Welcome to our CaringBridge website. We are using it to keep family and friends updated in one place. (John writing the note) A quick short note to give you a history of what’s going on. As you all know, I’ve had issues with reflux for two decades and the tissue became “dysplasia” meaning precancerous. We did endoscope screenings every three years and the last time, in December, it converted to cancer. It’s in the lowest part of the esophagus, your food swallowing tube that connects to the stomach. We did a procedure in Lubbock but they were unable to get all of it. We were referred from Lubbock to the Dallas area but they were only going to be able to grab a little bit more. Thankfully, our daughter got me in to a cardio thoracic surgeon who specializes in a surgery called the Igor-Lewis esophagectomy via DaVinci robot (if you want to look it up). Essentially means, he cuts out the tumor, reshapes the stomach and reattaches it to the healthy esophagus above where the tumor was. Long story short and after many tests, X-rays, scans and blood tests, it was decided to “go for the complete cure”. It will be tomorrow lasting 8-12hrs with 2 days in ICU and 7 days in the hospital. I won’t be able to eat so they put a feeding tube in place and feed me that way for a month or two. After 3-4 weeks, they will gradually add things like water to start and full food at the end. Then they’ll pull the tubes and I’ll be able to eat most things just in smaller portions. Thank you all for your prayers and Julie will be giving updates as we move along. We appreciate your support and words of hope and encouragement.
