Surgery seemed to go well, now a leak.

My dad also has a small leak
Unfortunately for my dad, they did not find his leak during his swallow test in the hospital. They sent him home and then he developed pneumonia and got very very sick. Eventually they found the small leak and stopped him from drinking or eating anything else. They had to do another surgery to get all the fluid and stuff out of his lung. They have said the leak should heal on its own. He has another swallow test on Tuesday to see. He is on the mend now and we are praying this leak will heal quickly. It's great that they were able to find your husband's leak before leaving the hospital. Hopefully he will avoid any serious complications.

Sally.L said:

How awful for your dad
Thank you for posting but what a horrible way for your dad to find he had a leak. We are going back this Wednesday for a follow up swallow test. He's had nothing to eat or drink by mouth for over 2 1/2 weeks now and getting a little aggregated. Hopefully this one goes well. Hope your dad has success with his leak healing.

Sally

Leak
There must be a couple ways leaks develop. I hope your dad get better soon. I don't know if it helps since my leak was a fistula but I'll fill you in on my experience.

I am about 14 weeks out from my THE surgery. I passed my initial swallow test and was sent home, but about 3 days later I started to get a wiff of odar that reminded me of an outhouse. The next morning I coughed and I had liquid draining from my neck incision. I had to return to the hospital. The 2nd swallow test showed a leak which was defined as a fistula because it was draining to the outside of the throat at the incision site. The surgeon had to open the neck incision and pack it. I stayed in the hospital for another 7 days so they could manage the drainage ( the drainage lessened over the course of time but the first several weeks it was quite profuse every time I coughed).

A couple notes. First my surgeon does not allow any solid food or liquid for a minimum of 15 days after the surgery indicating that doing so increases the chances of a leak developing. I was one of the unlucky ones that developed one anyway. However the surgeon was not overly concerned because a fistula although messy was fairly easy to manage. I did need to go in multiple times for an endoscopy and dilation to make sure scar tissue din't develop in my throat as the fistula closed on its own.

It took about 8 weeks for the fistula to close completely, the surgeon said it would take 8-12 weeks so he was right on target.
I already had a J tube for nutrition so he asked me to delay solids and drinking for a couple extra weeks so I wasn't forcing the stuff out of the hole as I coughed.

The leak was very frustrating and I got depressed because it slowed things down but in the grand scheme of things it was a minor set back. But it has healed and I have been able to move on.

Hope this helps

Josie
Stage 3 EC
Diagnosed march 12
Taxol/Carboplatin/ radiation
HTE surgery June 5 12

EC

Leak
I had a leak coming out after the surgery. Spent 3 months in hospital till it healed. Had other complications though, my feeding tube didn't work so was feed by IV. Good Luck.

I had leakage, as well. My
I had leakage, as well. My doctors wanted me to keep eating and drinking. When we discoverd a leak, they put a small incision in my neck and a bag to collect fluids. They still wanted me to continue eating a nd drinking. After a few weeks, it closed on its own and was not a problem. Don't be too alarmed.