Look... we all travel the post-op road a bit differently. I've talked to hundreds of my fellow EC patients. As I counsel them, one of the things I tell them is to experiment as much as they want... OR... don't experiment AT ALL! Just put up with some misery and keep shoving it in! Force your body to figure things out.
Us esophagectomy patients have most things in common post-op. And some of us have some unique things going on. And comorbidities add to our problems.
For me... I was crazy tight post-op... and that was never going to change. I could not swallow a teaspoon of rice, even at 5 months post-op... it simply would not go down. So at 6 months post-op I got my first of 4 stretches. One a month for 4 months. Didn't take long... put on 20 lbs in less than 2 months! Have now put on 35 lbs total... of the 60 I lost... been holding there for 2 1/2 years now.
But... the first 6 months to year post-op... EVERYTHING have me problems! Was it the amount I was taking in at one sitting? Was it what I was eating/drinking? Was it the temperature of it? Was it the time of day? ALL OF THE ABOVE! And since my tummy always hurt... and later my intestinal pains were crazy... my ass was exploding... regardless of what I was taking in, I thought, why bother trying to find out what's working and what isn't? Because it seems almost nothing is working! So... I made zero adjustments. I wanted to eat like I always did... my body was just going to have figure things out... because I wasn't going to change!!

Yeah... it sure took it's sweet time... 12 to 24 months... but it finally rewired itself to get digestion done again. My new digestive system (without vagus nerves now), understood I wasn't going to change, so it had better get with the program and make changes! The tummy pains (ok, call them dumping syndrome, I don't care), my intestinal cramps (from those gas bubbles moving thru me), and weekly ass explosions... they all slowly lessened... and now, well after 3 years, are almost non-existent. And I'm shocked at how much I can eat these days. Yeah, I still have to watch it... because the thing that can make my tummy hurt is the amount I eat, but that's on me... I'm in control. And of course I still pay attention to bedtime prep rules... that I don't break! But now I also sleep normally again... just my head on a pillow, on my left or right side. But I start out the first hour in bed elevated, on my back, watching TV. Then when sleepy I slide down and go to sleep.

Best of luck. PM me if you'd like.

Gary