Throat Surgery

So I had my throat surgery today. The goal was to relieve the narrowing in my esophagus right above the sphincter to the stomach. It's a real quick operation - they don't even sedate you very much, they give you a narcotic that makes you forget the procedure. So, I don't remember anything about the operation.

The surgeon did some looking around while she was in my GI tract. She found no hieatal hernia, but did find a new-looking ulcer in my small intestine, and said she was worried about my esophagus (it was inflamed or prone to bleeding or something). Long story short, she was full of bad news and didn't have any real answers as to why things might be they way they are.

But it's not all doom and gloom. Mary and I both agreed that the surgeon was very happy to diagnose problems, but offered no information as to how things got this way, how bad any of it was, or what could be done to prevent any of this from happening again.

What she did do is double my super-antacid prescription, and gave me some stuff to help heal the ulcer. Ironically, the ulcer is possibly new enough that might have been caused by the antacid medicine I used to get ready for this surgery. The surgeon did in fact take a little biopsy of the ulcer to see if the ulcer was caused by bacteria. And if it's the case, I'll get some super duper antibiotic to treat it.

Anyway, my hiccupping should go away, and I'll probably go see some other doctors for a second opinion, probably a naturopath to see what I can do about my GI inflammation. Stupid M.D.s never look at the big picture.

Heh, the surgeon even asked me (mere minutes before my surgery) if I wanted to remove my gall bladder. I said, "no" and she warned me that it was a ticking time bomb. Gotta love that bedside manner.

So now I just finish my 24 hours of a liquid only diet (which followed the 18 hours of fasting prior to the surgery).