upcoming surgery

betsi7
betsi7 Member Posts: 20
in Esophageal Cancer #1
My husband is having an esophagectomy done by Dr. Luketich at UPMC a week from today. I am also a member of CancerCompass which has also been helpful and informative. I read many of your posts today and found very helpful information. My husband has stage 3 adenocarcinoma and is her2 positive. He has had radiation, chemo and herceptin. We have three children at home (14,11,4) and a 24 yr. old daughter still at home. Ed was diagnosed March 18th 2012. I am a medical social worker with oncology and hopsice experience which has been mixed blessing. As the actual surgery gets closr and closer it is becoming harder to concentrate on anything else. We are well aware of how incredibly fortunate we are to have the chance for surgery, especially with this physician and that we will only be three hours from home. I have been blessed by the posts of all your journeys. Betsy

Comments

  • BMGky
    BMGky Member Posts: 621
    #2
    Sounds like your husband is
    Sounds like your husband is in great hands and having his surgery in a great place, plus he has you with your knowledge. Best of luck to you all.

    Please keep us updated as to how he is doing. If you have questions regarding possible eating issues and strength issues, ask them here. Since he is probably having an MIE esophagectomy, he should have a quicker recovery. My husband had the invasive Ivor Lewis. It took him some seven months to get to feel like he was recovering. It's been over two years and he is doing great.

    Wish you the best. BMGky
  • Unknown
    Unknown
    #3
    This comment has been removed by the Moderator
  • betsi7
    betsi7 Member Posts: 20
    #4
    unknown said:

    This comment has been removed by the Moderator

    upcoming surgery
    We are staying at Family House (a long time) because our local physicians told us they would be "over their head" with esophagectomy complications soon after d/c from acute care. I would love to see pictures. I am one of those high information types who likes to know all the possibilities (so they can create insomnia as I endlessly mull them over at 2am!!). Will send you our numbers. My husband had GERD like symptoms for about a week and our PCP told him to "take more Tums". He didn't smoke and was in seemingly excellent health. After church he said he had severe stomach pains and went to the ER. They told us it would be like lightening striking if it were anything more than GERD. Two hours and an EUS later they told us they thought he had a Stge 3 gastric junction tumor (the eyeballing method--but proved correct). He has adjacent lymph node involvement. After chemo/radiation, two nodes continue to look questionable. He was transferred us to a regional hospital two hours away. Ultimatly we found a seemingly genetic link--his sister died at the same age with a HER2 positive cancer. Dr. Luketich's name kept appearing in my research and we are grateful that he saw us and agreed to surgery in such a timely manner. We are realistic but anxious. Ed is an internalizer of emotion and I am the opposite. Thanks for the replies. Betsy
  • Unknown
    Unknown
    #5
    betsi7 said:

    upcoming surgery
    We are staying at Family House (a long time) because our local physicians told us they would be "over their head" with esophagectomy complications soon after d/c from acute care. I would love to see pictures. I am one of those high information types who likes to know all the possibilities (so they can create insomnia as I endlessly mull them over at 2am!!). Will send you our numbers. My husband had GERD like symptoms for about a week and our PCP told him to "take more Tums". He didn't smoke and was in seemingly excellent health. After church he said he had severe stomach pains and went to the ER. They told us it would be like lightening striking if it were anything more than GERD. Two hours and an EUS later they told us they thought he had a Stge 3 gastric junction tumor (the eyeballing method--but proved correct). He has adjacent lymph node involvement. After chemo/radiation, two nodes continue to look questionable. He was transferred us to a regional hospital two hours away. Ultimatly we found a seemingly genetic link--his sister died at the same age with a HER2 positive cancer. Dr. Luketich's name kept appearing in my research and we are grateful that he saw us and agreed to surgery in such a timely manner. We are realistic but anxious. Ed is an internalizer of emotion and I am the opposite. Thanks for the replies. Betsy

    This comment has been removed by the Moderator
  • sandy1943
    sandy1943 Member Posts: 824
    #6
    Welcome, Ec does have a way
    Welcome, Ec does have a way of occupying our minds. It is a diagnoses that effects the whole family.
    I also was stage three adiocarcinoma, with lymph node involvement. I wasn't fortunate to have the MIE, but did have the ivor lewis. I will soon be five years cancer free and life is pretty much normal. There has been some life changes since surgery but we all adjust. Let us know how the surgery goes next week. I will be praying for Ed and the family, Sandra

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