Cutting It Out

After a little over a month to recover from chemo and radiation, the final step is to surgically remove the tumor and tissues surrounding it. It's very similar to gastric surgery where they staple off a portion of the top of the stomach to form a tube that replaces the esophagus they remove with the tumor. The details are pretty icky, but the result is the damaged esophagus is removed and there should be no more restrictions swallowing food and drinks after healing.

My surgery was scheduled for October 10th and I was actually ready to have it done. It had been amazing being able to eat again, but I knew that would not last before things got inflamed and I might have to repeat chemo and radiation. My support team was flooded in from Hurricane Mathew and could not get to Raleigh, but Keith and I had no problems getting to the hospital. The damage at our house was minimal with a few fence panels blown down and some tin ripped from the barn. Our neighbor Mike and Keith fixed the fence, so we were good to go. Even power came back on before the procedure.

They gave me an epidural in pre-op and I honestly don't remember anything after that until I woke in in ICU.  Dr. White explained the tumor was too big and the damage too complicated to remove with the scopes, so he had to resort to a conventional surgery requiring a bigger incision. You know how my luck goes, so no surprise there. The tumor had grown around my Aortic blood vessel, so he had to carefully remove it. Also the chemo and radiation had "melted" a couple of lymph nodes into a goo he removed.

Thanks to the epidural, I was feeling no pain at all when I woke up. Not that I was comfortable, but it was manageable and naturally they had me standing up in no time. The worst part was all the drainage tubes connected to me and it was quite an ordeal when they made me walk down the hall. Dr. White was concerned a little about the amount of fluid draining from my chest cavity drain and after the second day he decided it would be safer to go back in to fix the source. He said rarely a lymph node output drain could open and drain directly inside the chest cavity instead of returning it to the blood stream. Basically, any food I was getting from the tube was going there and I'd eventually become dehydrated and malnourished. He decided to go back in though one of the holes I already had and while the epidural was still in place to fix the leak. He assured us it would not be a major setback in time in the hospital and it would be much easier than waiting a day or so.

The second surgery went well and the drainage was hardly measurable, so they began removing tubes. OH MY GOODNESS! People, you have no idea how intense pulling those tubes out can feel and how much relief I felt after they were gone. I had a tube up my nose about a quarter inch in diameter. He had me tilt my head forward and pulled it out. I thought it was connected to the bottom of my stomach and he was pulling my insides out through my nose. That tube hurt so bad but gave such relief to have it out. A smaller tube was in the center of my chest and it too felt intense coming out. The largest tube in my right side was about a half inch in diameter and actually did not hurt when they pulled it out. The Foley tube came out last and I was completely running internal plumbing except for one IV line in my left hand.

All this time they kept me in ICU because they had no rooms available in the hospital, which wasn't a bad thing because visitors could come and go and stay as long as they wanted in ICU. The bad thing is they only had 7 TV channels which was all local stations, but arranged in a weird random way so it was hard to watch anything. Plus there was no food porn on any of the available channels!

I was eventually moved to a regular room and given orders to walk as much as possible. Eventually I was disconnected from the IV and I could make longer trips. Naturally, I had to get outside to feel the sunshine, and post a video of my escape outside the hospital. Later I made it next door to the Cancer Center and visited with the Nurses that gave me my chemo and fluids. They were amazed how good I was getting around and I got many hugs!

The biggest downside was the order to NOT eat or drink anything for two weeks. As much as I enjoyed eating before surgery, now I was back to absolutely nothing. The rehab folks came by and made me demonstrate I could wash my face and brush my teeth. Not a problem and it felt so great brushing my dry teeth and tongue!

Doctor White and his staff were great in preparing me for this procedure and that the hospital stay is usually a week to 10 days. Naturally I felt great after a week, but they kept me for 8 days. That's not bad and I have to admit heading home on I540, I broke down in tears knowing I was half way home. It was a great relief knowing I could sleep in my own bed. Just no food or drinks. They had scheduled a swallow test for Nov 1st, which seems a long way away, but if I pass that, food will be next!

I woke up Wednesday morning and grabbed a picture of the sunrise. Dog came out with me and later the whole gang was back on the porch. I see normal ahead and can't wait for it to get here.

 Balance has been restored! In hardly no time of sitting on the porch, every neighbor came by to say hello. Even better, I got a call from Doctor White's office asking if it was okay to schedule the swallow test next Tuesday instead of November 1st. You betcha! Swallow test is Tuesday and follow up visit for surgery is Wednesday. I will be there with bells on, if I can find any!