Post Op

Hello all, this is an update from my 67 year old mother diagnosed back in Sept. 07 with Stage III GE Junction EC.  She had surgery last Tuesday to remove her entire esophagus.  She has recovered well, she was in surgery for over 5 hours and didn't need a ventilator afterwards. She's eating grits this morning, so we are happy about her progress.  She hears gurgling when she eats and I didn't know whether that was normal or not.  I know her stomach is up higher and she may hear more things than usual.  She is also constantly coughing eventhough they are giving her a cough suppressants.  Does anyone have personal experience with this procedure or have a love one who have had this procedure?  I would appreciate any feedback.  Thanks and may all the families that search this site receive many prayers and blessings.   

 

On 2/7/2008 jcurt wrote:

Hello all, this is an update from my 67 year old mother diagnosed back in Sept. 07 with Stage III GE Junction EC.  She had surgery last Tuesday to remove her entire esophagus.  She has recovered well, she was in surgery for over 5 hours and didn't need a ventilator afterwards. She's eating grits this morning, so we are happy about her progress.  She hears gurgling when she eats and I didn't know whether that was normal or not.  I know her stomach is up higher and she may hear more things than usual.  She is also constantly coughing eventhough they are giving her a cough suppressants.  Does anyone have personal experience with this procedure or have a love one who have had this procedure?  I would appreciate any feedback.  Thanks and may all the families that search this site receive many prayers and blessings.   

jcurt,

I am assuming your mother had about the same surgery as I had in Mid-2005. (Esophagogastrectomy - Ivor-Lewis). Any gurgling I had was in or below my abdomen. It went away after a while.  I hope the coughing is sinus drainage and nothing worse. Lots of cold viruses in a hospital.

However, I will say this: I would've given about anything to be able to eat grits one week after surgery. I couldn't swallow 8 days after surgery so they reopened my abdomen to make sure things were not twisted up. As it worked out everything was fine. I just needed more time to heal.

I thought that, even given the delay in swallowing, that I did extremely well. But eating grits in a week? That's great! 

I've done really well and your Mom is ahead of where I was.

Tell her keep up the progress and to MOVE all she can.

Good Luck,

Steve

 Ps. I don't eat my grits like a true Kentuckian. I have to put butter and sugar on them.

 

 

Eating grits in a week! My husband wasn't even allowed to sip his first water till day eight.  Dr was a real stickler about it. She didn't even allow sucking on the little sponges to wet your lips and inside of mouth, and the first two days with liquid were 1 oz cups of water doled out every two hours. I'm guessing the fact she's already eating may be why she is gurgling. It takes a while for the body to know what to do with it's redesigned digestive tract. God bless her.

Thanks for the repsonses.  I didn't know what to compare her recovery to but I was thinking that it was progressing faster than I expected.  I was surprise that she was drinking anything, but when I heard about the grits I felt like saying "we are moving to fast people".  Who am I?  The doctor did a wonderful job with her surgery and she has recovered beyond what anyone expected.  It scares me a little because she went through Chemo and Radiation with minimal side effects (nausea and fatigue).  Once we discovered Zofran, all was better.  I pretty much prepared myself for the worse, lifted her in prayer and encouraged her as much as I could being that I wasn't experiencing any of what she was going through.  My mother is very strong and has been through alot in the last 2 years (divorce after 45 years of marriage that she didn't want but had no choice), but this diagnosis threw her for a loop.  Her surgical oncologist continued to talk with her and that seem to really change her mind set before going into surgery. I am glad to hear that things are better after surgery for you all.  I hope that blessing continue for you and your families.  Be encouraged!