Surgery done

Hi I’m glad your husband made it through surgery ok. So I was in ICU one day but they had me up and walking around the room that day wasn’t easy but it helps. So I also started my breathing exercises that day the more I did the breathing exercises the better I felt. I had the same surgery also. I had a chest tube also that stayed in until after my swallow test which was 7 days after surgery. As for pain medicine I only had Tylenol I didn’t need anything stronger. But we are all different. So I did as much walking and breathing exercises I could so I could recover quicker. Definitely helped I just had to put the work in. The more your husband can do the better he’ll feel. It will take time but I believe your husband will make a good recovery. Wishing you the best keep up the good fight!! Scott

There can be respiratory problems. I went in to resp failure 3 times when they attempted to extubate me. Took a long time and eventually I had a trachy inserted. They had to be careful to not use too much oxygen as it could blow out the new join where the stomach was pulled up to. 2 months in ICU too but getting slowly better. Most of the cases I've read about have been straight forward although everyone responds differently to such a major surgery

He’s on day 2 in the icu and is hooked up to a lot of things. I think he’ll have to lose some of that before he can walk around. I’m concerned because he’s having trouble breathing without the supplemental oxygen. Everything else went so well! I’m not sure when they’re going to start breathing exercises; maybe they feel like he needs to stabilize more. He was having heart palpitations earlier today that were attributed to his electrolytes being low. They gave him some intravenously and that helped. He got such good news from the surgeon and now he’s having so much struggle from the surgery. I’m praying over the next few days he’ll have some improvement. He was on the ventilator longer than he should have been because the paralytic drugs they use during surgery didn’t wear off before he started to wake up and they had to put the ventilator back on him overnight. I wonder if that’s why he’s having breathing issues now. It could just be that his body is still trying to recover.

Since we all react differently to anesthesia it can take time to recover from the operation. Just keep encouraging him that he looks better everyday and he will continue just keep on trying. Keep the faith!! Scott

I realized this morning that his numbers for hemoglobin and hematocrit (I think I spelled that right) are still low, probably from blood loss during surgery. That means he doesn’t have enough oxygen in his blood, which will make it harder to breathe. I think they’re trying to get those numbers to come up and then they’ll start with some breathing exercises. So it’s not that his lungs are bad. It’s that his body is still recovering. His numbers have been slowly improving though. I think that he’s just sore and tired and discouraged. So when I see him today, I’ll mention that. I think he’s afraid his lungs are damaged and I don’t think that’s the case.

Good morning Does your husband have a chest tube in his right side which is a drain tube for his lung. His recovery can take longer because we are all different and we all heal differently. Try and be patient give him time to heal and recover. Also if he does have chest tube if the color is milky he is still clearing out his lungs. That could take time also. There can be complications after this kind of surgery. I know this is not easy but stay positive because how you react can affect him also. Your positive attitude can help him feel better also. Hope this helps you feel a little better. Stay strong! Scott

Today he’s off the oxygen, and tomorrow they are probably going to take out the NG tube and move him out of the icu to a regular room. He got out of bed with a little bit of help from the nurse, brushed his teeth, and sat in a recliner watching tv. The worst things are the NG tube and the pain in his side where the offending stuff was removed. In his case, there was no mass left-the chemo apparently killed it all. The surgeon said he removed about 1/2 the esophagus. He’s still a bit short of breath but they’re going to start therapy tomorrow or the next day. It’s amazing how much he improved from last night to this morning; I didn’t think they were going to be able to move him out of the icu when I left the hospital last night and was very worried about him. They did remove some of the many tubes he had; he still has a couple of drains but I think they might have removed one and hopefully the others will come out soon though the bulb drain in his chest is still active.

That’s great news! When he starts his breathing exercises his breathing will start to improve along with waking. It might take some time so don’t get discouraged stay positive and hopefully he’ll get out of the hospital in about a week. Wishing you all the best. Scott

They still have not started any PT, but after 6 days they moved him out of icu last night (I got a text at 1:30AM from him with his new room #). His new nurse seems very up on getting his nutrition better sorted out. The only movement he’s had aside from bed to chair is walking to the room where the upper GI/swallow test was done. That came back good so now he can have ice chips. We’re hoping they will move to fluids soon. I’m bringing my work with today and camping out in his room. There’s talk of him coming home on Friday now but I want him to stay there as long as he needs to because I can’t do things here that they can do there. I miss him like crazy though. His feeding tube popped out for some reason yesterday (we think it got clogged and the nurse suctioned it too much) but maybe that was a blessing in disguise. It was pretty yucky (the nurses even thought so) from chemo, etc. and it’s nice that he has a new, clean one now that he actually needs to use it. Baby steps!

I’m glad to hear he’s out of ICU. Hopefully he’ll get to walk around more that helps get everything moving. Question does your husband or you flush his feeding tube. I would flush my feeding tube 3 to 4 times a day. Definitely before and after feeding and in between feedings. Helps with hydration also they gave me syringes and I just used water to flush keeps the tube from clogging and keeping it clean. We all recover differently just be patient but positive and keep the faith. Best wishes to you both. Scott