I'll add a bit more. I went on my EC journey completely stupid (let's say uninformed). I stayed completely off the internet... never consulted Dr. Google, not even once. But I think my wife did... and I didn't want to hear any of it. Why did I not research a thing? Probably 3 reasons (in hindsight). 1 - I didn't want to know, I knew cancer was worse than a sprained ankle. 2 - I was lazy. And I didn't want to read a bunch about cancer, figuring out what applies and what doesn't (even though I'm a chemical engineer). 3 - my doctors kept me busy, diagnosis, quickly a J tube, then in 3 weeks, CROSS protocol underway, then 2 months off, esophagectomy, 2 months off, year of immunotherapy. And never any negative talk... I never heard, "stage 3, big ass golf ball tumor in there... ya got maybe 12 months Gary!" My doctors simply said we're giving you chemo and radiation, will scan to confirm all is as it should be, then we'll cut it out. Then we'll monitor you. No talk of immunotherapy upon diagnosis... didn't hear of it until I was told it was starting at 2 months post-op.

So... my ignorance served me well. Why? I feared nothing because I knew nothing... had no clue maybe 50/50 I'd be here in a year... and I'm in a group where only 20% of us will see 5 years (I learned this at 6 months post-op). Also... I had no expectations. Had no clue what chemoradiation would do to me (other than I knew some misery was probably ahead... I had seen some TV shows). I knew little about the esophagectomy other than my surgeon said it is a pretty big operation. Good enough for me. And since I was diagnosed in March 2020, I went on my journey exactly as Covid was starting. Nice. I really didn't even notice Covid... I had my own shitstorm to worry about.

So... the post-op journey. I really didn't understand how, like Frankenstein's monster, we're all put back together, a bit differently. I knew nothing of the vagus nerves, about dumping syndrome, about trying to digest food once more. But this also served me well... because in my mind, I wasn't changing a damn thing... I wanted to eat as I always have, at least in terms of what I ate. We all quickly figure out we have far less room down below now... that becomes painfully apparent. And liquids count now... they didn't used to. And EVERYTHING I ate gave me issues... nasty tummy aches, ass explosions, cramps, fast heart rate, flushness, etc.

So, I toughed it out, not knowing what was ahead. And another bump in the road... my anastomosis was crazy tight. Who knew? But at 6 months post-op I got my first stretch... then 3 more over the next 4 months. Not perfect, but good to go! Still good now 2 years later.

So I have a different perspective now... having gone thru it all so frigging stupid. I was forcing my body to get used to everything I was throwing down the hatch... sweets, carbs, meats, fats whatever. And I simply waited on my body to re-wire itself... find a new way to get that old process of digestion done. And it did, without the vagus highway. But it just took a long time. And as 12 to 18 months went by, the tummy aches lessened greatly, ass explosions too... and I could eat a lot more, even though I still eat more often. And I do eat what I want, no differently than I did 10 years ago. But understand... that was my mindset from the start, because I was so damn stupid about the process. I wasn't one to experiment... like this food doesn't seem to be working, let's eliminate it from the diet for now. Like what!? Who the hell has time to do all that... write all that shit down... trying to lessen tummy pains? I just kept shoving it in... and my body needed to figure it out! And it finally... very slowly, did.