Stentless...

Here is quick update from yesterday.
First and foremost the stent is out! I can't tell you how happy that makes me. For the most part I am pain free for the first time in a long time. I noticed that pain in my lower abdomen was gone almost immediately. It was a great way to wake up. They did have to use a breathing tube on me yesterday so I have a sore throat from that, but other than that I feel good.

So where did all the pain come from? They think that they figure that out. The image you see is a drawing of the connection from esophagus to my intestines after my total gastrectomy. According to the drawing that the doctor drew yesterday, I think that the image is reversed, but it will work for the explanation.
As you can see, it is not a straight shot from where they connected one to the other and the stent had to run through both. So the stent basically ran from where you see the arrow point on the esophagus side to about the arrow point on the jejunum side. Which included that nasty bend. The stent was not a natural part of my plumbing so it didn't work the same. Due to that food was getting stuck in the stent and plugging it which caused the pain. Now that the stent is out things seem to be flowing smoothly and working as they should.

As for the tumor.
They only took an ultrasound of it yesterday. They did not biopsy or remove it. They felt it was too risky to do during yesterday's procedure. The ultrasound images did lead them to believe that the tumor is not cancerous and should not cause me any problems however the only way to be 100% sure is to remove it. Now your esophagus is made up of five layers and the tumor is located in the forth layer. The only way to remove it is to cut it out which will create a hole in my esophagus. With everything that I have had happen since the surgery, they want me to heal before they go down that path. So the plan is to watch it over the next year and if it changes in size or shape then they will remove it at that time.

For now I am back on a total liquid diet for the next two days and then a modified liquid diet for a week or so after that. My weight has stabilized at right around 173 lbs. I will be happy if I can come out of this restricted diet time holding this weight. Once I can eat again, I will focus on adding weight back on.

Thanks for the support yesterday,

And if you're not afraid to open your eyes
You may be pleasantly surprised
Things are never as bad as they seem
You just gotta learn to see
The forest for the trees
(Forest For The Trees  Huey Lewis And The News)