Hi Andrew I am pleased that my reply has helped you a little. My tumour was right a the junction of the esophagus to the stomach and this meant that my stomach was not operating at all as the tumour was affecting the reflux valve so even keeping saliva down was impossible at the worst stage of this journey before and during the commencement of the chemo. From what I have heard whichever way they do the operation it is very complicated in terms of the location of where they go into the body and I believe with your tumour being higher they go in through your shoulder where your collar bone is and maybe cut through the chest wall to be able to access the esophagus. They had to completely relocate my stomach and it is now in my chest and my esophagus has lost 10cms in length and they have pulled my intestines up with my stomach so I have some of them in my chest to so that the stomach could be reattached in my chest. I was informed that when the tumour is higher they can just take out the affected area and rejoin it to a lower part of the esophagus but this would probably mean other parts of the digestive tract being moved around a bit to. I was not allowed to eat or drink anything for 10 days after my surgery to allow the joins to heal and I had a feeding tube into my duodenum but that had to be inserted in the October just to give me nourishment prior to any surgery as I was very malnourished and weak as I had lost around 25 kgs in weight by this stage. I thought the feeding tube would freak me out having to deal with it but it was amazing how easy using it was. When I was allowed to eat again it was initially just soft pureed food and in the hospital this food was tasteless and really horrible but my husband was fantastic and some of the meals we had frozen in the months prior to the op he would defrost and liquidize for me so I could have something with taste, have to admit it didn't look very appetizing but tasted good compared to the hospital offerings. Within a few weeks I was eating normal food just smaller amounts than before but now I am pretty much eating proper sixed meals although I can only manage one course which is a bit of a shame as I love my desserts. I do have problems with my bowels if I eat too much sugary stuff and if I miss a meal I suffer to and apparently these are two forms of 'dumping' syndrome and to do with blood sugars. I complained to the doctor that he had taken away my ability to function properly as a woman and eat loads of chocolate when I was feeling hormonal. I think he thought under the circumstances this was funny and then proceeded to explain what was happening. I struggle with too much diary as well as this gives me diarrhea but I think I know my limitations now and just adjust my eating accordingly and it is a small price to pay for my life. I did have physio in the hospital and they checked up on me a couple of times after I left but I was very determined to do everything I could to get out of there so was very compliant and a lot of what they wanted me to do initially was very difficult and this was simple things like walking as it was so tiring and as for breathing and talking together this led to some very broken conversations but it was only for a few days. Going to the bathroom was a planned experience with removing oxygen tubes, taking drain bags and then the drip stand with my cocktail of drugs being pumped into my PICC line plus having to disconnect from my feeding tube so this could not be a last minute dash. My personal experience I feel was positive in light of the situation I was in and prior to the operation my mind has made the whole experience far worse than it turned out to be and if ever I feel a little down about what life has thrown at me then I remember I could be dead now if I had now had the opportunities the doctors gave me and I have since become a grandma so that was so worth fighting this for. The statistics make really bad reading but most of them are from people far older than us and their health in general was far worse before they got ill so I chose to put them into perspective as they did not really apply to me. Hope this has helped. Karen ... View more