Kevin Schwantz

Welcome to our CaringBridge website. Laura and I are using it to keep family and friends updated in one place. We appreciate your support and words of hope and encouragement. Thank you for visiting.   On May 16, 2018 I was diagnosed with esophageal cancer.  It came as quite a shock as I thought it was acid reflux. After seeing Dr. Lofgren from Health Partners, he requested a couple tests. After an EGD (inserted a camera down my throat), they saw inflammation in my lower esophagus.  After completing a couple biopsies, the results came back as malignant.  We were referred down to the Mayo in Rochester.  Laura and I arrived at the Mayo on June 4 for what we thought was a doctor consultation and ended up staying through that Thursday for more tests to confirm the  cancer had not spread to the stomach.  I was fortunate that it was caught pretty early and is only stage 3 and should be totally treatable and operable.   I will undergo five weeks of chemo and radiation treatments at the Mayo Clinic starting June 18.   After treatments, I will recover 3 to 4 weeks and then will have surgery to remove the lower half of my esophagus and upper stomach. My stomach will be reconstructed to attach to the remaining esophagus.   I have talked to a few individuals that have had the same surgery/treatment; the outcome looks great as they are now cancer free.  It appears that the primary draw back is that I won’t be eating much for seconds.  Smaller and more frequent meals but still should be able to eat hamburgers!   So please continue to pray for me as despite the fact that you may think I’m perfect, I am seriously flawed, and could use some good character referrals sent to God, 🙂