Willie's cancer

Today is the eve of my cataract surgery on my left eye. Right eye was 9/9/2025. It worked great and I can totally see clearly now out of that eye. I can’t wait until they sync up with both eyes clear. That’s tomorrow. Yay! Meanwhile it was a rough go for Willie after round 4 three weeks ago. He literally didnt like to eat at all since it tasted terrible and absolutely nothing worked to get him to so it. The good news is, now he’s starting to regain some taste again and somE color back to his face along with a bit more energy. He has a long hard road ahead and it just doesn’t sound fun at all. It’s just necessary for an ultimate cure. No promises, but worth a try for the best outcome. He has labs on 10/8, PET scan on 10/10, and an EGD on 10/13 (EGD stands for Esophagogastroduodenoscopy. It is a medical procedure where a doctor uses a small flexible endoscope to examine the lining of the esophagus, stomach and duodenum). These three things had to wait the 6 weeks from his last...

Today we met with Dr. Loewen. He is the surgeon who will perform Willie’s surgery. An esophagectomy  involves removing some or most of the esophagus. If cancer is involved, a portion of the top of the stomach and nearby lymph nodes may be removed. How much of the esophagus and stomach are removed depends on the stage of the cancer and where it's located. See the photo below for an example he drew while we were there Feeding tube is placed during surgery and is in lower colon (the part of stomach & esophagus being removed is the scribbles). Esophagectomies are major operations  — surgeons must cross two to three body cavities (abdomen, chest and neck) during the four- to six-hour procedure. Patients then recover in the hospital for about eight days on average. He said 7-10 days. People who have surgery for esophageal cancer have, on average, a  30–45%  chance of surviving another 5 years or longer compared with someone who does not have surgery. However, th...

On the eve of my right eye cataract surgery that I’ve worried over for the past 2 years (until it was finally time), seems like the right time to update Willie’s current status. I can’t say it’s been a good time. Emotionally and physically it’s been challenging for both of us. He’s been struggling a lot with tiredness, lethargy, and eating. Definitely eating is a challenge. Absolutely nothing tastes good to him. Not water, not food of ANY type, absolutely NOTHING. As a result he has lost even more weight. He weighed in on July 1 20 pounds more than he weighs today. This makes me frustrated and sad. My worry is so much and about so many things as I’m sure you can imagine. Though he barely eats, trust me he swears he “eats all the time”, he has managed to move around and replace a few sprinkler pipes and mow and get shit done. This probably helps him lose even more weight. But also keeps up strength. After awhile he needs to rest and take care of himself. In addition to the extra weight...