I was told I had a tumour in my oesophagus on the 29th Jan 2010. I had my first appointment with consultant ten days later, we had a chat and he did an examination. I was booked in for a more in depth investigation which involved cameras in the abdomen and throat. I was then told it was big and pushing into my aorta and they wanted me to have a medical to see if I could have chemotherapy. I couldn’t have chemotherapy as my body was damaged and it would do more harm than good. By this time it was the end of February and I was put on the operating list, I had my operation on the 20th March 2010.
Spent 10 days in ICU and step down and then moved onto the normal ward for a further 7days. My bed was next to a window and all I did for the first couple of days was stare out of that window and grin. I had been told that they had managed to remove everything and I was clean but, not in the clear yet. The view out of that window became the best view in the world, I had been given yet another chance to live. Having no stomach and a painful shoulder was a very small price to pay for getting my life back.
Took a bit of time getting used to eating and sleeping, I became a grumpy old sod for a bit until I got my eating and sleeping habits sorted out. Now that I have I do not use any medications for any reason. I’ve also put on weight, I haven’t used any special diets, mainly because I didn’t want to put that pressure on my wife, I just eat what I’ve always eaten just smaller portions more often.
For me getting back to a normal life was very important, not only for me more importantly for my family and to show my consultant and his staff they hadn’t wasted their time. I took it easy for the first month with plenty of rest and exercised my right shoulder to stop it seizing up. I then went back to work and started competition fishing again. It wasn’t easy, I did get tired and because I use a wheelchair my shoulder gave me grieve. I was back doing what I’ve always done and my head was in a good place and I could push through the pain. We went to the Isle of Wight Festival in June and had a great time with no ill effects. I also went to the Shetland Isles in September and tested my fitness. This year we did pretty much the same thing and next year I plan to do a lot more.
There was a specialist nurse assigned to my case, she turned up to the weekly meetings the staff had and gave a nurses view – she never met me. She did once phone me at home to say she was going on holiday and I would have had my operation by the time she got back and was there anything I needed. I confirmed there wasn’t, that was my last contact with a specialist nurse and to be honest I never had reason to contact her.
