Leak

mworthington
mworthington Member Posts: 2
in Esophageal Cancer #1

Hello,

I am new to the site and looking for anyone who has had a leak following surgery. I had an esophogectomy on April 17th and it seemed to go well. The first swallow test, done 5 days after surger, indicated no leak and I was started on clear liquids. I developed an infection shortly after and a second swallow test showed a 1.2 cm leak. A stent was placed and after the infection cleared I was sent home on a soft diet. I was in the hospital a total of 2 weeks. My surgeon has indicated that he would like to keep the stent in for at least 8 to 12 weeks but seems confident that the leak will heal. Anyone have experiences with leaks? How was it resolved?? 

thank you,

mary

Comments

  • paul61
    paul61 Member Posts: 1,392 Member
    #2
    I have no personal experience but many heal with stents

    Hi Mary,

    I have no personal experience with esophageal leaks and stents, however I participate in another esophageal cancer forum called "Smart Patients" and you will find several EC survivors there who have had leaks after esophagectomy, and healed with a stent in place.

    I would suggest you post your question in the esophageal cancer section of the "Smart Patients" forum at https://www.smartpatients.com/

    Best Regards

    Paul

  • mworthington
    mworthington Member Posts: 2
    edited May 2020 #3
    paul61 said:

    I have no personal experience but many heal with stents

    Hi Mary,

    I have no personal experience with esophageal leaks and stents, however I participate in another esophageal cancer forum called "Smart Patients" and you will find several EC survivors there who have had leaks after esophagectomy, and healed with a stent in place.

    I would suggest you post your question in the esophageal cancer section of the "Smart Patients" forum at https://www.smartpatients.com/

    Best Regards

    Paul

    Thank you!

    Thank you!

  • tomswift
    tomswift Member Posts: 8 Member
    edited May 2020 #4
    Hi Mary...

    Hi Mary... I had my esophagectomy in septermber 2019. About 4 days after the surgery, i was about to graduate to a full liquid diet, i developed a leak. I forget the actual size of the leak but the doc assured me it was small and a good chance it would heal on its own. A stent was put in place but i still couldn't resume a liquid diet. I spent the next 4+ months feeding thru my j-tube. My leak didn't heal. I needed to undergo another surgery to repair it. Thankfully the repair surgery went well and i quickly progressed to a regular diet within a couple of weeks and had my feeding tube removed. I'm not sure if or how much of a part this played in my leak not healing but against my doctors orders, i tried many times to drink while i had the stent in my esophagus. The liquid would always almost instantly enter my windpipe and i'd gag most of it up. Because you're able to still able to continue with a soft diet, i'll assume your leak is smaller than mine was and have a much better chance of healing than mine did. Good luck, tom...

  • Lee Christensen
    Lee Christensen Member Posts: 49 Member
    edited September 2020 #5
    Leak

    I had a leak right after surgery,  I forget the size, but my feeding tube didn't work so I had to go on IV for feeding. This lasted about 3 months no food or liquids by mouth. It eventually healed and by the 4th month I was put on a liquid diet for around 3 days then introduced to pureed food and finally sent home. It'll be 10 years on December 20th, but I  remember the 3 months well.

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