Reliving my operation again after 1 year.

[Mulomulo]

Hi guys,

I did my ivor lewis surgery last year Aug 2015. I have adecarcinoma. I am a non drinker non smoker vegetarian indian married with 3 kids.

My cancer has recurred in the anastomotic site mid and distal stomach. I have a lymph node active as well. I am from Singapore.

Doctors are doing another surgery to remove the entire stomach and esophagus and connect the small intestine to whatever is left of the esophagus and do some colon grafting.

Has anyone gone through this before?

How is eating like after this?

What kind of foods can i eat without a stomach?

How long is the recovery?

What can i expect in this recovery? Doctors will also cut in the middle and near my neck as well on top of re-opening my existing ivor lewis wound.

I am 43 years old this year.

Thanks and God Bless.

[hilr]

Hi Mulomulo,

there have been a couple of post recently on the Macmillan Gullet Cancer forum where guys have had a neck stoma and stomach feed tubes, their posts or profiles may give you some help or insight.

Sorry to hear the cancer is back but at least you're getting another chance at treatment.

Good luck,

Hilary

[strangetimes]

Sorry to hear your news Mulomulo . I don't have experience of a total gastrectomy but I know there are people on here who do so hopefully they'll see your post .

It is amazing how the body adapts to even major interventions .

Thinking of you x

[chris_usa]

I think that the removal of the entire stomach with connection of small bowel to rump esophagus will be very similar in the end to total esophagectomy with gastric pull-up. In these patients (like myself), the stomach acts as little more than a substitute for the esophagus in the chest. There are many here who have had such an operation, and mange to eat pretty well with a number of restrictions.

The stomach does make certain hormones (ghrelin and others), so I think the removal of the entire stomach will affect appetite and other issues relating to the perception of food.

Keep fighting, and know that we are never given an obstacle that we are not capable of overcoming. \wc

[Magpuss]

Sorry I can't answer any of your questions, just wanted to wish you well for the future.

[Hidden]

It is unusual to go through this kind of surgery a second time, but a fair number of people have their stomach as well as their oesophagus removed. I am not sure what you mean by colon grafting. There is a procedure that inserts a section of colon to recreate an oesophagus-like tube within your chest, but I think it is very rarely done in the UK.

I think that your recovery will be much like it was with your original surgery, but with some extra details like Chris_USA has pointed out. In the UK the number of surgical cases has been tending to reduce because of better scanning and more efficient discovery of metastatic spread, and there is much emphasis on chemotherapy prior to surgery. It is these aspects that tend to dictate how successful the surgery will be for the longer term, but it is surprising how the body adapts afterwards.

This disease strikes people without any sense of fairness, and I send you and your family very best wishes.

[Cromwell13]

I had my stomach removed (oesophageal left intact)completely 5 years ago. I am very fortunate as I can eat nearly everything with few complications. I am pleased to say that life is more or less normal and with b12 injections and ferro sulphate tablets and folic acid my energy levels have increased considerably .

Best wishes

Brian