Dear Lord,
I'm being sent to a thoracic surgeon on 11/11. The esophageal cancer appears to be within the mucosal layer only, which is the better news. My hope is that the surgeon can do what is called a mucosal resection. My understanding of the research is that affected sections of the mucosal layer can be cut out without digging into the muscle layer or doing anything more invasive. Sometimes it can even be done during an endoscopy.
The worst case would be cutting out part of the esophagus + sewing the top + bottom ends together, which would require the doc to pull your stomach up towards your chest (where it stays) d/t losing part of the length of the esophagus. Doing so generally causes all kinds of problems. There's no tumor, though, or any kind of obstruction, so hopefully he won't have to do anything too drastic, including messing with the lymph nodes.
Even the simpler procedure sounds pretty painful but I'll take that over the more complex procedure. Thankfully I won't have to wait to long to find out what I'm facing.
TY for warning my spirit to get this checked. I'm grateful it appears to be early cancer. Bless all that unfolds in the coming weeks + months. I have a very complex medical history + am quite fragile physically.
In your holy name, amen.
I'm being sent to a thoracic surgeon on 11/11. The esophageal cancer appears to be within the mucosal layer only, which is the better news. My hope is that the surgeon can do what is called a mucosal resection. My understanding of the research is that affected sections of the mucosal layer can be cut out without digging into the muscle layer or doing anything more invasive. Sometimes it can even be done during an endoscopy.
The worst case would be cutting out part of the esophagus + sewing the top + bottom ends together, which would require the doc to pull your stomach up towards your chest (where it stays) d/t losing part of the length of the esophagus. Doing so generally causes all kinds of problems. There's no tumor, though, or any kind of obstruction, so hopefully he won't have to do anything too drastic, including messing with the lymph nodes.
Even the simpler procedure sounds pretty painful but I'll take that over the more complex procedure. Thankfully I won't have to wait to long to find out what I'm facing.
TY for warning my spirit to get this checked. I'm grateful it appears to be early cancer. Bless all that unfolds in the coming weeks + months. I have a very complex medical history + am quite fragile physically.
In your holy name, amen.