I’m glad to hear that he is at a rehab facility. I am a nurse at Encompass health rehab and we do specialize in getting surgical patients ready to go home. The therapy will really help him. The nurses will instruct him more and more about the feedings. Even a dietitian is usually on site to be able to go over meal plans for later. In the meantime, the nurses can teach him how to use his J- tube. It’s really good that you learn to use it as well, but if he is able, he should be learning to do it. My husband learned how to feed him self and give him self medication‘s in his J- tube early on. That gave him a sense of independence responsibility for his own feeding. In a few weeks your husband should be able to start eating. Clear liquids first for a week and then full liquids the next week and then soft foods. Now every surgeon is different so follow whatever his surgeon has instructed. This was just my husband’s particular pattern instructed by his surgeon. He has done very well and he’s eating half to 3/4 of a meal at a time. He’s very regimented for caloric intake. After losing 40 pounds from the chemo and radiation, he wants to maintain it and not lose anymore. His surgery was September 28. I can’t believe he can eat sushi and pasta and even enchiladas now. He just takes it easy and stops when he feels fun.
Your husband, John will get there in no time. He just needs to build back his strength. The biggest thing for my husband is his breathing. Due to the chest tube and the spreading of the ribs on the right side, he has struggled with short breaths when he walks. Shallow breaths. But he starts a cardiac rehab on Monday, 6 November. The reason it’s a cardiac rehab is because six weeks prior to his esophagectomy, he had to have a quadruple bypass. This rehab will help him get his stamina back. The second surgery wiped him out.
I hope your husband does very well and that you’ll see some vast improvement. 🙏🙏🙏
Patti