Thankful

I am a little late for the Canadian thanksgiving and a little early for the USA one but I am having a thankful day and I wanted to share with my friends here. Tomorrow will be 5 months to the day that John & I found out that he had esophageal cancer. This past Friday was 5 weeks to the day that John had surgery to remove the tumor. So I thought it would be fitting to list the top five things that I am grateful for
1. When I goggled EC this community was on the first page and I “clicked” on this site very soon after reading all of the statistics that scared me half to death. I found information, caring, courage, kindness and an openness to share that I will never forget. William and Loretta reached out to me and took my hand (thru cyber space) and guided me in making a decision regarding surgery. Others (Eric ,Michael, Niki, Terry) to name a few (there are so many more) cheered and encouraged me through some rough times. Loretta told me to stop driving my self to exhaustion trying to make things that John would eat. She suggested to me that I tell John that I would make anything he would like to eat and just ask if he wanted something, guess what that worked and it really cut down on the waste of food that was going on in this house.
2. Chemo/Radiation went relatively smoothly for John and when it didn’t that there were people here to help me understand what he was going through or give me suggestions about how to help (Sherri, HYDRATION Huge).
3. That I pushed the insurance issue to get out of network coverage for John to have the surgery at Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa. Dr. Kenneth Meredith and his team saved John’s life. Dr. Meredith does this surgery MIE with robotics 3-4 times per week. He removed the part of the esophagus (with the tumor) with clean margins and 29 lymph nodes. All specimens negative for cancer. The care that John received from the team at Moffitt was outstanding. He had a couple of small bumps in the road but nothing major. Moffitt Cancer Center (hospital) only takes care of adult cancer patients and Dr. Meredith only operates on GI cancer. A very highly specialized team of surgeons and health care providers. They have state of the art equipment and excellent outcomes. For those looking for a second opinion I would highly recommend the team at Moffitt and Dr. Meredith.
4. Less then FIVE weeks post surgery John & I went on a mini vacation this past week. We went over to the east coast of Florida (3 hour drive) and meet up with John’s sister (only sibling) and some of her family. She was there with her husband, one of her daughters, son-in-law and their 2 boys plus one of her other grandson. They have a time-share and they were there for the week. We meet the youngest great nephew, Preston for the first time. What fun we had, John took Preston fishing off the pier (on the inter coastal) while the older boys went on a Deep-sea fishing trip. We hung out with family and it was a great time. We plan on making it an annual event!
5. I am thankful for the classmates I have meet here on this site and everyone else. I could not have made this journey without everyone here but a special Thank you to Nikki, Terry, Jeff, Michael; Bob The class that started together had surgery about the same time (O Michael how I wish you would have been included in surgery). Also Eric, Lee Chantal and Michelle. You have made me laugh and cry and think and feel. I am a better person after reading what all of you have had to say. Life is strange and it is interesting that you can learn so much from strangers but I have learned a great deal from EVERYONE (sorry for the CAPS Lee, LOL) & my life is enriched from interacting with you all. There are more names and everyone here contributes and I read everyday what all of you have to say. I just want everyone here to know how much this site and YOU have helped me! God Bless you all for all that you do to fight this disease or care for someone that is fighting. I know that this is not over for John but for now we are Cancer Free and I am THANKFUL! Love to you all
Erica
Wife of john
Diagnosis-5-17-11-T3, N1, M0
Surgery, MIE 9-9-11@ Moffitt Cancer Center, Dr. Kenneth Meredith
29 Lymph Nodes & Tumor Negative for Cancer