One Day at a Time 10-26–2025

Today is day 5 after surgery. It was a pretty good day. Willie got approved for a full liquid diet which means he can have all kinds of liquids. Most importantly coffee with sugar and creamer. He started his morning with his first cup of coffee since Monday and he was soooo happy. You should have seen him smile!

Yesteday he ate and drank a little bit and today he ate and drank just a little bit more than that and even has some bites of potato soup for lunch and tomato bisque for dinner. He can have ice cream and smoothies now too. He’s taking it a little at a time and each time he drinks he must sit upright in a chair for 30 minutes. This is strict orders. It’s hard to fit that in with all the nurse checks, pain meds, CNA blood pressure and temp checks, beepers and buzzers going off in here constantly but maybe tomorrow. He has to do this forever. The reason is that ther isn’t a valve from keeping things from coming back up and potential aspiration and fluid going into his lungs which could cause pneumonia. Pneumonia is the biggest case of death after an esophogectomy.

Up to 40% of patients with esophageal cancer get postoperative pneumonia (PP) following esophagectomy, which lengthens hospital stays, raises costs, and increases mortality risk.

Today’s visitors included my mom (Pat), Sam (our son), Amber (our daughter) and our grandchildren (Liam & Liv) and exchange student from Spain staying with Amber’s family for the school year, Irene. Amber had these esophageal cancer shirts made for all of us That was super sweet of her We all got one! ☮️💜 They all came around the same time at noon today and stayed a few hours which was nice.

Each day housecleaning comes by and leaves a cute card for us after cleaning up the space. I’m stacking up get well gifts and cards on the shelves here. Everyone has been so thoughtful. I did run home earlier this morning, showered, did a load of laundry and dishes and came back So far this is the third time I have left the hospital since Tuesday. I just don’t want to leave and I can’t leave He needs me here and I need to be here The couch in the room is my bed, my office, and guest seating 💕

Willie has a feeding tube in his small intestine that will remain in him when we get released from here. He will also get a shot in his belly once a day to keep blog clots away. This will be when we leave too. The feeding tube will stay in for a month or two until he can graduate from liquid diet to soft foods then to all food. The tube feeding will basically suplemenr his calories because he can’t take in full meals and needs to stick to small and more frequent meals instead of 3 big meals a day. Today, he weighed in (the bed weighs him) at 143.3 lbs. normal weight for him is 165-170. But, I have to say he looks good and has made it through the worst of it. Well, except for the next 4 rounds of chemo which start in about a month. There’s that. Not looking forward to chemo ago as the first 4 rounds were pretty rough. But it’s inevitable.

Tonight we watched 60 Minutes from his hospital bed together. His pain is pretty well managed now and he thinks he can forego dilaudid tonight. That pain med is though his port and he will have to be off that before we leave. In fact , he has to be off oxy too. But for now, that one is crushed up and out in the feeding tube every 4 hours and he gets a bag of Tylenol every 6 hours. The doctor thinks he can leave this week. I think we are both hoping for that as long as he’s safe, pain free, and able to eat and drink.

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