Nick - Swallow Test & Pathology Report

TerryV
TerryV Member Posts: 887
Nick passed the swallow test yesterday. He said his first drink of grape juice was as good as a steak dinner. The hospital gave him a "menu" today. He's grateful for it even though it's just a choice of liquids. At least it's choices again.

Pathology report has finally come back. It's an "A" according to the doc. The esophagus showed no signs of remaining cancer and all nodes (sorry, don't have a number) came back clean. WOO HOO!

Terry
Wife to Nick
dx Stage 3, May 19, 2011
THE surgery, Sept 8, 2011

Comments

  • paul61
    paul61 Member Posts: 1,391 Member
    Great News!!!
    Terry,

    Wonderful to hear everything is going well. Hopefully you and Nick will be home soon.

    Paul Adams,
    McCormick, South Carolina
  • TerryV
    TerryV Member Posts: 887
    Target Release Date
    Sorry - forgot to mention

    Nick's target release date is either Thursday, Sept. 15 or Friday, Sept. 16. Either one is good by me :)
  • NikiMo
    NikiMo Member Posts: 342
    TerryV said:

    Target Release Date
    Sorry - forgot to mention

    Nick's target release date is either Thursday, Sept. 15 or Friday, Sept. 16. Either one is good by me :)

    Awesome news!
    Hi Terry,

    So great to hear that Nick is doing so well. A clean path report!!!!! So happy for you two. We are still waiting for the pathology report, said we probably wouldn't hear until we get home. He passed his swallow test as well, he had a cherry water ice, I never saw him so happy about food!

    Niki
  • TerryV
    TerryV Member Posts: 887
    NikiMo said:

    Awesome news!
    Hi Terry,

    So great to hear that Nick is doing so well. A clean path report!!!!! So happy for you two. We are still waiting for the pathology report, said we probably wouldn't hear until we get home. He passed his swallow test as well, he had a cherry water ice, I never saw him so happy about food!

    Niki

    Still waiting?
    Oh Niki! I couldn't imagine still waiting for the path report. I was so nervous that I had to go home from work sick yesterday. Just no peace for me until I had that final report.

    LOL about the cherry water ice. I see the same thing in Nick. Wonderful, isn't it?
  • NikiMo
    NikiMo Member Posts: 342
    TerryV said:

    Still waiting?
    Oh Niki! I couldn't imagine still waiting for the path report. I was so nervous that I had to go home from work sick yesterday. Just no peace for me until I had that final report.

    LOL about the cherry water ice. I see the same thing in Nick. Wonderful, isn't it?

    Conflicted on waiting
    Yeah no path report yet, I have waited so long that I am not sure I want to know now. Of course we need to know, I just would like to stick my head in the sand at this point. It is great to see Jeff feeling better, everyday he gets stronger. He is up and walking with more ease and we think the chest tube is coming out today that should make walking easier.

    Is Nick having any trouble with his voice? Jeff is on a thick liquid diet because of his vocal cords, he can't have anything too thin because of the cords. They say it will go away with time. It is getting better, but wondering if anyone else is having problems with voice strength.

    Niki
  • TerryV
    TerryV Member Posts: 887
    NikiMo said:

    Conflicted on waiting
    Yeah no path report yet, I have waited so long that I am not sure I want to know now. Of course we need to know, I just would like to stick my head in the sand at this point. It is great to see Jeff feeling better, everyday he gets stronger. He is up and walking with more ease and we think the chest tube is coming out today that should make walking easier.

    Is Nick having any trouble with his voice? Jeff is on a thick liquid diet because of his vocal cords, he can't have anything too thin because of the cords. They say it will go away with time. It is getting better, but wondering if anyone else is having problems with voice strength.

    Niki

    Hoarse after walking
    Nick, as a 35 year smoker, is kicking lots of crud up from his lungs. The only time I hear a change in his voice is immediately following walking. It's much deeper and raspy. He coughs, spits, and then it's pretty well back to normal.

    Doc told us that there could be voice issues as the neck incision is very close to the vocal chords. Like your doc, he said it wouldn't be lasting though - just takes time.

    Nick had me bring him a button down shirt today so he could get rid of the hospital gown. Durn chest tube! :) It's not draining too much yuck any longer so maybe Nick will lose his in the next day or so.

    Prayers to you guys for a clean path report. I can't begin to tell you what it did for me.

    Terry
  • NikiMo
    NikiMo Member Posts: 342
    TerryV said:

    Hoarse after walking
    Nick, as a 35 year smoker, is kicking lots of crud up from his lungs. The only time I hear a change in his voice is immediately following walking. It's much deeper and raspy. He coughs, spits, and then it's pretty well back to normal.

    Doc told us that there could be voice issues as the neck incision is very close to the vocal chords. Like your doc, he said it wouldn't be lasting though - just takes time.

    Nick had me bring him a button down shirt today so he could get rid of the hospital gown. Durn chest tube! :) It's not draining too much yuck any longer so maybe Nick will lose his in the next day or so.

    Prayers to you guys for a clean path report. I can't begin to tell you what it did for me.

    Terry

    One more question
    Is Nick going to do any more chemo? Jeff's oncologist said that most likely we would be doing more chemo, regardless of the what the path report says. Was Nick told that too?

    Niki
  • TerryV
    TerryV Member Posts: 887
    NikiMo said:

    One more question
    Is Nick going to do any more chemo? Jeff's oncologist said that most likely we would be doing more chemo, regardless of the what the path report says. Was Nick told that too?

    Niki

    Not yet
    The oncologist had not yet come around by the time I left for work this morning. Nick hasn't said anything yet, so I doubt that he's been there. I don't recall hearing that post-op chemo is the norm for our center though. So I doubt it.

    Wish I knew if I should request it. Oh Lordy, Nick would hate me!.....
  • Donna70
    Donna70 Member Posts: 852 Member
    TerryV said:

    Not yet
    The oncologist had not yet come around by the time I left for work this morning. Nick hasn't said anything yet, so I doubt that he's been there. I don't recall hearing that post-op chemo is the norm for our center though. So I doubt it.

    Wish I knew if I should request it. Oh Lordy, Nick would hate me!.....

    great news!!
    Great to hear that Nick has passed the swallowing test and no positive nodes!!!! This is just great, if he thinks liquids are good wait till he gets the food!!! thanks for sharing!! take care,
    Donna70
  • Joel C
    Joel C Member Posts: 174
    Donna70 said:

    great news!!
    Great to hear that Nick has passed the swallowing test and no positive nodes!!!! This is just great, if he thinks liquids are good wait till he gets the food!!! thanks for sharing!! take care,
    Donna70

    Oh that first sip!

    Happy to hear Nick is moving along and really happy to hear all was good with the pathology. I remember the first thing I was given was a little sips of water then moved to Italian ice. I don’t believe I’ve ever tasted anything in my life as good as those first few Italian ice cups.

    Keep pushing forward,
    Joel
  • Ericalynn
    Ericalynn Member Posts: 200
    Swallow Study
    So happy for Nick that he passed the swallow study! John has a very small leak so no grape juice yet!
    Erica
  • TerryV
    TerryV Member Posts: 887
    Ericalynn said:

    Swallow Study
    So happy for Nick that he passed the swallow study! John has a very small leak so no grape juice yet!
    Erica

    Thinking of John
    I see now how precious those 1st sips really are to the EC patient. I hope John's leak resolves quickly so he can move on to some quality intake and not just water swabs. I can't begin to imagine how frustrating those days must be with only swabs.

    Hope John's progress is good :)

    Terry
  • jojoshort
    jojoshort Member Posts: 230 Member
    Great news here!
    Are you home yet? So glad things are going well.
    Jo-Ann
  • TerryV
    TerryV Member Posts: 887
    jojoshort said:

    Great news here!
    Are you home yet? So glad things are going well.
    Jo-Ann

    Home! What a wonderful place :)
    Jo-Ann,

    We were able to return home after only 1 week in the hospital. Nick's surgeon said that he broke records for quickest release following a major surgery. It is truly amazing. He is doing really well and has virtually no pain from surgery. His challenge is learning how to adapt to a new stomach and how to stop eating when everything tastes so good :) Wonderful things to complain about.

    Thank YOU for asking! Hope you are well.

    Terry