a brutal disease, just enjoy every minute you can.