My Cancer Journal

Weeks 25 through 28

So, it’s Sunday, June 29 and I am at the Pacifica Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, PNRC. How did I get here? That is the story of this edition of My Cancer Journal, but please forgive some of the disjointed writing. My brain is still recovering from the surgery. This is my first writing since May 31st.

Sunday, June 1, Chris came over and spent the afternoon. That was nice. Monday morning my niece Kathy and her husband, Peter, came by on their way back home to Oregon. After they left, I was feeling a little down so Mar invited Cindy and Vera to come by and cheer me up, which they did.

Tuesday morning I had breakfast, my last normal meal where I ate the whole meal. Nothing to eat or drink after noon. At night we went through the routine: shower followed by a break, shaving, and brushing my teeth conventionally and then with the special tooth brush and tooth paste, then full body wipe down with the special wipes. Mar had to drive to Peninsula Hospital to get the kit. They sent the kit in the mail for the first surgery in May but coordination this time was lacking. Getting into bed was like getting into a cocoon with the clean sheet wrapped around me.

I slept through the night and at 6AM I had to drink two cups of apple juice. Mar drove us to Peninsula Hospital and we arrived at 7:15 sharp. After registration they whisked us to the surgery department. They prepped me with a gown and then the Anesthesiologist came in and we discussed what happened in May and he assured us that everything would be under control. Dr. Dalal came in and talked to us, reassured us and that was it.

Off to surgery. Mar went to the cafeteria with her lady friends: Carol S., Marcia, Lynne, Pati, Cheryl, Janice along with Brian, Chris’ friend who was filling in for Chris. Chris was dealing with deep motional feelings about the surgery.

This was a Major-Major surgery. Robotic Esophagectomy. The OR was filled with doctors and nurses, 8-10 at a time. They pumped six liters of water into me. The surgery took 12 hours and Dr. Dalal had to alter her plan for removal of the tumor due to obstructions. My stomach was altered from a kidney shape to a kidney shape with a neck. They placed a drain tube in my back to drain the void created by relocation of my stomach. At the end the robotic part was to connect my altered stomach to the remaining portion of my esophagus. That was a super critical step in the surgery. If it had leaked, there would be serious effects on my heart. But, the tumor was removed successfully along with the lower portion of my esophagus. Normally your esophagus is about 10-12 inches long and about an inch in diameter. My educated guess is my esophagus is about 5-6 inches long. It expands as food and liquid move through it and it helps to move things along.

I woke up in ICU. A very interesting place. One nurse per patient. Mine was an Energizer Bunny with so much energy. I was in the ICU for a day and a half. Interestingly, they use horn sounds to alert the staff that there is an emergency in one of the rooms. When they came to move me, I said “I like it here”. To no avail, they moved me to ICU-Step Down on the third floor. There, it is one nurse for each three patients and the care is still intensive.

I was as weak as a kitten. I had no energy and the drain tube in my back was a constant but mild pain. In the hospital I was on a feeding tube similar to what we did at home. I was on the feeding tube from 6PM until 8AM the next day, but at a much lower rate of feed than what we did at home.

About four or five days into the recovery they did a swallow test on me. I was taken in my bed to this room in radiology. They transferred me to a table where they took lots of X-rays. At the end a doctor sat next to me and there was a screen hovering over me. The doctor, holding a cup of nasty tasting (according to him) liquid and said, “Drink, drink, drink.” That was followed be a cup of water. Same routine, drink, drink, drink. Well, all of that immediately came right back up. I thru up all over me and probably the doctor. It took a long time for me to recover from that. Finally they got me cleaned up and put back into my bed for return to my room. That was probably the worst medical test I have ever experienced in my entire life.

A few days later, Dr. Dalal paid me a visit to my room and told me that I had passed the swallow test and that the connection of my stomach to my esophagus was sound. A few days after that she returned with a copy of the pathology report. No cancer around the periphery of the tumor and the five closest lymph nodes showed no sign of cancer. The cancer was confined in the tumor. And. today I am 100% cancer free. Oh what a blessing that was. I recall the PET scan where I had a vision of Jesus Christ telling me over and over, “You will be safe.” He knew all along what the outcome would be.

Breakfast was at 8AM, lunch at 11:30 and dinner at 5PM. I ate very little of the food as my stomach always felt full and I had zero appetite. They would get me to the firm chair using an overhead system as I was in a sling. Sometimes fun, sometimes not. Sitting in the chair was okay. Lots of pillows and warm blankets. I would be in the chair for two to five hours. Then, back to bed using the overhead lift mechanism.

If you have ever been in a hospital you will understand. You don’t get 15 minutes of solitude. Someone is always coming in to do something to you or for you. At night they get most of their work done by 10PM, but at midnight and 4AM they come in to “check your vitals.” Blood sugar tests were done every four hours around the clock. I don’t know why as I am not diabetic. I would get a sleeping pill which helped a little for me to get enough sleep in order to function the next day.

I can’t say enough about my Marlene. She came to be with me every day from early morning until early evening. She is my rock. She made sure everything that I needed was done. She represented me. And, she took pictures of the staff (with their permission) and me. She also took a million videos of my activities. When it is all over, we can produce one hell of a book based on her photos and videos.

I did have many visitors during my stay in the hospital. I can’t name them all from memory, but they were all good friends who wanted to pay me a visit. I thank you all for that.

This routine went on for 26 days. The controlling factor was how much fluid was coming out of my back on a daily basis. In the beginning the quantity was nearly 1000ml per day. The magic number was 150ml per day. On Tuesday June 24 the drain tube was removed after 20 days. I don’t know if the magic number was reached or not, but Dr. Dalal said to take it out. One of her PA’s (physician assistant) removed it. It came out so quickly that it nearly hit her. That tube would give me major aches in my right side requiring pain meds to calm it down. I was so relieved when the tube was removed. The PA numbed the area around the tube opening and, using skin staples, closed the hole.

After removal of the drain tube my mobility improved dramatically. I was able to stand up with a walker and walk to the chair or just walk a few steps. One day I walked with the walker about 12 paces to the opposing wall, sat in the chair behind me, and be pulled back to the start. We did this four times. On another day the PT’s took us out in the hallway next to the garden area of the hospital. There, I got up from the chair and walked eight paces and hugged Mar. It all felt good knowing I could do that.

Now, I get to ring the big BRASS BELL. What is the big Brass Bell you ask? You ring it after you have completed a series of chemotherapy and/or radiation treatments, or you become cancer free. I believe the Brass Bell is housed in the Infusion Center of the Dorothy Schneider Cancer Center at Mills Health Center. As I am CANCER FREE, I am going to ring it after rehabilitation when I can walk into the Center!

So, here we are at the end of a month in the hospital and looking forward to rehabilitation at PNRC. I don’t know if I can write a weekly post like I did prior to the surgery. I may elect to consolidate my time here at PNRC into one post such as I am doing now. Please hang in with me. The end is near for this series of My Cancer Journal. I love you all. Be good and do good.