The Hurdle

Today was Travis' esphagastrectomy surgery and we couldn't be more relieved for 1) for it to be over and 2) with how well it turned out. Trav went in about 7:30 a.m., they took about one hour to get prepped, it was over about 2:45 p.m. He received an epidural to help with the pain. The nurse called us about 4 times with updates - which was really great.

His surgeon came out and told us that they could not see any of the tumor, which we pretty much expected since the last endoscopy. Part of the procedure was to biopsy any enlarged lymph nodes for cancer. But to his amazement he could not find any! Travis does have some scar tissue behind the stomach due to the radiation. The retraction of the stomach into the esophagus went well. We plan on Travis being in the hospital for 7-10 days. They will try to have him going on solid food in one week and do a swallowing test to make sure that everything is performing as it should. For right now, he has a feeding tube inserted on his side for nutrition. After surgery, Trav was awake, recognized me and said a few words. He was in a lot of pain, but after they got the pain meds going he was resting comfortably.

As Travis put it this morning, "This will hopefully be one of the last things we have to do that are unknown to us." For those of you who know Travis, you can almost seeing him crossing this surgery off his list.

Thanks to everyone for praying for us - we felt them. And praise God for getting Travis through.