Esophagectomy: What is life like Afterwards?

In reply to @cutbet, I had an esophagectomy on 12/5/25, and I was terrified as well. It is a very complex surgery, so your best bet is to have it done at a major medical center hospital. Mine was at UCLA . I’m a 75 year old woman, and was in pretty good physical condition before the surgery. I was in the hospital for nine days. They removed most of my esophagus, and part of the stomach (in order to reshape it to be able to stretch it up to connect to my throat). They placed a feeding tube (J-Tube) into the upper part of the small intestine, and I had it for more than two months. I was on a continuous feed regimen, so the amount of formula entering my intestines was a very small amount at a time, which is actually quite easy to adjust to. After about six weeks, I was weaned off the tube and began the transition to eating only by mouth. It is a difficult recovery initially, but as of now I feel pretty darn good. I had the tube removed about a week ago (easy, in the doctor’s office). I have to eat small amounts at a time throughout the day, but I’m adjusting to that, and most days I feel fairly normal, and have returned to most of my normal activities, including exercise. It is a daunting journey to look forward to, by I wanted you to know that you can get through it and start living life again! Sending positive thoughts your way for your surgery.

@cutbet Hopefully you saw my longer post about my esophagectomy. But in addition, in answer to your question about not taking in any water, that isn’t true! You will be taking in quite sufficient water as well as nutrition through your feeding tube.

@ajax2026 Hi sorry I didn’t see your post till today. I hope your brother is doing much better. I had every complication including a bad infection in the neck where he cut to access my esophagus and sew it up to my stomach. I am sure your brother will get better quick. I am living pretty much a normal life and maybe partying more than I should. I eat, drink, grill, party, exercise and live normally thank God. Getting off the feeding tube and resuming my own feeding was a struggle cause I kept eating more than I should and I would get cramps for hours, the strictures of my esophagus were another challenge but I overcame doing my own dilations. Hope your brother doesnt get strictures but if he does need to do dilations you can contact me for tips on how to do it.

@manish28 its a personal decision to make and everyone struggles coming to terms with loosing half your stomach and most your esophagus but dealing with chemo and radiation is no picnic.
Doc said he would reccomend surgery to his own father if he was in my shoes so I did and I am doing great now.

Good luck and Godspeed.

@manuelo hello manuelo. i have an update. i just wrote a long note to you and somehow it got lost. sorry if i repeat myself. i'm glad your feeling well 🙂 you said every complication possible... did your lung collapse too??? his lung collapsed, filled with fluid, infection and a leak. its the most feared one 😥 dr. says he's getting better. my sis in law said it was a bad day yesterday. they took a drainage tube out, there was alot of pain. she said, he had to walk a long way to the bathroom and it took everything out of him and lots of pain after. He has a sent in his lung and feeding tube. He's a retired pilot... always fit brave and macho. I worry but a tube coming out is a good thing. many thanks, Christina

hello. the doctor says he's improving... but i wouldnt say "much better"
i'd leave it at improving 💪 he"s still on iv antibiotics, lung stent,
feeding tube and very weak.

*Christina Labrie*
*Labrie Fine Art Conservation*

@cometsmom hello. how do i get a link to the meeting. thank you 🙂 christina

@ajax2026

Zoom call Starting NOW... 9am Eastern. Here's the link... passcode, if asked for, is tuiBE5
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/4550284795

@ajax2026 Hi Christina, I didn’t get a collapsed lung which is a serious complication but its a good thing they are taking care of that for your brother. If he doesn’t feel right about leaving the hospital you and the rest of the family can try to advocate for him and ask they keep him there a bit longer to make sure he is ok. He is very delicate now to go home and go thru another emergency. I was lucky to have a top surgeon at a pretty good hospital so every emergency I had was handled promptly. Don’t let hospital decide for your brother if you guys dont fewl comfortable with decisions on his care. Sometimes we need to advocate for ourselves.

I am not sure how large was my leak but it looked like a sprinkler in the xrays.

@v132077 I did my dilations for three or four months maybe a bit more then stopped mid 2025.

I did another one like four or five months after stopping, then stopped for another five months or so, and I just did another “tune up dilation” a couple days ago when it felt like maybe getting a bit narrower.

Doing great now.