The good news keeps getting better

I finally met with Dr. Shabahang last night. He told me he saved me for last in his rounds because he wanted to end his day on a positive note. As mentioned in the previous post, the infected lymph nodes in my mediastinum turned out to be lymphoma and not esophagus cancer cells which pretty much rules out stage 4. He said it was very rare to have two distinct and unrelated cancers appear at the same time, both seeming to be in early stages. It raises the possibility that the infected lymph nodes surrounding the original esophagus tumor could also be lymphoma... a very treatable form of cancer. If that were the case, it is possible that the original tumor is only stage 2 or possibly even stage 1!

Whether stage 1, 2 or 3, it still means major surgery. He wants me to consider healing from this one and going right into the second one, saving chemo and radiation for later. This would remove all the cancer from my body if it is discovered that the cancers are both in early stages.

The surgery is called an esophagectomy and I will leave the description as a link so most of you can just not click on the link and skip the description. It sounds pretty awful. I can live a pretty normal lifestyle except for eating and sleeping. Accommodations for those activities will be required. There are two approaches:

• A trans-hiatal esophagectomy (THE) is performed on the neck and abdomen simultaneously

• A trans-thoracic esophagectomy (TTE) involves opening the thorax (chest).

I'm leaning towards the latter. But enough of that!

Yesterday and today they've been gradually pulling out tubes and hoses so it is a bit easier to get around. I can't tell you how enjoyable it is to stand upright, brush my teeth and walk around. Not to mention "dangling". There are still 2 tubes that will have to come out before I go home. One that delivers pain medication via an epidural and a chest tube that drains away liquids in the chest cavity. I know, TMI... but you chose to read this and I'm just passing along what I am learning as a surgery virgin.