Wednesday February 6th was the date chosen for me to become cancer free. Apparently the standard of care for a person in my particular circumstance is to undergo a surgical procedure called an Esophagectomy. Describing this surgery as invasive might be considered an understatement. The short description is as follows. Open the abdomen from the front, remove a large portion of the stomach and esophagus. Then following a Thorocotomy (open the chest from the side and back), pull the remaining stomach up into the chest cavity to reconnect it.
Pretty easy right? The nickname for the surgery is the "beast".
23 days as a hospital patient is a very long time. Some might say it's an eternity. When 21 of those have been without being able to eat or drink anything by mouth then things get really interesting. Feeding tubes, chest tubes, catheters, IV's all become the center of your world that stands still. The first week I was in the Special Care Unit (ICU). This is where they keep you so medicated that you can't see straight and they can manage your care with little or no help from you. I don't remember much from here and what I do rememeber never actually happened anyway so I have to take others' word for the experience. Some cool dreams that are a little off the wall. After that I was moved to the third floor for the rest of my stay.
Let me say that I wish I had a pencil and paper for each and every time a new person came into my room or helped with my stay so I could keep track of them all. They were all great. They treated us well and were more than helpful. I'll never be able to express it quite right. Melanie was an all star. She stayed with me for all but about 5 nights. Some of those nights she had been home for 20 minutes when she got my call that I wanted her to some back. Another 40 mile round trip in the book. One significant side effect of all this is my relstionship with my family. We are all a lot closer now I think and have a much deeper appreciation for one another. I rememebr that one day while I was in the hopsital I called my sister Sheri and told her that I missed her. I was feeling very meloncholy that day. Sheri and her family live in Flagstaff and she had been here for the surgery and stuff so it's not like she hadn't been here. She dropped everything that minute and drove in from Flag to see me at the hospital. I'll never forget that.
There are tons of stories like that I can tell and I hope I get to them all.
The pain was bearable. The doctors were unbearable, the usual. I really would have paid $5000 for a pepsi at about 15 days in....
Home sweet home on February 29th. It was a Friday and we had been planning on going home for a couple of days. We were packed and ready at about 3pm that afternoon. We left the hospital abotu 8:30 I think. It was a long slow ride to the car and an even longer ride home. Home has never looked so good. It was surreal and only the beginning....
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