Bruce is home.

Well, Bruce didn't get home as quickly as we thought. Dr. Goldin was being cautious. Thursday he started clear liquids & Friday he was started on a mechanical soft diet. A dietician also came & gave us information on what he can eat & what he shouldn't eat. Now today  he finally got to come home. It was very confusing...what the dietician told Bruce he should be eating & what he received by the hospital to eat were to different things. She told him not to eat tomatoes in any form & what did he get for supper Friday..chicken parmesan with tomato sauce over pasta. His first meal that day at noon was a hamburger. Today for lunch he had an open face hot turkey sandwich with tomato soup. Every meal went down without a problem.

Bruce's surgery is called an Ivor-Lewis Esophagectomy. You should google it & see what was actually done to Bruce. It is quite the surgery. Afterwards, he had chest xrays done & it was very difficult to tell what was going on in his chest. Also before he could eat Dr. Goldin had an upper GI done. That is where they use a special xray machine called a C-arm & it allowed us (me with the techs & radiologist) to see live xray views while Bruce was swallowing gastrografin (a liquid that shows up on xray film or in computer xray imaging). It was quite difficult to figure out what was going on but at least we could see that the fluid went done without any problems...no leaks. Bruce was then allowed to start on a clear liquid diet & then the mechanical soft diet.

This morning Dr. Goldin said Bruce could go home & he is to follow up in 1- 1 1/2 weeks. So we found out that he could leave around 9 AM & we didn't get out until 2:30 PM...but we are now home. Bruce tried sleeping in our bed but is now out in the family room with me. He is trying to sleep in his recliner. This is where I am going to stop for tonight so he can sleep except I have one more frustration to mention.

Last time I wrote I mentioned that my CA-125 wasn't done. Well, it still isn't done. I got a letter from my doctor in the mail. Apparently the lab didn't run it(I had a tech that I had never had before & she apparently didn't understand the orders & now I have to schedule an appointment & go in to have my blood drawn again so they can do the test.