So last week was a bit interesting. First I had my regularly scheduled check up with the medical oncologist office and the usual blood test. Nothing really noteworthy came out of that appointment. I met with the nurse practitioner and basically they just reviewed my vitals, what drugs I am on and how I am doing. It lasted all of 20 minutes and ended up with a scheduling another appointment for next month.
Last weeks big fun was the speech therapist meeting for a swallowing evaluation. This was pretty high tech, at least for me. They sit you in a chair that has a specialized x-ray machine. Essentially what it does is show a live x-ray video. It was setup to show my head and throat. It looked like one of those sci fi movies or TV Show where you see a live animated x-ray of a person as they look for some sort of embedded chip. (Hmmm.. I wonder what that thing was that said Big Brother Inc. on it?) The big plus is that the monitor was situated so that I could see it and watch it live as it happened. Definitely a way cool experience.
So with this nifty hi tech tool they had me swallow different puddings of various thickness along with a small, and I mean small, nibble of a turkey sandwich all of which were laced with barium so they would show up on the x-ray. In essence what the test showed was that there is a part of my esophagus that isn't opening when it should. The test wasn't designed to see why it wouldn't open but just what the was stopping things from going down. From the test it appeared that liquids could make it through the part of the esophagus that wasn't opening but not solids. They did give me two exercise to do a few times a day. One was an exercise down with a dry swallow that is designed raise a part of the larynx that helps keep liquids from your airway. The other exercise was more of a swallowing technique designed to keep liquids away from the airway. That has been a problem where sometimes a bit of what I swallow goes down the wrong way and causes a coughing fit. So far it appears that this swallowing technique has reduced the number of times that happens.
Another thing that came out of the eval was my question about how they open up the esophagus when it won't happen. This is typically handled by the GI doctors and it is caused Esophageal Dilation. There are several forms that this occurs in but in essence they thread a tube down your throat and then inflate a balloon to open up that area. The idea is that there are strictures that are preventing that part of the esophagus from opening. I did some research and this can be a side effect from getting radiation treatment of your throat. On my way out I stopped by the radiation suite and asked the nurse there about it. They have had one patient that had this procedure done. The first time it lasted 6-7 months. They had to do it a second time and there was some bleeding so they stopped. She did say that the person who had the procedure done was much older than I am and I may not experience the same thing.
This bit of research comes at a good time. The ENT doctors office called at the end of the week to schedule a follow up appointment for the 19th of June. I am also going to meet with the GI doctor in the next week or two and plan to ask them about the procedure as well. Lastly I head up to Roswell for an eval in the week after the 4th of July. That will let me get a few different opinions on the procedure and then discuss it at Roswell. I have done some research and what I have found out so far is that the procedure is generally considered safe. The success rate depends upon the skill of the person performing the procedure. This is a case where I will ask each group I talk to how many of these procedures they have done and what the success / failure rate has been.
Outside of that nothing is on tap for this week. This weekend I have been having some stomach issues. I don't know if its from another bug I picked up or from trying to many different types of drinks to swallow. So far I have determined that ice water is not a good idea at this time no matter how good it feels going down. My stomach just isn't used to something that cold. Also the sports drink and grape juice seem to be a bit too acidic. For now I have throttled back my attempts to mix it up and have been just keeping to water at room temperature. (OK, I did have about 4-6 ounces of a chocolate milkshake left over from one I made for one of the kids. That did go down OK.) :-)
