in Va.

[Guest guest]

Good luck to you on the 25th - I know it's coming up fast. You're in

good hands with Dr. Rice and the staff at TCC. I opted not to go

there and go to Pittsburgh instead (for geographic convenience

reasons - nothing against Dr. Rice) and what I can tell you is how

very odd and yet wonderful it is to be in a hospital where they do -

ectomies regularly. For the first time in 25 years, I didn't have

people looking at me funny, asking me to spell achalasia or

asking 'oh, is that like GERD?'. The experience of the surgeon is of

course paramount but having your day to day hospital staff know what

you are dealing with is phenomenal!! Honestly, I only saw Dr.

Luketich about every 2-3 day and saw his fellows and other minions 2x

a day - the nursing staff is who really needs to know how to care for

you post-op.

For anyone who has never been to a big specialized center, something

you may appreciate...

The unit I was on at UPMC is a Cardio Thoracic surgical unit. I was

there for 17 days and there were at lease 2-3 (maybe more) other -

ectomies in the time I was there. They are so common at UPMC that in

the nurses station, there was a sign taped to a cabinet door that

said something to the effect of

" RN's, for your esophagectomy patients, make sure to put a form yadda

yadda in their charts " (I think it had something to do with

intake/output) I was floored!! In all of my 25 years of A and through

several doctors (including military who see more A than most civilian

docs) I've never been anywhere that I didn't feel like a medical

freak. One of the night nurses was chatting with me one evening and

was telling me about several -ectomy patients she had - and it was

just a routine thing for her. It was really amazing and should

reinforce to everyone the importance of going to a large specialized

center for treatment.

Dr. Luketich and his team are also doing studies on esophagectomies

and asked to keep mine for study after the surgery. They do these

very large follow up studies with the actual tissue and then yearly

follow up questionairres (sp??) to go along with the routine

endoscopies and such. I am so thrilled that SOMEONE is studying

something about all of this I didn't hesitate for a moment. Hopefully

in 10-20 years from now, we'll have more information and start

working on real replacement organs and/or a 'cure' for Achalasia but

at the very least, they'll have a LOT more information on long term

results.

WOW! this got kind of long - a little 'dumping' of the keyboard!! I

haven't posted much lately so I guess it's just a lot of stuff on my

mind.

Anyway , if you have any questions or want to talk, I'm only 5

weeks today post op so it's still VERY fresh in my mind and I know

the fear and anxiety you're going through right now. Please feel free

to call me. 252-722-2358

Good luck to you and be excited! You are soon to be achalasia free!

- in NC