Updates on 1/4/19

It has been a long time since an update. I now have new information to share. Yesterday we had two important events. The first was a PET scan to see how effective the chemotherapy is progressing and the second was an appointment with my surgeon to discuss biopsy results.


First, I don't have the formal results from the radiologist. I can compare the PET scan from November to the one yesterday. It looks like my tumor is much much smaller. You can compare it in the picture below:

 These pictures are a cross section of my chest while I'm laying on my back.  The picture on the right is from November and the one on the left is from yesterday. A PET scan shows cancer in a glowing section. Because this is an esophagus there is a small dark hole in the center. You can see how much smaller it is. The not completely bright sections don't indicate cancer, just that other organs pick up the dye during the procedure. I circled the tumor in red.


Second, we had an appointment with the surgeon. All of the biopsies of the stomach were negative. This means that we can do the less invasive of the two surgeries. This means that they will start laparoscopic and there is a 90% chance that this can be completed without open surgery.  The 10% chance is that if there is too much scaring from the radiation therapy to remove laparoscopicly.  It will mean that 50% of my stomach will still be removed and the recovery will still be 12 days in the hospital, and a three month recovery. In the end my limitations would be that I have a smaller stomach and that since I won't have a sphincter on the top of my stomach I will have some limitations. First, it will be a while before I can sleep laying down. I will have to sleep sitting up for a long while and also I will have to be careful in eating before bedtime.