This update is long over due, for that I apologize to those of you that have been following this blog. Early in my recovery period after radiation and chemo I finally met with my surgeon. That is where I learned a lot of what I will touch on today, but it is also when I met with the seriousness of this surgery and found I could not deal with it at all.
I would wake in the middle of the night with this surgery on my mind and be unable to get back to sleep for quiet some time, and when I did the sleep was always fitful. It has taken 4 weeks to get this dealt with where I am no longer bothered by the idea of being cut up by somebody I did not know. Actually the problem was the idea of being cut up at all! I have not had surgery that I can remember, ever!
What makes this surgery different, well here is the background… It is called an Ivor Lewis Esophagogastrectomy. Big name, and a long procedure. It will take 2 surgeons 4 to 5 hours to preform, and then maybe 2 days in ICU followed by what will be a 10 to 15 day stay in the hospital. Just to remove a tumor… And the top 10% of the stomach as well as around 4 inches of my esophagus, as well as rehooking everything back together! The problem that I found out is that the esophagus runs behind the heart and just in front of the spine. Wasn't a happy thought!
So yes I have been dealing with this these past few weeks. I met with the surgeon again this past week, and asked a few detailed questions that had been bothering me. I'm fine with it now, and just want to get the surgery over with so I can get on to my recovery and back to living my life. My surgery will be the morning of October the 6th. Hope to be home by the 20th, but will need to wait and see how it all goes.
During these meetings with the surgeon, I also learned that the type of Cancer I have is becoming more and more common. He called it the new middle aged white guy disease. Yes, it is directly caused by acid reflux! So this should be a serious warning to all of you who have had acid reflux for many years, find a way to deal with it properly! Almost all medication that is used for its treatment, will not help in the long run… The medication treats the symptoms not the problem! Yes, it feels a lot better, yet the acid reflux is still going on, its just not destructive enough to be felt, but its still happening!
How do you treat it? You change your eating habits, as well as how you sleep if possible. No food and minimum drink, 2 to 3 hours before you go to bed! We are not built to be able to digest without side affects in our sleep. The side affect is called acid reflux, or sometimes heart burn. In todays society, we all work too late, eat and then immediately crash as we are too tired to stay up a couple more hours. Then changing sleep patterns, which I found very hard to do. Your esophagus enters the stomach on the upper right side, and the stomach drains to the lower left side. So to keep the stomach acids away from the connection of the esophagus and the stomach, you need to sleep laying on your left side, at least for the length of time it takes (2 to 3 hours) for the stomach to drain for the night. People do not normally sleep on there left side because this puts more pressure on the heart, so if they sleep on their side, it is usually their right side. And the sleeping on the right side puts all the digestive juices right up against the valve to the esophagus. As we sleep, we breath, and this valve comes open thus splashing the esophagus with acid.
A lot here to read, but I do feel it is important! I am the only one to blame for the cancer I have! The many years of acid reflux were the direct cause of my cancer. And nothing I took over these years helped to prevent it at all!
Thanks for reading this blog, as well as all the support so many of you have given me this year! Nine days to go till my surgery, and counting…
Again Thanks!
