It’s All Good

Barium swallow..The doctor was a riot.  He’s sitting behind a glass divider watching an X-ray as I swallow sugar water and then barium grinning and saying, “Good…good…beautiful..perfect.”  And then he came out and told me “Done!  Go have a milkshake.  Enjoy”.

Meeting with doctor…great.   He went over the report from surgery. He explained that the biopsy and CT scan and PET scan all showed no evidence of cancer. The surgery was to make sure it was all gone and it is. Really gone.  He said that although he’s seen others with Stage 3 esophageal cancer come through this completely cancer free, usually they find some residual cancer after surgery. So I am one very lucky (and blessed) lady.

Meeting with the nutritionist….good.  Time to start drinking and eating a little bit at a time.  Time to start weaning myself  off the feeding tube  which should be with me for another four weeks or so.   I can start eating little bits starting tonight.  I thought they’d tell me I could have water and clear liquids for a few days, try soft foods or smoothies next etc.  But no…go for it.  Little bits but start eating right away.  So tonight I had some crackers and cheese, egg drop soup and some rice.  Funny, I expected to go for the ice water right away but I was so cold at MD Anderson that all I wanted when I got back to Anne’s was a cup of hot tea (and then a glass of water!)

I need to come back in a month when, if all still looks good and I’ve progressed as expected,(maintained or gained weight)  they’ll most likely remove my feeding tube and port.  And then, finally, we’ll head home.  Best case scenario…we’ll be home by May 10 (a little later than we thought)

So it’s all good…so good.  I USED to have cancer.  But not any more.