Two years after surgery, oesophageal cancer survivor Michael Rice has a new lease on life. After decades of caring for others, Michael’s commitment to fitness and his appreciation for everyone involved in the journey is truly inspirational.

“I had been having discomfort swallowing food for two to three weeks and the discomfort was getting worse. I have been treated for several years for oesophageal reflux and having retired from 40 years working as a registered nurse was aware of the damage that gastric acid can have on the oesophagus and not to mention I was a smoker for 25 years. My GP referred me for a gastroscopy on the 18th Nov 2020 which found a large growth at the junction of my stomach and oesophagus.

Hi, I’m Michael Rice a fit and healthy 73 year old - always been a jogger - two years prior to this diagnoses my daughter and I completed the Chicago Marathon together. I have also been conscious of maintaining a healthy diet apart from the occasional pitfalls!!

I think I knew that the gastroscopy was going to reveal a growth (a full thickness Adenocarcinoma) so I was not really in shock with the news. In fact my reaction was one of well what happens next, let’s get on with what needs to be done. Dr. Chamara Basnayake who had performed the gastroscopy was already writing two referrals immediately after informing me of his findings. A CT of the chest, abdomen and pelvis for the following day.

The other referral was to a surgeon at St. Vincent’s Hospital, Mr. Matthew Read. His comment was that “if it was my mother this is the surgeon I would be referring her to”

After 40 years in nursing, I’d seen aspects of the public health system at its worst and at its best but mostly at its best and that’s the experience I had with my predicament.

By the end of November I’d had a PET scan, laparoscopy (to look inside my abdomen) and further gastroscopy. Also a lung function test as a work up to see if I was fit enough for surgery. I then met with Mr. Read, Anna Isaac (then surgical fellow at St. V’s) and Paula the nurse coordinator who informed me that their investigations had found some small lymph node involvement around site, but no metastases (any spread into the abdomen would have prohibited me from having surgery). I would need chemotherapy and radiation to shrink the tumour to be followed up with surgery. The chemotherapy and radiation would take place at Frankston Hospital (my last place of employment) and Frankston private hospital, a very considerate arrangement as I live on the Mornington Peninsula saving me a daily drive to St. Vincent’s.

Chemo and radiation lasted a month and apart from some small discomfort with nausea and loss of appetite I was okay. The good news was that the tumour had shrunk and there was still no spread.

On the 18th March 2021 I woke up in Intensive Care after an 8-10 hour surgical procedure the day before. I remember smiling to myself and yelling out loudly in my mind, “I’m Alive”. While still comfortable with the last of the sedation wearing off and lots of pain medication on board, I started exploring my war wounds. A dressing on abdomen securing a 150mm incision with a similar size wound on my back where they had gone in to reach my oesophagus above my diaphragm after collapsing my right lung. Two intercostal catheters emerged from the right side of my chest to re expand my lung and a feeding tube into my lower abdomen.

After being discharged on the 24th March, seven days after my operation the roller coaster ride commenced. Pain (though adequately supplied with strong analgesia, I was reluctant to take it due to fear of side effects). Nausea and severe abdominal discomfort/pain when eating, gastric reflux, insomnia and an 8kg weight loss. I developed an infection at the feeding tube site which required a brief admission to hospital for antibiotics. I couldn’t walk to the bathroom without being short of breath, for someone used to running at least 6km a day, this left me devastated. I often found myself in tears with depression and wondering if it was all worthwhile.

I knew had to focus or be overwhelmed with what was happening to me. Mr. Read had said to me that post op will not be an easy journey and it will take a year or longer before I was back to anything near normal. My partner Linda and I set about making plans for my progress and trying different things to relieve side effects. My GP prescribed an antidepressant, I resumed regularly taking my analgesia with a weaning plan until eventually on Panadol only. Experimented with sleeping positions to relieve my reflux and started having smaller meals more often.

It has been just over two years now since my surgery and I am back running and going to the gym, enjoying food with some small changes to how and what I eat. Despite COVID, the public health system and by that I mean the surgeons, oncologists, nurses, physiotherapists, dieticians, anaesthetists, radiotherapists and cleaners showed their true colours. But most of all my lovely partner Linda who was there when I needed her most, THANK YOU!