Hi there,

My heart goes out to you as my journey was very similar to what you are going through now. I had a feeding tube for 4 months before it was determined that the chemo and radiation had not dissolved the cancer completely in the tumor in my esophagus. I was recommended for the Ivor-Lewis robotic assist non-invasive surgery and had surgery on Oct. 4th at St. Mary's Hospital in Rochester, MN.

I was in surgery for 9 hours as they had to trim some of the scarring from my lungs due to the radiation treatment. Also, my trachea had fused to my esophagus because of radiation treatments and they needed to carefully cut the tumor away without damaging my trachea. I had the Ivor-Lewis procedure and recovery at St. Mary’s Hospital ( Mayo Clinic) was 8 days. The doctors at Mayo were incredible and I had one of the best thoracic doctors known today to do my surgery (Dr. Luis Tapias-Vargas). The hospital staff was amazing and my recovery was easy and almost pain-free. I loved that they brought in a masseuse to give me a back massage the day after my surgery, and they also did a sleep study on me before I went home to make sure I was getting enough oxygen. The nutritionist and the physical therapists were helpful and still kept in contact with me to check my progress.

I did have to learn how to eat again which was a four-week process before I could eat solid food normally again. The weirdest thing was after four months of not eating, I didn’t want to eat. It was not fun drinking broth and eating only yogurt, jello, or pudding. It took a while to get back in the groove to even wanting to eat, but it did happen. I eat better now than I ever ate before and I had a pretty good diet before.

The best news was when I returned to Mayo Clinic for my post-op PET scan it was determined that I am cancer-free. Yaay!!! Now my greatest challenge with my new-fangled eating system is to maintain my weight. I know it is hard for people to sympathize with someone who has to eat all the time (or try to anyway), but it is a challenge. I can maintain my weight, but haven’t figured out how to gain weight yet. The good news is that I have almost completely recovered. My normal high-energy level has returned and I feel great! I go back to work at the end of this month and I can hardly wait. There is life after cancer, and I know I would not be alive if this had happened to me thirty years ago. I am incredibly grateful!

That’s my story, and if you have any questions I am happy to answer them. I just want to give you hope as I was very scared at the onset of my diagnosis and I know there is potential for cure where in the past that was not the case. Thank God we live in the modern age.

Prayers for you and your husband. It is a long and arduous journey, but there is hope and healing in your future. God bless!