Life after surgery

oregon

My husband (51)was diagnosed in January with Stage 3 EC, he went through 6 weeks of chemo ( one that was pumped into him from a IV every 10 minutes) 33 radiation treatments at the same time, and then surgery on April 19th.
His surgery took 12 hours, they removed his esophagus completely and hooked his stomach to his throat. 1 1/2 days later he went into respirator failure, he was in ICU and in a medicated coma for 7 days and then slowly came out of it. He has been home and on a feeding tube at night, he started to eat soft foods and for about a week was able to do this, now the doctor said his throat is closing up and will be going in on June 7th to have them expand his throat in hopes that it does not disconnect what they have done.

He watched his best friend battle cancer in his head for 4 years before passing away 9 months before he was diagnosed, one of the things that we looked at before starting the treatments and doing the surgery in quality of life, maybe it is too early to tell and I try to think positive most of the time, but being in pain and seeing doctors all the time is not the life he wanted, he was a very active person and now he has no energy and basically sits in his chair all day.
Is this normal and will it get better?

Thank you,
Oregon

paul61

It sounds like your husband had some complications that made his recovery from surgery and release from the hospital take longer than the two of you may have anticipated.

Even with the best of circumstances, surgery of this magnitude takes a significant toll on the body. It is normal for him to be easily fatigued and somewhat depressed. It is also not unusual to require some dilation of the throat post surgery.

As your husband's body recovers from the surgical shock and his appetite begins so improve so will his energy level. Tube feeding had a significant impact on my appetite (during the time I was on tube feeding I had no appetite. I forced myself to eat because I knew when I could maintain my weight I could have the j-tube removed). But after a month or so your husband will begin to feel better both physically and mentally.

The ability to get outside and get some minimal exercise also helps both appetite and mental will being. It sounds like walks outside may be a bit beyond your husband's capability right now but even short walks around the yard or sitting on the porch for a bit can be helpful.

I am only six months post surgery so there are still some things I can't do yet that I hope to do (like play golf and walk more than a couple miles each day) but I am confident I will get there.

There are many people on the forum here that have recovered from surgery (some with significant post surgical complications) that live very active and full lives today.

There is also a EC chat that is held on Sunday and Wednesday evenings at the following web site address where you can talk real time with many people who have had esophageal and gastric surgery that lead very active lives. It you would like to join the chat I will include the specifics below:

__________________________________________________________________________________________
Reminder: EC Live Chat!

Date: Every Sunday and Wednesday
Time: 8:00pm to 9:00pm [Eastern Standard Time!]

Note: Make sure JAVA is downloaded on your computer.

When asked for a USER ID, write in whatever you want.
(Some variation of your name is best, but if you do not want your name
known, make one up,
but [hint], plain "Bob" or "Jane" is easier for us to type and remember
than "KQrxT9x", or "SjnFLPq").

Location: http://ngc1514.com/chat


For Help Contact: Eric at eric@ngc1514.com

Your hosts are Eric and Mickey

________________________________________________________________________________________

Recovery from such a significant surgery takes time but many will tell you that after surgery there are some lifestyle modifications that will be required (most significantly in the diet management area), but there is every expectation of an active and full life for your husband.

Best Regards,

Paul Adams
AKA: "paul61"
McCormick, South Carolina