Surgery Scheduled!

Surgery is scheduled for May 23rd. That date is a week or two later than I hoped, but it's the only time we could schedule the two surgery teams on the same day. May 22nd will be a preop day. So, I have several more weeks to recover from chemo and radiation and build up my strength. I feel great, but my muscle tone still needs work.

The dye contrast scan that I did yesterday was negative as expected. The scan is a precaution that is necessary because about 2% of patients have aggressive cancer growth in spite of chemo and radiation. That didn't happen in my case.

The surgeon was very impressed with the speed of my recovery from chemo and radiation and was encouraging about recovering from surgery relatively quickly as well. He said that a team led by Dr Norton will perform the first stage of the surgery to remove the cancerous tissue and then turn the surgery over to Dr Whyte's team who will handle the second stage which involves critical and careful stitching the esophagus and stomach back together in their new positions.

I will be in Stanford Hospital for 7-10 days including the first day or two in the critical care unit. The long stay is required because I won't be allowed to eat for the first 5 days. At the end of 5 days, I will take a barium scan to make sure that the stitches in my stomach and esophagus are not allowing any leakage. If the stitches are good, I'll start drinking and then eating over a few days. If the stitches are not good, I will need more surgery to fix the problem.

Following the hospital stay, it will take a month or two at home to get my strength back and to learn how to eat the right amounts and the right number of meals per day.

This is complicated surgery and I wouldn't want it done by someone who does it twice a year. These people do the procedure every week and teach it to medical students. I'm very confident about the surgeons and their experience. That helps a lot! The prognosis is excellent.

Our daughter, Jordan, and son, Josh, will take turns supporting us through the first few weeks. Sharon's sister, Joyce, and her husband, Ed, live nearby and will continue to play a critical support role as well. We will stay in San Carlos during recovery time until I don't need to see doctors on a weekly basis. Then, we plan to complete the move to our Pacific Grove residence. If all goes well, we will complete our move by the end of August.

We are back in Pacific Grove today and will stay here most of the time until surgery.