Esophageal Cancer Surgery

I am proof as well. Stage 4 survivor and still here after almost 5 years!

Katanna said:

I am proof as well. Stage 4 survivor and still here after almost 5 years!

Esophageal Cancer
Hi Katanna this is Frank I have stage one cancer and will have surgery to remove my esophgaus on the the 19th of Sept the doctor is going to remove all of it if she can how difficult was the recover and the side affect ? Thanks Frank

Katanna said:

I am proof as well. Stage 4 survivor and still here after almost 5 years!

stage IV EC
Katanna, I was just browsing and noticed you have survived stage IV EC. Had it gone to your nodes or to other organs? My husband was dx'd in February 2008. They said since he was stage IV that he couldn't have radiation or surgery. He has had excellent response to chemo - Oxaliplatin, Taxotere and 5FU (5FU 46 hours infusion at home every 2 weeks). Had an endo last week and doc said no cancer in esophagus and 90% gone from stomach. He said he sees just a little bit at the top of his stomach. We are elated. Still worried though. When he asked his onc at diagnosis if he has 5 years, she said maybe half that. I was just wondering what was your situation, because I am so encouraged by the fact that you were stage IV and still her after 5 years. We pray for that. I would be interested if you wouldn't mind explaining your situation to me in an email. My email is cyn0418@aol.com. By the way, my husband just turned 59 years old and healthy as an ox prior to diagnosis. He is still pretty fit and works outside (though he is retired) doing paver stone landscaping at our house every day since July. Very active!!! Thanks in advance for your input. By the way, he was diagnosed stage IV on PET scan with retroperitoneal nodes and supraclavicular nodes involvement only - no other organ involvement.

Cyndi

trast68 said:

my dad
my dad just got diagnosed with esophageal cancer the report so far is beginning stages waiting on CT scan for staging but as you can imagine we are very scared first of what the ct scan will show and second the surgery that the gastric doctor said is the best option for him since it is in the early stage. I am trying to keep my faith at this point

Your Dad
Good luck to you, your Dad and the rest of your family. This is a tough time for you all, but know that people DO get through it. Early stage esophageal cancer is curable; the earlier the stage, the better the odds of complete recovery.

Surgery isn't a lot of fun, but new techniques are being implemented constantly. The latest is robot assisted surgery with the DaVinci machine. Minimally invasive procedures have been around for awhile and have been very successful as well.

Even if your Dad goes in for "the biggie" - an Ivor Lewis esophagectomy - it's survivable. I had my Ivor Lewis done more than 7.5 years ago and am doing very well today.

sober93 said:

surgery
can you describe the surgery and after surgery

Surgery
Sober93 -

There are several different surgical approaches used for esophageal cancer. The end result is the same - removal of most of the esophagus and surrounding lymph nodes, pulling the stomach up into the chest and reattaching the stomach to the remains of the esophagus.

Most invasive surgical approaches start with an incision from the belly button up to below the sternum. A general surgeon goes in to "mobilize" the stomach - cut it free from attached tissue - and its blood supply. Next, a thoracic surgeon uses one of the approaches to gain access to the esophagus and remove it. The surgeon pulls the stomach up into the chest, forms it into a tube (a stomaphagous as one person in another forum calls it!) and attaches it to the remains of the esophagus with the site being known as an anastomosis.

During an Ivor Lewis (TTE), the surgeon approaches the esophagus through a sweeping incision in the back that reaches from the right shoulder blade down to the right armpit. In a Transhiatal Esophagectomy (THE), the surgeon uses an incision in the area of the lower throat. Robot assisted and minimally invasive esophagectomies (MIE) are done through a series of small incisions in the upper chest.

It's not a lot of fun, but it is survivable. Most of us who have had the surgery return to work - part time, in most cases - 2 months after surgery. Most of us spend from 7 to 10 days in the hospital recovering from surgery and most are feeling pretty good anywhere from 6 to 12 months after it's all over.

My husband will have surgery on 2/23
My husband was first diagnosed with State 2 and underwent chemo and radiation the. that was 2005. September 16, 2008 it was back, at Stage 1, we have been back and forth with doctors and hospitals since then. He is going to have the Transhaital Esophagectomy. I a wondering
about when I bring him home, what kind of food should I have on hand? Is he still going to be fed thru a tube. This is so scarry. Will he be on a soft diet for a long time, will he be able to do anything such as, snow removal, wouldn't that be too much of a strain on him? He
thinks he'll be able to do it. He does know he won't be able to drive for a while. How long
is that problem in effect?

Will he be able to sleep in bed, or should he sleep in the recliner? How will be take his meds, thru a tube or will he be able to swollow them?

I don't know what else to ask, if you have any other ideas, please share - I know there must be things I'm missing.

Thank you for any information you give, it is greatly appreciated. Selma O

NGC1514 said:

Your Dad
Good luck to you, your Dad and the rest of your family. This is a tough time for you all, but know that people DO get through it. Early stage esophageal cancer is curable; the earlier the stage, the better the odds of complete recovery.

Surgery isn't a lot of fun, but new techniques are being implemented constantly. The latest is robot assisted surgery with the DaVinci machine. Minimally invasive procedures have been around for awhile and have been very successful as well.

Even if your Dad goes in for "the biggie" - an Ivor Lewis esophagectomy - it's survivable. I had my Ivor Lewis done more than 7.5 years ago and am doing very well today.

Surgery
I had "the biggie" - Ivor Lewis esophagectomy on March 3rd of this year. I am only 38 and had stage 2. I went through chemo and radiation prior to my surgery in hope to prevent any spreading of the cancer. I am now back at work, but I have to admit the surgery is not fun. I am still in a little pain but I just keep hoping it gets better.

J_MAC said:

FACING SURGERY
Mine is "high grade squamous dysplasia" and several specialists recommend surgey to remove the esophagus. Although it is not yet cancerous they say it will soon become stage one. This scares the daylight out of me. Any suggestions?

J_MAC, my suggestion to you
J_MAC, my suggestion to you would be to listen to the specialists. My surgery recovery was fairly easy, I was on a feeding tube for a few weeks, but then was able to begin eating quite normally.....I am 6 months out from my surgery and am doing quite well. I am nauseous quite often, but believe it is from the chemotherapy not from surgery. I was diagnosed with stage 3 esophageal cancer, and if you can prevent yours from turning into cancer, I would say it would be the best choice you have ever made. I have found my radiation and chemotherapy treatments to be a lot longer road than my surgery was. Good luck, and I wish you the best!

Cathy

Signs of esophagael cancer
Two years ago the gastro dr did an epidectomy against his better judgement but to my insistence. They found a level 3 erosive esophagus. They put me on nexium 1 a day. 3 months later they did another and it was better but not good. They increased nexium to 2 a day.
A new gastro dr did a test last year, said esophagus looks great. Nexium 1 a day.
Now I have a WBC of 14.8, neutrophils of 73, 452 white blood cell count, and lots of pain in my esophagus. I am supposed to see gastro dr Wed.
The local MD said to prepare myself for leukemia.
Does any of this sound familiar? What did you do?
Sharon

hopefull08 said:

EC Surgery
Katanna -

My Dad was diagnosed w/ stage 4 EC this past Father's Day - Happy Father's Day, right? We are on our last week of treatment, hopefully. When we are done, we get to see if the treatments helped any. He's had an awful time with the treatments. He's a realist and given what the doctors have told him, his chances for surviving aren't very good. I just wonder if the chances are so slim, why put someone through all of this crap? I am glad to see that you are a survivor of this and hope that you continue to stay healthy!! It would be nice to hear from you or anyone that has had to deal with this.

Hopefull08

Katanna
Who was your doctor? Your hospital? My doctor said lets wait and see how this progresses.
I can't wait. What were your first signs? Your blood count?
Thanks, Sharon