Hi my name is Belinda, I had the Ivor-Lewis procedure 9-11-08. I have had the dilation done several times now. They will give your dad an IV and when it is almost time for the procedure they will put 2 different pain meds. into his IV which will basically lightly knock him out to where he won't remember anything. They will insert this little tube thing with a camera on the end of it into your dad's mouth and into his throat into his esophagus, or the small intestine they made for him an esophagus, with this they can slowly dilate a small amount at a time, so as not to tear anything. They will then put him into a recovery space, and when he wakes up and the Doctor talks with whomever takes him you can take him home, and he will be fine right away. He may be some drowsy, but when I wake up that is it I'm awake, but your dad may sleep longer. Tell your dad that if his food gets stuck, the worst thing I have found to help is to drink something, that only makes it 10 times worse to me, and let me tell you have empathy for these spells,as they are horribly painful. Tell him the best thing I have found to do,is to stick his finger down his throat and make himself throw up, I promise it won't hurt him, it will make the pain go away when he throws up what is stuck. Tell his also to chew,chew,chew little bitty bites at a time even this doesn't guarantee that it won't happen anymore. Good luck to him if you need anymore advice please contact me and I will do the same. Does your dad still have his stomach? You can contact me at
--Message edited by CancerCompass staff. For personal protection, email address removed. Consider private reply. Please review CancerCompass Member Guidelines at
http://www.cancercompass.com/common/guidelines.html-- please feel free. I haven't had anyone to talk with until I found this site, so if I can help someone in my shoes I would love too. Good luck tomorrow, but relax it isn't anything major. Take care
Belinda