My doctor noticed that I had lost weight. “Are you on a diet?” No. “Having any eating issues? “ Sometimes meat doesn't go down. “We'd better look.” This was April-may, 2014. Gastroenterologist did an Endoscopy. No warning, “You have Esophagael Cancer, you have an Oncology appointment tomorrow.” Chemo and radiation started almost immediately. They told me not to look on the internet at the statistics, so I did. 95% don't make it 5 years. The stories were pretty grim. I sold my milling machine, lathe, TIG welder and a couple of old Honda mini bikes, if I was going tits up, I didn't need some scammers trying to rip off my wife when I was dead and gone. Chemo and radiation were pretty straight forward and I didn’t really have any issues, I continued to work while I was getting treated. CT Scans, PET Scans, Xrays, things improved inside. August 18, 2014, 6am, I went into surgery for a gastroesophagectomy, removal of most of my esophagus and part of my stomach. Up to this point, I had lost 70 lbs in about 5 months. The surgery was really rough, and I couldn't eat for 3 days after I woke up, then it was cottage cheese and tomato soup for about 2 weeks. I was in the hospital for 15 days, 7 in ICU. I've had eating issues since then (coming on 4 years), and it was 3 years before I could eat a steak. I'm back up to about 190 lbs (from 158 at the low), it takes me about 3 hours to eat a meal, but my boss and the people at work, work with me, I'm usually eating all the time. But I can only eat about 1/4 or 1/3 of the amount of food I used to eat, and very little meat, food hangs up. I'm also susceptible to aspirating (inhaling) food into my lungs, which makes me really susceptible to bacterial pnuemonia, which I've had at least 1 each year since surgery. All CTScans and PETScans have been negative, my doc says, “Next time if (when) the scan is clear, we’ll call it done.” But I ain't dead.
Life has changed considerably. I very seldom eat in restaurants any more. Sometimes I have to eat standing up, something inside seems to get pinched off when I sit down and eat. I don't sleep as well as I used to. My doctor seems to feel I'm one of the 5% that makes it (she said the actual number is about 15% now, the first numbers I read were old stats). As far as attitude goes, I don't worry about things any more. I just roll with it and try to enjoy myself. I've gotten another lathe and welder, looking for a milling machine, hopefully I'll be making parts for a good long time.
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