Esophagus removal

Blue Bayou
Blue Bayou Member Posts: 4
edited March 2014 in Esophageal Cancer #1
I have been diagnosed with High Grade Dysphasia of the esophagus & Barrett’s.
I have had 2 Halo ablation treatments. Last week Dr. Ertan, Houston Med Center, did biopsies. He called and wants me to see a surgeon before I see him again.

Has anyone had this surgery, i.e. removal of part of the esophagus and the reattach the stomach? This has not been recommended to me, at this time. Just trying to get educated in case the wheels fall off.

Comments

  • MOE58
    MOE58 Member Posts: 589 Member
    My husband had the surgery
    Dear Blue

    Not sure what your real name is, but welcome to our site, we are here to help, we are not doctors or counselors, but we try to help people be prepared for what they are going through, my husband 45 years old was diagnosed with EC on april fools day, he had chemo for 3 months, and then surgery on July 23, and he had the removal of part of the esophogaus and reattach the stomach, he had the open surgery kind where some of the people on this site have the MINMAL INVASIVE SURGERY (william Marshall) surgery wise my husband did great, he ran into some other problems after surgery to keep him longer in hospital. He has been home a month from the hospital, and is eating anything and everything, he just has to eat smaller portions and lots of in between meals, he hasn't moved to the bed yet due to you still have the acid reflux after surgery and you have to sleep with what they call a wedge. You have your good days and bad days but in general he did good. He said the surgery itself is not as bad as everyone tells you. I have posted alot of things on this site about him and if you will go back and look you will see them. We also have a wonderful person on this site "KITTEN0385" 24 years old and had the same surgery as my husband at the age of 23, she is fighting with something else now, so she probably won't be able to respond as soon, then we have this "WONDERFUL MAN NAMED WILLIAM MARSHALL" he has the words for what ever you ask for, from surgery to a riddle to advice. He has been my survivor through this, he helped me out so much during my critical time with surgery with my husband.

    My husband Jeff is doing really good now, and has not had problems with eating since he had the surgery. If I can help any further please let me know and I will try to help you on what I can.

    Take care
    Lori aka MOE
  • Blue Bayou
    Blue Bayou Member Posts: 4
    MOE58 said:

    My husband had the surgery
    Dear Blue

    Not sure what your real name is, but welcome to our site, we are here to help, we are not doctors or counselors, but we try to help people be prepared for what they are going through, my husband 45 years old was diagnosed with EC on april fools day, he had chemo for 3 months, and then surgery on July 23, and he had the removal of part of the esophogaus and reattach the stomach, he had the open surgery kind where some of the people on this site have the MINMAL INVASIVE SURGERY (william Marshall) surgery wise my husband did great, he ran into some other problems after surgery to keep him longer in hospital. He has been home a month from the hospital, and is eating anything and everything, he just has to eat smaller portions and lots of in between meals, he hasn't moved to the bed yet due to you still have the acid reflux after surgery and you have to sleep with what they call a wedge. You have your good days and bad days but in general he did good. He said the surgery itself is not as bad as everyone tells you. I have posted alot of things on this site about him and if you will go back and look you will see them. We also have a wonderful person on this site "KITTEN0385" 24 years old and had the same surgery as my husband at the age of 23, she is fighting with something else now, so she probably won't be able to respond as soon, then we have this "WONDERFUL MAN NAMED WILLIAM MARSHALL" he has the words for what ever you ask for, from surgery to a riddle to advice. He has been my survivor through this, he helped me out so much during my critical time with surgery with my husband.

    My husband Jeff is doing really good now, and has not had problems with eating since he had the surgery. If I can help any further please let me know and I will try to help you on what I can.

    Take care
    Lori aka MOE

    Lori.. thanks for the post.
    Lori.. thanks for the post. I visited my prim. care dr this am and talked to him about this deal. Now watiing to get insurance referral approved to set up visit to surgeon.

    I am just nervous, as is expected I guess..

    Thanks to all out there. I read most of the post and feel more educated and every thing is less scary.

    BTW Real name is Ralph Bowden, Houston, Tx 63 yo
  • MOE58
    MOE58 Member Posts: 589 Member

    Lori.. thanks for the post.
    Lori.. thanks for the post. I visited my prim. care dr this am and talked to him about this deal. Now watiing to get insurance referral approved to set up visit to surgeon.

    I am just nervous, as is expected I guess..

    Thanks to all out there. I read most of the post and feel more educated and every thing is less scary.

    BTW Real name is Ralph Bowden, Houston, Tx 63 yo

    RALPH LET ME KNOW
    Glad I could help let me know whats up after the surgeon visit. Yes its scary and will be it was for us, and still is, as you never know what could happen. I wish you luck and hopefully you won't have to wait long for an appt.

    Lori aka Moe
  • LLacy
    LLacy Member Posts: 2
    Esophagus removal
    Hi,

    I do not know if this will be helpful or not, my daughter 3 years old at the time had part of her esophagus removed as she was born with a stricture in it. She did wonderful through the surgery and afterwards. There havent been problems ever since. From what I understand, since she was so young it would be able to "grow" or stretch with her and shouldnt cause problems. Adults with shortened esophagus may be able to notice it a bit I guess? ie...eat slow and chew good etc.

    I know this is different from it being removed from cancer but maybe encouraging? :)

    My mom has small cell lung cancer. We found out it has spread to liver, kidney and esophagus. I am just here trying to find info :)

    L
  • mchurch
    mchurch Member Posts: 5
    trans-hiatal esophagectomy
    I self-diagnosed Barret's about 15 years ago after reading a newspaper article about people who had chronic heartburn and acid reflux. Since then I had endoscopys every year then every six months when the dysplasia went to high grade. At the beginning of last May they found a 5mm adeno-carcinoma in the area of dysplasia. I had a full esophagectomy 2 weeks later at Kaiser Sunnyside Hospital. My surgeon was Dr. Bisio,one of the best at this type of surgery in the world. The surgeon found just the small cancer in a relatively small amount of dysplasia and removed six nearby lymph nodes which pathology said were clear. So for now it appears all the early surveillance and the quick surgery probably saved me. The surgery was flawless and from start to finish I was in the hospital 8 days and ate my first solid food on day six, scrambled eggs and toast.Recovery has been up and down , I have had to learn how to eat all over again after 60 plus years of gulping food. I have lost about 35 lbs. and am able to get into Levy's I had been saving for 15 years for some sort of miraculous weight loss that finally did happen, albeit not a recommended weight loss program. So I am alive and have returned to work part-time, I'm pretty much retired. So that's pretty much it I'm post surgery 4 months now and doing great. Good Luck!
  • mchurch said:

    trans-hiatal esophagectomy
    I self-diagnosed Barret's about 15 years ago after reading a newspaper article about people who had chronic heartburn and acid reflux. Since then I had endoscopys every year then every six months when the dysplasia went to high grade. At the beginning of last May they found a 5mm adeno-carcinoma in the area of dysplasia. I had a full esophagectomy 2 weeks later at Kaiser Sunnyside Hospital. My surgeon was Dr. Bisio,one of the best at this type of surgery in the world. The surgeon found just the small cancer in a relatively small amount of dysplasia and removed six nearby lymph nodes which pathology said were clear. So for now it appears all the early surveillance and the quick surgery probably saved me. The surgery was flawless and from start to finish I was in the hospital 8 days and ate my first solid food on day six, scrambled eggs and toast.Recovery has been up and down , I have had to learn how to eat all over again after 60 plus years of gulping food. I have lost about 35 lbs. and am able to get into Levy's I had been saving for 15 years for some sort of miraculous weight loss that finally did happen, albeit not a recommended weight loss program. So I am alive and have returned to work part-time, I'm pretty much retired. So that's pretty much it I'm post surgery 4 months now and doing great. Good Luck!

    This comment has been removed by the Moderator
  • Betty in Vegas
    Betty in Vegas Member Posts: 290 Member
    If you can have this done at md anderson since you're in houston
    I would do that. They do more esophagectomies than anyone else in the state, I'm sure. They offer four types of the surgery, from minimally invasive on up.

    I believe they also do the freeze surgery which is often done in barrett's cases. You might not need a full blown surgery.
  • Blue Bayou
    Blue Bayou Member Posts: 4
    Surgeon meeting
    My son, and wife and I met with the surgeon last thursday. He said he does about 5 of these per year. He is a cardaic surgeon who trained with DeBakey for over 20 yrs according to his web site. My wife and I feel very comfortabe with him

    I am scheduling a CAT scan in the next few days and then surgery in early Nov.

    Thanks for all the emails and encourgement.

    Ralph
  • Grouse4
    Grouse4 Member Posts: 13 Member

    So wonderful to hear. I am 7 weeks out and still suffering from nausea. Any advice

  • Grouse4
    Grouse4 Member Posts: 13 Member


  • Grouse4
    Grouse4 Member Posts: 13 Member

    Too much nausea. Tried three anti meds with no luck. Any advice