Latest consultation with surgeon

Today Lynne and I got to meet with my surgeon Dr Charles Mosse. It was a case of confirming a course of action that I am already comfortable with, so there were no difficult questions to be asked or decisions to be made. As on our previous appointments, I found a sense of calm reassurance in talking with Charles. He told me that he had performed exactly the same procedure just a few days ago on a patient with my same symptoms. The surgery had gone well.
My surgery [Ivor Lewis] is scheduled for February 5, 2008 at The Canberra Hospital.
After removing as much of the tumor and its surrounds as possible, along with localized lymph nodes, he would join the remaining stomach to the stump of the oesophagus, and so set me up with a new digestive tract. There was a thoracic surgeon specialist who might be available to do the chest part of the surgery; otherwise Dr Mosse would do it all [ chest and abdomen] himself. He said that the total length of time in surgery could vary widely from as little as four hours in an uncomplicated case, to 10 hours or more if there were complications.
On a day by day basis I feel pretty well. My only complaint is these nagging stomach aches that recur most days, usually around late morning, then dissipating through the rest of the day. Lynne insisted on me buying two new sets of summer sleepwear ready for my hospital stay!! So it will be slice, dice and splice in two weeks time!! Thank you everyone for your thoughts, prayers and good wishes. To be continued!!! For a very excellent website giving the experience and insights of Cary Johnson with his esophageal cancer go to http://www.esophagealcancer.org/