On to Seattle's Virginia Mason

Well at 8:00 this evening Sonja from Virginia Mason's Thoracic Surgery Department called.  The ball is starting to roll.  John has appointments next Thursday for a cardiovascular evaluation (stress test) to determine whether or not he is a surgical candidate and an appointment afterwards with his surgeon, Dr. Low.  On Friday, he is scheduled for an endoscopic ultrasound (EUS).  This will stage his cancer, hopefully Stage 1, and will tell Dr. Low if John will need chemotherapy and/or radiation to pretreat the affected area(s) or if he can be scheduled straightaway to surgery.  Straightaway means the end of February.
We just have a very, very basic idea of what surgery entails.  Basically a portion of the esophagus is removed, replaced with a tube of some sort and the stomach is "stapled" into place, higher up than normal and with a reduced capacity.  The procedure takes 6-9 hours and involves a hospital stay of 8 days to 2 weeks; recovery 8-10 weeks.  There will be some adjustments, some temporary, but we will get through with your support.  It means so much.
And that's what we know as of tonight.  A woman by the name of Dana, the Thoracic Surgery Dept.'s coordinator, will be calling tomorrow with reconfirmation of John's appointments and answer any questions we have at this time.
It's sounding more than a bit daunting, but here we go.  Together.  Thank you and we'll stay in touch.