blahI didn't wait until last Monday to see a doctor, since I was unable to swallow ANYTHING again. Instead, I went to the emergency room, thinking they might be able to do something for it in the meantime and send me on my way home.
Nope. They admitted me to the hospital. They gave me a swallow test x-ray Monday morning, and noticed the area of my surgery was nearly completely closed up. Tuesday, they ran a scope with the intention of balloon dilating the affected area, but the opening was too narrow for the scope. Wednesday, they took me to one of the surgery rooms, where they have a fluoroscope, and managed to get the scope down and opened up the area a bit. I was then put on a liquid diet, and was able to swallow the liquids without issue. In order to not get dehydrated prior to that, they were giving me IV fluids.
This afternoon they did a second dilation, to expand the opening a bit more. Since they had room to work with the scope after the Wednesday dilation, they were able to do it in the room where they had tried to do it Tuesday. Since I was doing well enough for now, they went ahead and discharged me from the hospital and gave me an appointment for next Friday for another dilation on an outpatient basis.
They believe, since the blockage this time was where the surgery took place (where they joined the stomach with the esophagus), it is most likely the result of scar tissue. However, and I HATED hearing this, IF the dilations don't have a lasting effect, they might have to go in again with full scale surgery.
Will this mess EVER end, or am I doomed? Anywho, got a TON of catching up to do on the 'puter (which had been running for the past seven days, because I THOUGHT I'd be home later Saturday), so signing off for the night. Speaking of "nights", I slept like CRAP the past week. The hospital bed mattress was kind of worn, having a huge dip in the middle. As a result, my tail bone is sore.