The Cancer Journey

  Yesterday morning, before we headed to Mayo, my devotions included Psalm 126:3   “The Lord has done great things for us and we are filled with JOY .”   I hope you know how important your JOY is to the Lord.   In fact Jesus said, John 15:11 that the things He told us were so that His JOY would be within us and that our JOY would be full and overflowing. What a great way to launch a wonderful day!   They removed my feeding tube yesterday and it felt like such a victory and step back toward health. So I’ve had a feeding tube since my surgery, Aug 11. The surgery removed my esophagus and resized my stomach significantly smaller. Initially all nourishment and medication went through that plastic tube into my abdomen/small intestine. Slowly we weaned off of the tube as I was able to take nourishment by mouth and learn a new pace of eating – smaller meals 6 to 7 times daily – and spacing fluids rightly in between. I’ll spare you further details, but the tube had to remain until they were

Here’s where we are in the cancer/surgery journey. We’ve gotten through the toughest part, for sure, but this part is also challenging and it seems so loooong. Radiation and Chemo wasn’t bad. Surgery and hospitalization was definitely the hardest. Recovery is sure a lot longer than I anticipated. My stomach-of-limited-quantity requires a whole new way of eating and monitoring. It's a difficult adjustment. Who would ever have thought that I’d be trying to ADD CALORIES rather than limiting them? Surgery removed my entire esophagus and much of my stomach, so now I have to eat less more often, and require high protein/high calorie intake. It also requires me to move drinking away from the eating. It seems I’m taking longer to digest most anything, and doughy/starchy foods seem the hardest to handle. I still have the feeding tube into my abdomen and will have until I can demonstrate that my weight is stable and I’m not still losing weight. Nutrition at Mayo has required me to be stabl