#swallowing fun

[clatterbane]

From the sound of things, I may have to wait until after I get out of here in who knows how long to see a gastroenterologist. If then. (And lead time on outpatient appointments was generally months and months even before the virus bullshit.)

I am not sure if anyone besides the SALT person--who did seem to take the problem seriously--actually believes that I am having a significant problem here.

Or that my quality of life matters.

I can barely eat, very slowly and carefully, and I am very concerned about blocking up my throat every time I have to. I am getting basically no food variety, because soft and easy to chew is the only consideration. I am still not able to take all the medication I was getting, and it is still causing problems.

And I have no idea where to raise this issue, even to try to get some clarification.

[clatterbane]

I thought so trying to eat lunch, but noticing this again eating supper now.

Just getting the endoscope down my throat seems to have reamed it out a little so things will go down better! At least temporarily. And the scope is apparently the diameter of a little finger or less.

But yeah, pills/capsules smaller than a Tic Tac started wedging in there. And I've had trouble with even the pureed food backing up if I take too big a bite/don't flush every bite down with enough water. (At least a litre per meal/usually more if it's soft but not pureed and does require some chewing.)

Leaves me more optimistic about the purposeful dilation treatment. *fingers crossed*

[clatterbane]

After the swallowing mess yesterday evening, I don't know if they're even going to let me have the cornflakes this morning. That doctor said liquids last night, but not about the morning.

I am hoping so, because of course I'm hungry and also concerned about my blood sugar. And unless it's remarkably worse now (always possible! 😬) the soft cornflakes were OK.

They said something about a swallowing study/scan (don't remember the exact) which might possibly be a barium swallow? (Which means no breakfast.) Whatever, I hope they do any initial testing before weekend hospital limbo.

Absolutely no idea what's going on here, and not much info to work from so far. But, I did find it interesting to run across one possibility often associated with celiac. And it feels like there's some obstruction in there ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[clatterbane]

And, more update come Monday:

[clatterbane]

I am not even going to try to get up and try to play good sport today. I don't know that I could even if I wanted to.

And yeah that very specifically includes any "well, try to swallow the thing anyway, because you really need to swallow the thing".

I trult hope that nobody is going to try to continue with that this morning. Esophageal blockages are not exactly mind over matter. But, who the hell knows.

[clatterbane]

Proton pump inhibitor (PPI). Your doctor will likely first prescribe an acid blocker such as a PPI. This treatment is the easiest to use, but most people's symptoms don't improve. (X)

(From the earlier symptoms section: No response to gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) medication)

Just had to get crap amused, looking at some quick info about one esophageal possibility I am kinda hoping this is not. As suspicious as I get whenever I see something like "If you have food or environmental allergies, asthma, atopic dermatitis or a chronic respiratory disease, you're more likely to be diagnosed with [condition]."

As they are also giving me that PPI which does not seem to be helping the other heartburny type symptoms which have also been getting worse along with the throat blockage. 😑

[clatterbane]

Just got back from another trip down to the atrium lobby this afternoon. With a medium latte this time because that is as much as I can reasonably drink, after all. 🙄

Maybe not too surprisingly, while I was glad to get more drinkable coffee? At least 75% of the purpose of the trip was to get moving as much as I could, and relieve boredom. I don't usually get bored that often, but sitting around a hospital ward for weeks is special circumstances!

Tomorrow when the weather will hopefully be better and he doesn't already have plans, I'm hoping to wheel down and do the not-officially-approved "meet up with Mr. C outside the hospital entrance" thing. (And also probably swap him some clothes and stuff.) Now that I know that is, indeed, an option. Even keeping distance to be safe, it would be great to finally see him in person.

So, that's another prospect to look forward to.

One good thing from the trip downstairs today? I finally had some food that wasn't extremely soft/smooth or pureed, for the first time in weeks!

Spotted when I was perusing the snack vending machine, with the idea of getting more chocolate as a treat to go with the coffee:

It's a lot like crunchy Cheetos but not orange. And probably not as good, but tasted amazing after no crunchy snacks since I got here. (Going on 6 weeks ago. 😬)

There were a number of things I did not like about the packaging/marketing, to the point that I might have avoided them on a shelf under normal circumstances. 😒

But, the flavor/texture was actually pretty good--and that's actually an extra-welcome find, since the crunchy type Cheetos are hard to find here without ordering from Mexgrocer or something. I never used to like them as well as the puffy ones when they were everywhere, but hey.

There was also a "smokey paprika" flavor, which might be OK but I wanted cheesy. I could actually see a combo cheese-paprika flavor working better, tbh.

As I had hoped, it was fine to swallow once it was chewed up well, maybe especially after the last gastroscopy/dilation treatment session. They break down easily enough into small enough bits, which didn't want to stick in my throat.

That meant I had to get an unplanned cold drink to wash the snack down. 😅 Well, room temperature drink. The drink machine down here is a major disappointment that way.

But, I should have hydrated myself really well this afternoon! And the little fortuitous snack find did at least make the day look more worthwhile.

[clatterbane]

(Re: this post.)

@isabelknight - Thanks! They're giving me as much as they can as either liquid or tablets that you dissolve in water.

But, there are a couple of extended release things (both for pain, so yeah) which can't be crushed up or anything. Thankfully, those are also both relatively small.

While they are usually wanting to get hung up some too now, and it still feels awful? At least I know from experience now that they will go down once they have a chance to dissolve around the edges a little.

Which the first one I took just a little while ago was actually pretty quick to do this morning, though the one in there now seems to be wanting to take longer.