1 Week Post Surgery

I finally got to go home yesterday. In all, I stayed at the hospital for a total of 6 day – not bad at all considering what I’ve been though.

Things have improved little in the last few days – I still feel weak, not being able to breathe as deeply as before, neck ache, abdominal pain when I cough, muscle atrophy, throat pain when I swallow my saliva. In all, it feels like I’ve been run-over.

But things are going as expected, I guess. Its just really, really rough right now.

They currently have me on tube feedings through my j-tube almost all of the day. I have an appointment next week for them to determine if there are any leaks when I swallow liquids. If that goes ok then I’ll go on a liquid diet for several days then to soft foods after that. I’ll gradually lower my tube feedings when I take on more food by mouth

- total of 9 incisions (2 1-inch side incisions for chest tubes, 5 0.5-inch port incisions, 2 4-inch incisions one in the neck and the other in the abdomen).



Before....



.... and after.



This is my esophagus that they removed with 25% of my stomach. Sorry if this grosses anyone out.

3rd Day Post Surgery

It’s very unpleasant as I write this so I’ll make it quick. The operation was a success and I’m still alive. It took 10 hours in all – unlike the 4 hours I was told before-hand. I don’t remember all that much anymore of the surgery including the day after so I can’t comment much. The last few days, however, have been extremely tough. There wasn’t nearly as much pain as I expected – its been really well taken care of to where its nearly a non-issue. The biggest problem I currently face, though is breathing problems. It seems as though I can’t expand my lungs enough to take a full breath.

All Is well

...few minutes later: now they tell me everything is OK. I'm all cleared with my insurance company. Yay!

....now I'm at the pre-op room and changed into the hospital gown. Oh how I love to wear these hospital gowns (being sarcastic).

Slight Mishap

It is currently 5:15 near the admissions office at the UCLA hospital. Apparently when I arrived here they told me they have not yet cleared the surgery with my insurance company and that the secretary working on the case wouldn't come in until 9am. Ack!

The mix-up could have happened because I switched my schedule to an earlier time (my awesome surgeon called me up personally and asked me if I wanted an earlier time since his other patient canceled). I guess the other people didn't know about the time change.

Last Posting Before Surgery

I've just finished my last set of pre-ops and I'm all set tomorrow morning for my surgery. Everything went well for my endoscopic ultrasound - my gastroenterologist says there was no endoscopic evidence of the tumor, which is good news and what I was expecting.

I also had a meeting with my clinical coordinator discussing the procedure in detail and what to expect before and after surgery. I must say the details of the aftermath of surgery were very disturbing for me and I'm still in shock that I'll be going through with this. For one thing, I didn't know that I'll have a drainage tube coming out of my neck for over a week! WTF!? I imagine there will be at least 3 more drainage tubes coming out of me and that I'll also be connected to a bag of liquid nutrition through my j-tube for 20 hours out of the day for a week. F**k! Oh yeah, and probably the worst part is another tube through my urethra going into my bladder! ACK! That's gonna hurt for sure!

Shit! Shit! Shit! I can't belive I'm actually going through with this!

I fucking hate cancer! Damn! This is so unfair! AHHHHRG! Shit! ....ok, I just had to vent of some anger.

Anyways, my surgery will start early tomorrow morning around 8am or so but I have to get to the hospital by 5am. I'll try to update my blog as soon as I'm capable of doing so after waking up... which will probably be a day after surgery.

Wish me luck!

Trip To Grand Canyon

As for enjoying my last few days before surgery I spontaneously decided that my family and I visit the Grand Canyon. It was one of the two things I had in mind doing before surgery - the other was purchasing a $9k GSX-R600 Suzuki sports bike (my dream bike). My mom and sister convinced me that now was probably not the right time for spending all that cash. And even though I wanted to get that bike so much, the thought of spending that much makes me sick more than chemotherapy. One of these days I will have that bike. My precious….

It’s not the first time I’ve visited the canyon. The last time was about 12 years ago and only spent about 30mins viewing the canyon before heading towards Sedona, Arizona. This weekend, however, was the full experience (well, for the most part). We left Saturday morning at 11am – just 2 hours after I decided to head down there. I drove the WHOLE way there with two stops for gas – a total of 500 miles in about 9 hours (there was traffic). That’s a new record for me; I’m surprised of my driving endurance (all without coffee!!). We arrived about 8pm (that’s 9pm Arizona time) or so and spent the night at the Holiday Inn. We had dinner at the “Coronado Room” at the Best Western Hotel (it was one of only two places that was still open!). Dinner was great (I had the Filet mignon) but the temperature outside was literally freezing cold. I was not prepared at all. All I wore were shorts and a T-shirt. Luckily I always have a sweater in my car handy. It was about 30 deg. F. and there was snow and ice just about everywhere. Ok, I didn’t mind the cold that much – and I enjoyed the snow. I consider the snow to be the highlight of my trip (well, after the canyon, of course) since I haven’t seen snow in so long. I felt like a kid again stomping on a pile of snow. LOL.
\
The next morning we headed out to the canyon’s south rim – the most popular spot for the canyon. And boy was it packed! The only parking spots left were handicap. Thankfully, California considered me to be a cripple and awarded me a handicap placard. You can’t imagine how much time that placard has saved me in finding and waiting for parking spots. Just about everywhere I parked around the canyon I used the placard because there was no other place to park! Hey, I deserve it after what I’ve been through,

The views of the canyon were unquestionably spectacular. The touch of snow around the canyon just made it that much more fabulous. I tempted fate several times by leaning over ledges – hey, it’s what makes me feel alive inside. I find myself to be more of a risk taker since being diagnosed with one of the worst cancers there is. And I’m ok with that. My mom, however, is not. After spending a few hours gazing the beauty of the canyon (and slipping on the slippery ice on the trail), we had lunch at the famous El Tovar lodge/hotel. Great dining experience with a fabulous view of the canyon a few hundred yards away. What takes the cake though is our 1 hour helicopter tour around the canyon. It was awesome! Not only was it my first helicopter ride, but we were going over the canyon itself! It was expensive as heck, but I guess it was worth it for the experience. A truly memorable experience that no one would forget. Next time: water rafting on the Colorado river!

Esophagectomy In 7 Days

Weight: 135
Pain: 0/10
Nausea: 0/10
Depression: 1/10
Tiredness: 0/10
Swallowing Difficulty: 1/10

Well, looks like I'm going to go through with it after all. The surgery is scheduled for next week on 2/21! I have 7 days before my life will forever be changed...hmmm, I'm not sure how to spend that time, but I'll think of something special. I also have pre-operative tasks to complete next week before surgery - pulmonary function test, another endoscopic ultrasound, and an EKG. All of that is just to prepare me for surgery....fun, fun, fun, heh.

I'm not as worried about surgery as before (most likely from all the medications I'm taking), so I'm not too anxious or depressed over it (just a little). Talking with my surgeon helped a lot in calming me down and this surgery is certainly the best course for me to avoid re-occurance.

Don't worry, I'll keep you all posted.


...thanks for the card, Linda B! =)