idano Blog Network

As mentioned in my last post I was to have a Supercharged Jejunum Esophagectomy in November. I did have the surgery and it went just fine. I was in the the hospital for about 2 weeks afterward and it has been about 5 weeks since I was released from the hospital. I’ve been back to the doctor for follow ups and according to them I am recovering just fine.

As a part of my overall health management I had my regularly scheduled CT scan last week and it came back clean – no cancer to be seen. As you can imagine this is welcome news. Officially I have now been cancer free for 1 year since it has been that long since my last treatment. I will have another scan in 3-6 months as apart of my overall follow up plan. It is sure nice to be cancer free .

The New Year

I think the nicest thing about going into the new year is that I do not have any procedures scheduled. I don’t have any tests scheduled. I don’t have anything wrong with me that leaves that little bit of uncertainty in the back of your mind. It is nice to be in this place after 2 1/2 years.

I do have my ailments and am on medications to help with those. But if I am given the opportunity to recover and heal like I need to then those should dissipate as time goes on. From here on out the posts about my health should be few and far in between.

Thank you to everyone that supported me during this time. All of your prayers and positive thoughts really helped me make it through. I look forward to returning to as much of a normal life that is possible.

Sunrise photo courtesy of Hassan9 via deviantart.com

The Short

I am having esophageal reconstruction surgery on November 16, 2011.

This surgery is similar to the one I had in June of 2010 except that it is going to be in Houston with a different surgeon. The reason that I am having this second surgery is that there were a couple of areas that were brought together during the first surgery that never had the tissue and/or blood vessels connect. This is what has been causing the scar tissue to grow all this time. With this new surgery I will also have a plastic surgeon who will concentrate on these connections to try and ensure that this does not happen again.

The Long

The journey leading up to this second surgery has been one filled with tens of procedures, tests, and unfortunately emergency hospital stays. The funny thing is that all the procedures that I have endured for the last year+ were to try and save me from having the surgery that I am about to have. Unfortunately all the procedures that I endured ended up becoming more dangerous then the surgery itself, go figure.

This is the tally of procedures, tests, and hospital stays that I have had since my last post in March:

• Stents: 1
• Dilations: 3
• Laser ablations: 10
• Emergency Room visits: 5
• Tests (CT, swallow, etc): 5
• Days in Hospital: 22 days
• Units of blood transfused: 14-16
• Ambulance rides to emergency room: 1
• Helicopter rides to trauma center: 1

On average I was having a procedure, emergency, or test every 2-3 weeks for the last 6-7 months. That’s one reason why I was not posting here on my site. There was just too much going on in such a small time frame that it was impossible to keep up with it here.

The event that stands out most to me during this period was an emergency hospitalization that happened in early September. It included the helicopter ride, 10-12 units of blood, and hospitalization for 7 days in which 2 were in ICU. It was this event that caused my wife and I to reevaluate everything and decide on having surgery. I will spare everyone the details but I believe this is the closest I have ever come to losing my life. I didn’t see the white light or anything but for all intents and purposes most people don’t live through what I went through in early September.

Surgery Details

My wife and I talked with 3 different surgeons before deciding to go with the one in Houston. She is a specialist in the type of surgery that I need and considered one of the best in the country. Her patients and the staff that she works with speak very highly of her. I have already been under her care for a test and a couple days in the hospital and am convicted that she is the best choice for this important event.

If everything goes as it should in the surgery I should be out of the hospital within 2 weeks. I also should not need any follow up procedures and should be able to sleep lying flat again (Yah!). Acid reflux should no longer be and issue either.

I am really looking forward to getting this surgery done, recovering, and getting on with my new life. I am not sure what that entails but I am looking forward to finding out.

I don’t expect to give blow-by-blow updates of the surgery or my recovery afterward but I will update here and there to let folks know how I’m doing. I will probably update more often on Facebook so if we are friends there you’ll be privy to more info. If we are not Facebook friends yet and we do know each other make a request and I’ll approve it. Here is my page – Dan Masters on Facebook

It has been nearly 8 months since I have posted on this site. Like many Christians I was going really well for a while proclaiming God’s greatness and faithfulness but when things got tough I stopped.

I guess that is the what the emnemy wanted.

For some reason I got it in my mind that if I was going through difficult times then I must not be in right standing with God. After taking a step back I realize that is not true. In fact the opposite seems to be reality. If you are truly being effective for God then the enemy is not going to leave you alone.

The bible says:

Many are the afflictions of the righteous, But the Lord delivers him out of them all. (Psalm 34:19 NKJV)

The Last 8 Months

I think I have had more affections in the last 8 months then I did in the previous 8 months. That is saying a lot since I battled cancer twice during that time. For me the last 8 months have been filled with tens of medical procedures, ER visits, and hospital stays. In fact as I write this, I have been in the hospital for 3 days after a very scary medical emergency that landed me in the ER, which resulted me being admitted into the hospital.

I won’t go into details because that is not whist this post is about. This post is about God’s faithfulness.

See, even though I have been through so many things in the last 8 months God has delivered me out of each and every one of them. He has done that regardless of how much time I have spent in prayer or read my bible. His faithfulness to me has been consistent regardless of my inconsistency to Him.

Seeing His faithfulness it makes me so grateful to have Him in my life.

Yes, I have been through a lot of trials and tribulation in the last 8 months. But in the same time I have seen God do amazing and wonderful things. I look forward to what the next 8 months have to bring!

Yes, that is right, it has been a year since I had the surgery in which they got “all the known” cancer out. They must have been right because as of today I am still cancer free. That’s pretty cool. There were several points along that way where I wasn’t sure that I would make it this far.

Thank you doctors and God!

I am still going through some procedures in order to clean up some of the side effects of the chemotherapy and radiation but those are nothing compared to actually going through chemotherapy/radiation. I will be done with them soon so I will just concentrate on getting my strength and endurance back.

Thank you to everyone that has sent their prayers and positive thoughts my way. They definitely made a difference over this past year!

Yep, I am without a stent once again. It was not planned this way but with what my doctor saw in my semi-emergency EGD yesterday he thought it was the best thing.

What he saw was that the area of irritation that was there 2 weeks ago was more irritated. When he biopsied it 2 weeks ago it was cancer free and he still thinks it is. His reasoning for why it is there and getting bigger is that the stents are rubbing in that area.

How This All Came About

To rewind a little bit, this all came about because I called my GI doc on Monday to tell him that food had been getting stuck, and whether this was normal for the new stent that was placed 2 weeks ago? He said no, this was not normal and got me in for a chest x-ray the same day. He wanted to see if the stent had migrated down into my stomach.

The results of the test were negative. No, the stent looked like it was in the same spot.

I told him that when the food was getting stuck it was different then in times past as it seemed deeper, like it was at the bottom end of the stent. He said we should go take a look and scheduled me the next morning for an EGD.

I had the EGD and he saw that the inflammation was indeed larger and that it was almost a complete blockage at the bottom of the stent. I had called yet another time. He took several larger pieces of the inflammation to biopsy. He still does not think it is cancerous but we need to check none the less.

Side Note – Biopsies themselves aren’t nearly as bad as waiting for the results.

At this point he is consulting his mentor who trained him to see what the best course of action is. We will probably put another stent in soon to buffer until a final decision can be made. Unfortunately my esophagus can only go a week or two before it closes enough to where I cannot eat.

That kind of picks up where we left off.

So What Are My Options?

Unfortunately they are few and not well established.

See the problem is that most people who have had the type of cancer that I’ve had with treatment and surgery that I’ve had, don’t live this long. I’m the exception. So I have all these doctors standing around scratching their heads trying to figure out how to fix this so I can live life.

So here are the options that I know of as of today:

1. Put in shorter stents every 4-6 weeks (what we have been doing) And still try to figure out a long term solution
2. Try the new non-invasive surgery that is done like an EGD through my mouth into my throat
3. Do the big surgery that goes through the ribs where they cut the esophagus and put it back together again

I am not too fond of option #1 and everyone, especially me, do not want to do option 3. Number 2 is a pretty new procedure and there is no guarantee it will work. In fact there is no guarantee with any of these that they will work.

In terms of risk #3 is the worst. It is a major surgery and I have already had it once. I would really have to be talked into this one. #1 isn’t really a solution but I am putting myself at risk every 4-6 weeks which really opens me up to having something bad happen. If that bad thing happens then we are talking an emergency helicopter ride and basically surgery #3. Not good. I am not familiar with #2 enough to know the exact risks but I believe they are similar to the risks of a standard EGD. But that risk would be once as opposed to many times like #1.

Wrap Up

So there it is, the last major medical thing that I am facing is demanding that it be resolved. That in itself is not such a bad thing. Better sooner then later I suppose. I just wish the options were a little more attractive.

Oh, and in case you are wondering, yes, I would rather be facing this then anything like what I had to face with cancer. Cancer sucks and I wouldn’t wish it on anyone.

OK. I will stop my whining/rant now knowing that there are a lot of people out there that have it much worse then I do. This is Dan signing off for now. Asta!

I had my latest procedure to swap out stents on Tuesday and everything went great. It was the best procedure so far from both the doctor’s and my prospective. I was eating that night and have literally had no pain.

This new stent is slated to be left in for 4-6 months as opposed to the 6 months of the previous stents. I will get a checkup in 6-8 weeks just to make sure everything is looking alright. If everything does look good we will leave it in for a couple of more months. We are still looking into the non-invasive surgery that may eliminate my need for stents. It would be really nice to have that and be done with all of this. Also, I got the results back from my biopsies and everything looks good which is just more good news.

I am really thankful that everything went so smooth this time around.

As mentioned before I had my stent in my esophagus replaced last Wednesday. Aa a part of every EGD to replace the stent my GI doctor does biopsies to make sure the cancer has not come back. He also checks my small intestine to see how the villi are doing from me having celiac disease.

In both cases everything looks good – no sign of cancer and my villi have all grown back so their is no sign of celiac disease. That does not mean I can now eat gluten but does mean that my body has healed itself and is absorbing nutrients like it is supposed to now.  This is good because it means that I get more out of the food that I eat then ever before.

Throat Pain

Unfortunately with all that good news I am not feeling all that great. When my GI doc removed the old stent I bled – a lot. Then, when placing the new stent he put it in a little different position (on purpose) and therefore my throat is not used to having something there and so it hurts.

I was OK in the hospital when they had me on morphine for two days but for the last 3 days I have been on vicodin and it is not cutting it. I went to a pain management appointment yesterday morning and they gave me something different that is supposed to be in between vicodin and morphine and should last longer. I took it last night and it does help without making me feel out of it like the morphine and the vicodin do.

I was a little concerned with the amount of pain I have been in the last few days but my wife reminded me that when my first stent was put in that it was a very similar experience. Funny, that was less then 6 months ago but I had forgotten. If this time is similar then it may be a few weeks before all of the pain goes away. I made it through the first time though and will make it through this time as well.

Thanks

Thanks again to everyone for their prayers and good wishes. Your encouragement is greatly appreciated.

I am out of the hospital after having my 4th stent taken out and my 5th stent placed in my throat. The hospital stay was not planned on but I was not feeling that great after the procedure so I decided to play it safe and stay for pain management and observation. I think both my throat and I are getting a little tired of getting tugged on every 6 weeks. The last few days flew by, thanks to God, and morphine. I am on a vicodin regime for a couple days as my throat adjusts to it new plastic friend.

I Really Need a Permanent Solution

My GI doc is starting to think that pulling these things out and putting in a new one every 6 weeks for the next couple of years probably isn’t the best plan. The problem is that nobody knows a better plan at the moment. My GI doc is starting to talk about reaching out across the country to find a better and permanent solution. If anyone that they can refer me to I would appreciate it.

A Recap of My Diagnosis

I have a Benign Esophageal Stricture as a result of having an Ivor Lewis Esophagectomy. The surgery was in June 2010 in response to reoccurring esophageal cancer that showed up after chemo and radiation. The result of the surgery was that approximately 1/2 of my stomach and 1/2 of my esophagus where removed. According to the surgeon all of the known cancer was removed from my body and I have been cancer free as of the time that I am writing this.

Since the surgery I have had 4 dilations and have had 5 stents placed in my esophagus. I have only been without a stent since the surgery for about 10 weeks – 6 weeks right after the surgery and 4 weeks between the 3rd and 4th stent. The two times I have been without the stent the first time it completely closed off and the second time it was down to 5 millimeters. The stent that I currently have placed is 18mm and I am scheduled to have it replaced in another 6 weeks.

My throat does not like the stent as the last 2 times I had the stents removed the muscle started growing over the stent. This has caused it to be more difficult to remove and cause more damage to my throat each time. Due to the difficulty in removing the stent it is more painful each time and has increased my recovery time from the procedure.

Possible Solutions

The only real solution that has been discussed at this time has been another surgery. The issue with this is that surgery is what caused this in he first place. Also, I don’t really have that much esophagus and/or stomach to spare so it would be kind of a big deal like the first surgery was.

Is a pemenant stent possible? Can we have a minor surgery that only gets rid of the scare tissue? These and many more questions are the ones that I hope to answer in the near future.

Again, if you know anyone who has gone through something like this before or happens to be a kick-ass Cardiothoracic surgeon please shoot me their info.

That’s right, yesterday was my last dose of chemo!

I am very happy to be all done and am actually feeling pretty well, actually I feel the best I ever have after a dose.

From here I have a couple of follow up appointments for the side effects from this last dose and then I have a CAT scan in about 3 weeks. After that I won’t have a CAT scan for another 6 months and I don’t see my oncologist until then as well. Basically they don’t want to see me any more, which I don’t mind .

I really am looking to get my energy back and trying to get back to work to keep myself busy.

Thank you for everyone’s prayers and support during this time. I could not have done it without you!

My GI doctor has successfully removed the stent from my throat. He said he had to tug on it a little to get it out but other then that the procedure went smooth. My throat is a little scratchy but that is to be expected.

The hope is that my throat will remain open to where I won’t need any more dilations or another stent. We will just have to monitor it and see how things work out. I am expecting that everything will be just fine .

Related posts:

1. 4th Stent Out, 5th Stent In
2. 5th Stent Out and the 6th “Long Term” Stent is In
3. Stent and Chemo Status – 4 Weeks Later

After discussing it with my wife I have decided to postpone my next dose of chemo.

The reason for this is that the cumulative effects of the last 4 doses of chemo are really beginning to take their toll on me. Tomorrow will be 3 weeks since my last dose yet I feel like I am at the 3-4th day since my last dose. I am nauseated more then I have ever been and I have neuropathy (numbness and sensitivity to cold) in my body, especially in my figer tips to where I freezing cold most of the time. Last night I had to sit on my hands for almost 45 minutes to get them to warm up.

The neuropathy is of concern because I am told that once it shows up that it does not go away for a long while.

There was already talk of reducing my dose of chemo that I was supposed to get tomorrow but after the week that I have had I cannot imagine taking another dose and making myself feel worse. My hope is that I can take the next 3 weeks off from chemo, get back on my feet, and then finish up my last two doses from there if appropriate. I don’t want to drag it out any longer but I really need to give my body a chance to catch up.

I would appreciate everyone’s happy thoughts and prayers over the next couple of weeks so my body can recover to the point that I can get this finished up.

Related posts:

1. I Am Done with Chemo and Radiation!
2. Stent and Chemo Status – 4 Weeks Later
3. I Am Done with Chemo!

I had my 3rd round of chemo today. I am doing very well so far. I hope the next few days are the same. That means that I am half way done and only have 3 more to go.

The other good news is that this is the first week that I GAINED weight instead of loosing it since I started chemo. I only gained 2 1/2lbs but I’ll take what I can get, I’m too skinny now!

Thank you for everyone’s prayers. I can feel them and they do make a difference .

Related posts:

1. I Am Postponing My Next Dose of Chemo
2. Stent and Chemo Status – 4 Weeks Later
3. I Am Done with Chemo and Radiation!

Unfortunately I had a pretty bad sinus infection this past weekend and need to see a doctor. I had been to St. David’s Urgent Care in Round Rock that is by HEB before so I wanted to go to the same place. I Googled them to find the phone number to see if they were open but unfortunately the didn’t come up in Google at all. The only location that did was the main St.David’s hospital on 620.

Anyway, I thought I would post their information here so that if someone else is looking for their address and/or phone number they would have an easier time then I did. So here it is:

St. David’s Urgent Care – Round Rock
1700 Palm Valley
Suite 370
Round Rock, TX 78665

Phone: (512)341-6000

Hours: 8am-8pm 7 days a week

As mentioned, I hope this helps someone find them a little quicker then I did.

Related posts:

1. iPhone 3G Reception in the Austin & Round Rock Areas
2. Austin Community College Coming to Round Rock
3. Third Round of Chemo

It has been 4 weeks ago today that I had the stent put in my throat. As of today I am doing great and actually had Chipotle for lunch. Yah! Unfortunately the weeks leading to this week weren’t all that great. I am thankful to have them behind me.

I had the stent put in 4 weeks ago today which was exactly one day after my first dose of chemo – which was not a good idea. Unfortunately the stent did not initially go where they wanted it to and I spent a couple of days in the hospital on a heavy dose of morphine and anti nausea medication. Eventually the stent did work it’s way to the right place and I was sent home.

At home I had to deal with the side effects of the chemo and the stent. With the chemo it was a lot of nausea and fatigue. With the stent it was the sensation of something always being stuck in your throat and the gag reflexes that come with that. By the time I started to get over the side effects of both of those it was time to have another dose of chemo. Bah!

I had my second dose of chemo a week ago today. It was not as bad as the first dose but there was still some nausea, lack of appetite, and fatigue. As of this past weekend I started to feel better and yesterday and today have actually been quite good. I have a little bit of a metal taste in my mouth from time to time but the nausea is gone and so is the fatigue. I am starting to get my appetite back as well which is nice. Chipotle never tasted so good.

Going Forward

From here I still have 4 doses of chemo. My expectation is that I should be able to manage the side effects a little better then these two past times so it should not be as bad. I may get a little more fatigued overall but I am felling pretty good right now so I am not to concerned about that. I am also having my current stent taken out and having another put in. This is scheduled to happen next week.

I am honestly not looking forward to this because of what happened last time. It should go much better though because my esophagus is at 18mm now and it being narrow was the major reason I had issues last time. I will be happy if I don’t need to stay in the hospital .

The plan is that we will leave this new stent in for another 5-6 weeks and then take it out. We will not put another one in. The hope is that my esophagus will have stay open on it’s own. If anything I might just need to have it dilated a time or two in the months afterward.

What About Cancer?

Well, all signs point to there still not being any. My narrow esophagus was a result of the surgery that I had, not cancer, so it looks like we are still in good shape. My Oncologist scheduled a CAT scan a day or two after my next dose of chemo just to make sure. This is not standard but with as quick as it came back last time we are just going to make sure things look good. Also, last time I was in there all the side effects were hitting me pretty hard and I was pretty down. I think he wants me to see the test results to keep me going. I am better now but I could always use more good news.

Conclusion

Overall I am doing great. It has almost been a year since I was diagnosed and I am actually in better shape today then back then. A year ago a could not go up the stairs in my house without getting winded and feeling like I was going to pass out. Yesterday I did 5 flights of stairs with ease. That right there makes me feel great.

Related posts:

1. I Am Postponing My Next Dose of Chemo
2. I Got My Stent Out of My Throat
3. I Am Done with Chemo!

So this past Monday was 6 weeks since I had my esophagectomy. The first 4 weeks went exceptionally well. The 5th and 6th week – not so good. In the end of the 4th week I was eating half of a burrito bowl at Chipotle in one sitting. For the last 2 weeks I can get water down my throat if I am lucky.

The Pill

This turn of events from eating to not eating all started with a pill. I had been doing so well eating that I got cleared to take pain medication via a pill as opposed to liquid. I decided to start small and try a Tylenol gel cap. As soon as it cleared to back of my throat I felt it stick.

I waited out the night but it still felt like it was stuck so I went to the ER. They did an emergency EGD on me and while the pill was no longer there the are of the surgery was extremely irritated. I was sent home and told to do liquids for 48hrs which I did. On the third day I was back at Chipotle. By the second bite I felt like something might be stuck again. As the day went on the sensation went away but things were slow in going down. The next day it was worse. The day after that I could not get water down my throat.

Another trip to the ER

This time they did find something stuck and removed it. They also saw that the diameter of my esophagus was even smaller. It was now about the diameter of a pen or pencil. I was placed on clear liquids only and sent home. I stuck to the restriction of clear liquids but by Monday the following week getting water down was again an issue.

That same day I had a visit to discuss the plan to get me back to normal with my GI doctor. He had scheduled me for another EGD the following day (today as a matter of fact) to do another dilation. Unfortunately he didn’t (and couldn’t) have much of a plan because he needed to see how my esophagus. We discussed more dilations, maybe a stent, and maybe another surgery. We would just have to see.

The EGD Results

The result of today’s EGD is that my esophagus was 4mm in diameter and he dilated me to 8mm. A normal person’s esophagus is 18mm so mine with the dilation is less then half of most people. I am on liquids only which is fine with me since I could not get anything down before today.

With what my doctor has seen with today’s procedure he has decided that a stent is the best course of action. The reason for this is that my esophagus is just not responding well to dilation and so doing several more of those isn’t going to help. They have already contacted the stent company and are hoping to have it placed within the next week.

The stent is not a permanent solution as it comes with it’s own set of restrictions. It will however allow me to eat and prevent things from getting stuck. I see a lot of soups in my future .

My Take

While this has been a rough 2 weeks I am glad that we are making progress. I should have this portion of the journey behind me in time for my start of chemo in week. Wish me luck in that journey.

Thanks again to everyone’s help, support, and prayers during this time. It helps more then you know.

Clarification

After reading through all of this I just wanted to clarify that the reason for the narrowing of my esophagus is a direct result of the surgery that I had and not because there is cancer there.

I was a little concerned about this but my GI doc takes biopsies each time he is down there and they each come back negative. So we are not fighting cancer here, we are just experiencing some unfortunate side effects from the surgery that I had. The expectation of everyone is that over time my esophagus will return to a normal diameter and that this will no longer be a issue. I just have to been patient until then.

Related posts:

1. My Official Treatment Plan and Start Date
2. Stent and Chemo Status – 4 Weeks Later
3. Unfortunately I Still Have Cancer

It has been a while since I posted here. The reason for that is that so much has happened in my life in the last few months. Literally my life was going one direction and from one moment to the next it went another direction.

What happened was that I found out that the cancer I thought I had beat had come back. Finding out that news caused my wife and I to make some pretty big decisions in a pretty short time. One of those decisions was to have surgery to remove the parts of my stomach and esophagus that had been cancerous.

I ended up having the surgery two weeks later. The surgery went well and the doctor got all the known cancer out. During the weeks following the surgery I would have my good days and not so good days. I learned to understand that this was apart of recovery. Overall though the first few weeks of my recovery went well.

Unfortunately in the 4th and 5th weeks of recovery I ended up in the emergency room 3 times for various things related to the surgery. None of the items ended up being to serious and I thank God for that. Unfortunately during that time it was hard for me to deal with these medical conditions from day to day.

It was during this time that I began to realize that I needed to learn how to live moment to moment as opposed to day to day.

The reason for this is that I would have good things and not so good things all happen in the same day. It would seem at one moment I was on top of the world and the next I was in the lowest pit. As I started having more and more of these days I realized that I needed to cherish the good moments and not dwell on the bad when they came. By doing this it made the not so good moments more bearable.

Paul said it like this:

I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. – Philippians 4:11-12 NIV

I think that is what I am learning through all of this. I am learning to not let the bad out-shadow the good. Everyday we have on this earth is going to be filled with good and bad. It is up to us what we choose to look at and dwell on. We cannot control the bad news that comes our way but we can control how we react to it.

It has been a while since I posted here. The reason for that is that so much has happened in my life in the last few months. Literally my life was going one direction and from one moment to the next it went another direction.

What happened was that I found out that the cancer I thought I had beat had come back. Finding out that news caused my wife and I to make some pretty big decisions in a pretty short time. One of those decisions was to have surgery to remove the parts of my stomach and esophagus that had been cancerous.

I ended up having the surgery two weeks later. The surgery went well and the doctor got all the known cancer out. During the weeks following the surgery I would have my good days and not so good days. I learned to understand that this was apart of recovery. Overall though the first few weeks of my recovery went well.

Unfortunately in the 4th and 5th weeks of recovery I ended up in the emergency room 3 times for various things related to the surgery. None of the items ended up being to serious and I thank God for that. Unfortunately during that time it was hard for me to deal with these medical conditions from day to day.

It was during this time that I began to realize that I needed to learn how to live moment to moment as opposed to day to day.

The reason for this is that I would have good things and not so good things all happen in the same day. It would seem at one moment I was on top of the world and the next I was in the lowest pit. As I started having more and more of these days I realized that I needed to cherish the good moments and not dwell on the bad when they came. By doing this it made the not so good moments more bearable.

Paul said it like this:

I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. – Philippians 4:11-12 NIV

I think that is what I am learning through all of this. I am learning to not let the bad out-shadow the good. Everyday we have on this earth is going to be filled with good and bad. It is up to us what we choose to look at and dwell on. We cannot control the bad news that comes our way but we can control how we react to it.

So I had my first appointment with my cancer doc today since before my surgery. He went over the pathology report which said that they had gotten all the know cancer out of my body – yah!

He also told me that he was a little concerned with me going into surgery because of one of my lymph nodes that the cancer had spread to. The reason for his concern was due to it’s location – it would be hard to get to. Fortunately he had recommended a great surgeon who did a great job of getting it out.

He had another concern though.

His current concern was that the cancer that I had came back in the same area after being radiated and shot with chemo. That area is now gone but what that means is that this is/was a pretty aggressive cancer. I say is/was because they have taken all known cancer out of my body but the concern is the unknown.

To tackle the unknown we have agreed to do some more chemo starting near the end of July.

When the doc presented the option of chemo that is exactly what it was – an option. I could have opted to do nothing and that would have been acceptable but as I put it to the doc – I am not rolling the dice anymore. I want to do everything possible to make sure that this cancer is completely gone from my body.

It is weird, when I first had cancer I was terrified of chemo, radiation, and surgery and their side effects. Today I am thankful for the surgery I just had am looking forward to chemo. The side effects suck but they are temporary. I am happy that I can have treatment and beat this thing.

So the next few weeks will be for me to recover as much as possible from the surgery. I am confident that I will be able to go through this round of chemo as good if not better then the previous round.

Everyone’s thoughts and prayers are welcome through this leg of the journey!

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Warning – I am writing this post under the influence of a healthy dose of Vicodin. Please excuse anything that may not make sense in this post .

On Wednesday this past week I was released from the hospital. That is 10 days after the Ivor Lewis Esophagectomy Surgery I had.

What is that you may ask?

That is a pretty major surgery where they remove half of your esophagus and half of your stomach and put then back together again. I was in surgery for 5 hours and they made 2 incisions – one down my belly – the other between my ribs on the right side. I was in ICU for the first day (this is standard because of the length of the surgery), on the cardiovascular floor for a day (because of a heightened heart rate), and the rest of the time I was on the pulmonary floor (due to my chest tubes). I am happy to say that I do not remember the first 2-3 days after the surgery.

My recovery went pretty well in the hospital other then having a little air trapped above the outside on my right lung. They monitored it for several days and then figured it wasn’t a big deal. I think the hardest part about recovering in the hospital was the lack of sleep. It is amazing that they expect you to get better when they are waking you up every couple of hours.

I am glad to be at home now to complete my recovery. I am having some pain in the area where they went in near my ribs. I have been able to get a handle on the pain with a heat pad and taking the right dosage of pain medication. When I was in the hospital they were giving me 10ml’s of Vicodin. When I got home I assumed that it was the same. Only after talking to my mom about my pain did I read the label and discover that I was supposed to be taking 15ml’s. Those other 5ml’s make a big difference. So for the most part I have a handle on the pain.

I am pretty swollen in the rib area though. If it does not go down by Monday then I will go in to the doctor to see if there is anything that should be done. I would rather play it safe then have something that could have been easily treated turn into something big.

I want to say thank you to everyone who came and visited me and reached out to me while I was in the hospital. It is always nice to see a friendly face or hear a familiar voice.

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So I got my date for surgery yesterday – Monday June 7th. Yes, that is this Monday. This was a little sooner then I anticipated but at least I will get it done and out of the way.

The Good News

The good news about it is that I will only be in the hospital for a week as opposed to the 2 weeks I thought I was going to be. When I leave the hospital I will be eating again, walking, showering etc. It should be about a week after that when I should be able to return to semi-normal life.

The Not So Good News

The not so good news is that because they are making in incision in my side that I am going to be sore for several weeks after the surgery and the range of motion in my arms is going to be limited. Due to this I will not be able to drive for about 3 weeks after I get out of the hospital. I can go places, I just can’t drive.

My Outlook

I am good spirits but in a little bit of shock. I have a very vivid imagination so sitting in the surgeons office and having him explain what he was going to do to me was a little traumatic. I think I may have gone to my “happy place” a couple of times because I only remember bits and fragments of what the surgeon said.

I did ask him how this was going to compare to me going through chemo and radiation and he said this is nothing like that – it is much easier. That helped me a lot since I know what that felt like. If I could go through that I can go through anything.

Prayer for My Wife

While I am on the subject of surgery I would appreciate your thoughts and prayers for my wife as well. She has been doing great with everything that has been going on with me but is going to be having surgery herself as well. Her surgery is on her eye and it is the day after my surgery. I think she will only be out of commission the day of surgery and maybe part of the next day. It is kind of a lot in a small time frame for both of us but I am confident we will both make it through just fine.

Finally, Thanks

I just want to give a great big thanks to everyone that has reached out to us to help with this latest round of treatment. You all are making a big difference in this going smoothly for our whole family. I look forward to being able to repay you generosity some day in the future.

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