Surgery Complete ✔️

Surgery was yesterday, 10/21/25. We arrived at the hospital at 6:45am. Dr Loewen had to perform an appendectomy on someone before he did Willie’s Esophogectomy. Therefore, he went in for surgery at 9:15am. I was happily surprised that my friend Cindy Lee dropped by around 9:45 am to sit with me and distract me from the stress of it all during the 5 hour surgery. She brought me a super sweet care package too with special treats, water, sanitizer, magazines, crossword puzzles and a special angel that she found on her trip last week. We went for a walk too which was nice. It was a pretty day. That calmed my nerves and having her there was so amazing and very much needed.

the surgeon came out halfway through the procedure to let me know it was going well so far. Then he came again at 2:15 to tell me surgery was complete and nothing else was found. The tissue he removed was sent to the lab to analyze. We are standing by for the results. He also removed a small lump about the size of an eraser ✏️ from Willie’s right tricep. They will biopsy that too. The lump had been bothering him and painful for a month or so. Glad to have that done as an extra service. Willie was happy about it!

After Dr Loewen gave me the update about the successful surgery, we were able to go to his room for the next week to two weeks at 3pm. Cindy said goodbye and Sam came to join me. I ate a yummy salsa from Dilly Deli from Peggy who came by to say hi too. Sam and I got up to the room on the 4th Floor of the Hospital, room 4424. Willie finally got there around 4pm. He looked pretty good considering he just got out of a 5 hour surgery! Sam and I were both nervous about seeing him with tubes coming out of everywhere. They weren’t kidding when they told me that! I mean, he has a tube in the right side pleural cavity which is busy draining fluids from the surgery where they removed the tissue out, a tube in his left side belly (for food and meds), tube out of his left nostril which keeps the stomach gasses and fluids drained, a pic line on his left wrist to put in fluids (he’s had 4 bags so far), an oxygen monitor on his right finger, a heart ❤️ rate monitor, and a Foley catheter to drain urine. It’s a lot!

First nurse, Bethany, was a travel nurse for Portland that’s been in Wenatchee since March. She did an excellent job of explaining things to Sam and I and keeping Willie comfortable. Amber, Adam, Liam and Liv came by for a quick visit around 5:30 and brought some sweet care packages that had soft blankets and fun puzzles. Im glad Amber and Sam were able to check in on their dad to see he made it okay. For the first 3 days, due to pain management and safety, we are not having visitors until Saturday at the earliest.

The night nurse, Olivia, was amazing. She kept Willie as comfortable as possible with minimal interruptions. Stil, he didn’t sleep much we learned in the morning. I, on the other hand, slept pretty well on the couch considering the gurgling and humming machines and nurse coming in from time to time. Olivia moved here from Florida in April with her family. She came in around. 5 am with some Oxy since Willie’s pain was a 10 this morning. They gave him on Tylenol drip and dilaidid through the vein. But oxy on request. The first 3 days will be rough. And he’s going to need to get up and walk along with doing breathers every hour to keep his lungs open.

This morning at 7am Dr Loewen came in to check on Willie. He was happy with the operation and considering how well he did, he’s moving up the the removal of the nose tube to his stomach to this Friday. Normally he’d wait until Sunday but he felt that Willie would be well enough to start taking liquids through the mouth, slowly at first, on Friday. That’s amazing! He also authorized the pain meds be on a schedule instead of by patient request to keep the pain under control better so he can walk and use the breather which is the most important thing to prevent pneumonia and quicker recovery ❤️‍🩹

I will do another post once we get the biopsy and tissue exams back. And, as I remember important things I missed. Happy Hump Day!

Dr Loewen checking in 10/22/2025 7am