The vagus nerve (cranial nerve X (10))... you don't want to see the organ innervation of this nerve (it'd be easier to list what these nerve branches don't control!).

The problem for us is allowing (maybe hoping?) our bodies to find a new way (after esophagectomy) of getting the old job of digestion done once again. I often refer to our first year or two post-op as a time when our bodies are re-wiring themselves without certain vagus nerve branches.

Now... do our bodies actually re-wire themselves? All I can say is ... is that things have changed massively for me the past 4 years. The first many months post-op... NOTHING worked well. I'd put food and drink down my throat... and my body had a shitfit (medical term). I would get flushed, heart rate out of whack, breathing harder, nauseous some, stomach (or new stomaphagus creation) hurting a bunch... dumping syndrome with intestinal spasms soon to follow. And much softer stools, even gaseous diarrheal explosions! And this lasted for what seemed like an eternity.

But... as the many months rolled by... these crazy symptoms I was seeing slowly (and I do mean painfully sloooowly)... started to subside. It's as if my body was starting to figure things out... a new way of getting digestion done... without the old set-up. So... is this to be considered "re-wiring"... ya got me.

All I know is that I can eat a lot more, tummy aches few and far between now, I poop like a champ now (and some very nice firmer poops once again). I sleep normally again, flat with head on a single pillow (never saw that being a possibility). So... many things are possible... given enough time... and not giving in to our new rearrangement down below. I suffered but stayed the course, eating what I wanted to... forcing my body to adapt and find a way to get things done. It just took 18 months or more!

But... as for nausea... the problem is... There just aren't any doctors who specialize in nausea. And that's because it is considered a temporary state... due to chemo, or radiation treatments, or from anesthesia effects, or post-op effects, ir being pregnant, etc. It usually passes. So our symptoms are treated with certain meds (like Zofran, Reglan, dramamine, etc)... but mostly doctors just wait for it to pass.

But I know a few post-op patients who have persistent nausea... even years later, and it is not caused by eating even... it can happen at any time of the day. So, does the oncologist have the answer? Or the thoracic surgeon, or GI doctor? Doubtful any of these Docs have a clue. Maybe a neurological specialist is needed... to find a way to permanently block any nerves that carry these nausea signals to our brains. It is puzzling to those I talk to and who come on our Zoom calls.