Cody Updates by Mom

Monday I had my check in with my oncologist at Regions.  It is always nice to see him as he is a great person and a very knowledgeable doctor.  He has been copied on my surgery items and can so easily understand as I fill him in on specifics.  I am going to continue on the Tamoxifen for the breast cancer side of things for the next few years.  He is thinking after five years we will switch to something else.  Even though I do not have ovaries anymore, my body is still making small amounts of estrogen.  The Tamoxifen blocks the estrogen from changing any remaining breast tissue that it may find.  It is also helpful to my bones health.  This is important as my new diet plan may lack the nutrition I need to keep my bones healthy until I can eat normally.

This last week I have been down at Mayo with my mom’s appointments. On Thursday we ended up being down there the same day my brother was there and we ran into him leaving the GI floor as we were getting ready to go in.  Roger had met with Dr. Kendrick and had asked him about the issues I was having with the esophagus and if that was something he needed to be concerned about.  Roger mentioned that Kendrick was going to look for me in the clinic.  I really didn’t expect to just randomly see him.  Part way through my mom’s appointment, Sheila was paged and had to step out.  When she came back she brought a visitor.  Dr. Kendrick came in to see us.  He let me know that if my procedure on Friday (the next day) wasn’t successful to contact him directly so he could resolve my stricture issue so I didn’t have to continue the dilations.  I am continually struck by his level of care to his patients.  I know that I am one of hundreds of people that he sees in a given week but to have him take 5 minutes out to talk to me was pretty cool.  Jim has always said that the reason people go to Mayo is for doctors like him.  I know that I will not call him directly however Michelle is a fantastic PA and I will see her this next Monday for a follow up on the dilation.

The last dilation procedure they had found that I had an infection in the joined area that I am being treated for now.  They gave me what they call “Swish and Swallow” Nystatin.  Not only do they give you a liquid medication that they try to make taste like bubblegum (but have failed miserably), you get to swish it around in your mouth and then swallow.  It’s great!  The instructions actually say to swish it around your mouth for as long as you can and then swallow.  It is not a pleasant taste.  Hey, its only four times a day for fourteen days.  That’s nothing.

On Friday, I had my third dilation procedure or as Jim so lovingly calls it my “roto router” procedure. I got to meet another extraordinary doc.  He came in and just introduced himself as John Martin, not Dr. Martin or any title.  He sat and chatted with us prior to the procedure and also after.  He explained a great deal about my situation and how far they will be able to stretch the opening.

In a nutshell, he explained that they are not able to make the opening larger than my opening previous to surgery.  Everyone has different sizes of parts and they measure prior to determining how much to dilate the opening.  Apparently the small intestine is smaller than the esophagus so that is what they use to determine the amount of dilation to be done.  I had been dilated to 12mm the previous week.  I was able to have PIZZA over the last weekend and eating was much easier.  However, mid last week I could feel the food starting to slow down in that area.  I could tell it was starting to close up again.  Dr. Martin said he was not surprised about this.  He felt it would take a few more times for this to be permanent.  This time he was able to dilate me to 13.5.  I always have a day or so of swelling due to the procedure but I can tell that food is moving through that area much easier than it had been.  Dr. Martin said that I should see how this goes this week and if there is any indication of it getting smaller to call and get back in for another dilation.  Not sure what will happen with this as Dr. Kendrick has his own plan.  Guess we will find out next week what the next steps are.

My mom’s testing is going well and they have not found anything yet that indicates cancer.  So far so good!

Have a wonderful, safe weekend!