Modified Barium Swallow/Esophogram

I am scheduled to have the modified barium swallow test done and the esophogram. It is to be done with a Radiologist as well as a Speech Pathologist. I am having this test done to verify if there is now a swallowing disorder or if the esophagus-freak-out is due to reflux.

A modified barium swallow test isn’t much different than a regular barium swallow. You still have to fast for it and you still have to drink/eat disgusting barium laced items. Luckily, for me, Cody is the Radiologist. He has done all of my other barium swallows and is familiar with my case. But, I will tell you this, I hope that I never ever have to do this test again! I have a hatred for barium. Haha!

So they are able to knock out the fact that I have a swallowing disorder right off the bat. This is good news.

Cody believes that all my problems are related to the hiatal hernia and the reflux. He said the reflux is severe enough and no amount of medicine is going to help it. I have been taking Dexilant for the last few months as well. My last swallow test revealed mild reflux but it has gotten way worse. He also said that size wise, my stomach is the size of a small baseball. It may not function at baseball size but there is the possibility of there being enough stomach there to do a nissen wrap and fix the hernia. The hernia is small but since my stomach is so small, that’s probably why I notice it more and it causes me pain. It appears that the lower portion of my stomach that is connected to intestine is functioning how it should be.  He also noticed that my esophagus spams out and shrinks way down. He said that this can be attributed to the multiple feeding tubes or the severe reflux. He also noted that the muscle above the stomach is lazy. He said that it shows no control. He said that if we can get the hernia fixed and get the muscle to start functioning again, that this should knock the rest of the problems into place and things should function as they are supposed to. He said there appear to be no other problems. This is great news to me. At least I know now that there is something to explain all my pains. Once again!

I have an appointment with Dr. Frech on Tuesday and Dr. Rasmussen on Thursday. By the end of next week, hopefully some decisions will have been made and we can move forward with treatment. 

Another EGD...And More Problems!!

So I haven't done an update in a while because things have been going so well. At my last appointment with Dr. Frech, we discussed the problems I was having with reflux. We were going to try the Dexilant to try and manage the symptoms. After about a month or so, I noticed the symptoms were getting worse and the Dexilant wasn't really helping the reflux. I called Dr. Frech's office and we scheduled another scope to see what was going on.

I am so used to having these done, they don't really phase me anymore. I checked into IMC and got all prepped and ready to go. I honestly didn't think that we were going to find anything wrong. Apparently my intuitions about this were wrong. Again.

All prepped and ready to roll!

My cute sister took the day off to come with me!

We had toyed with the idea for a while about the possibility of the hiatal hernia coming back. It appeared on some scans and then not on others. However, Dr. Frech found that the hiatal hernia had indeed come undone and is back. It also bigger than the one he saw on the last EGD. He also thinks that I now have a swallowing disorder. He said this doesn't surprise him with everything that I have gone through in the last 2 1/2 years and basically having to learn again how to eat. He wants to do more testing next week to evaluate this. He said there are different types of therapy that can help with the swallowing disorder. For now, he has increased some dosages on medications and we will try them for a month. If the reflux symptoms cant be resolved with medications, he said we may need to address having surgery again to fix the hernia. The only problem with this is that I don't have enough stomach left to surgically repair the hernia. It would have to be some sort of creative surgery in order to fix it.

Right now, I am just waiting to hear from his office to schedule more testing. Hopefully get this done quickly and hopefully the medication works. I see Dr. Frech in November and should have a clearer idea of what to do next. I am tired of fighting this, but I also know that I don't have any other choice.