Oh No Not Me!

"First we will spay your throat with a topical anesthetic..."

What?

"Then we will administer a mild sedation..."

What?

"....before we insert the mouth guard to protect your teeth..."

What?

"Then I'll insert the gastroscope and see if I can't find out what that blockage is that has made it so difficult for you to swallow lately. While I'm in there with the scope I may take a few samples for bioposy."

Biopsy?

"You may experience some mild discomfort," the doctor continued. "The procedure shouldn't take more than 5 or 6 minutes. But don't worry, you will be awake through the entire time."

Mild Discomfort? Awake the entire time!

"Has there been any history of cancer in your family?"

Did I really want to be here?

Well no, I didn't; but I'd been having discomfort eating since getting a piece of chicken stuck in my throat a few weeks back. Then last Wednesday I discovered I couldn't swallow my food, couldn't get it to complete its usual journey down the esophageal canal to my stomach, which led me to the Emergency department at Centenary Hospital which led to my visit to the Gastrocopy Services department on Thursday.

"Discomfort" probably doesn't adequately describe the procedure of having a large tube shoved down your throat into your stomach and having little samples cut out of your body. It may only have been five minutes, but it felt like an hour.

Later, as I sat in recovery waiting for the anesthetic to wear off before Linda could drive me home, the doctor popped in to tell me the good news, it wasn't a tumour. Instead, he had found a small ulceration of the distal esophagus. As a precaution he took some samples but the results of the biopsy won't be in for at least three weeks. In the mean time he was ordering a complete UGI series and CT scan.

When those are all complete he will discuss treatment.

In the meantime I am to eat gruel, or what passes for it in the modern world. Soft foods and a mostly liquid diet.

Oh, and no tea or coffee!

What!!!
**********************************************************
Doctor Image Courtesy of Photobucket.