My dad's surgery on Monday, 4/25 @ Mayo Clinic - UPDATED 5/2

Last week we went to Mayo Clinic (Rochester, MN) to seek a 2nd surgical opinion for my dad. (Brief history: Dx’d Dec 15th Stage 3B. His post chemo/rad scans showed “no change” in the tumor, and slight growth in the one, regional, lymph node that was involved. Because he did not have a good response to his treatment, and that lymph node grew larger, the original surgeon in Chicago we met with no longer considered him a candidate for surgery. He and the two oncologists feel that this just means that the cancer is already metastasizing, yet we do not yet see it on the scan. They gave him 6 months – 1 year). We fully understand what they say, and know there is a good chance they are right, however “what if” they are wrong. My dad wants to do everything he can to try to beat this and had his goal set on surgery from the beginning. We set up an appointment at Mayo Rochester to get a 2nd opinion. In the first meeting we had with the P.A., we asked who of their 6 surgeons does the MIE – we were told Dr. Wigle, so he is who we met with the following day. Long story short, Dr. Wigle reviewed the same scans and feels there is less cancer activity. In regard to the lymph node that grew he said that yes, it could be cancer growth but there is a small chance it could have grown due to inflammation from the treatment. He said we will not know this until it is removed and biopsied. He said that when he begins the surgery, if he sees more tumor spots that were not yet detected on the scans, he will not move forward with the esophagectomy. We are praying very hard that that is not the case and he is able to move forward with a successful surgery. During the 2 days we were there we were absolutely impressed with the facility and the experience with all of the staff we interacted with. We hope that this will be the right place and provide the right answer for my dad! We would love any prayers for him. Thanks!