h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

A few days ago on my way home from I work I get a message saying there is a gas leak outside the house and the gasmen are coming to cut off the supply I go and get a takeaway meal as the cooker ain't going to work when the gas isn't on.
After getting home and seeing the gasmen digging up the garden to get at the supply pipe we start eating tea. Unfortunately after just a few forkfulls I can't eat, I can't swallow anything. I hope that eventually it'll pass but after the gasmen have gone away for the evening and I'm still having difficulties I'm told I'm being taken to hospital by MC. After some protestation I guide her to the local A&E where I get bundled through fairly quickly. Several people came and talk and try and work out what's wrong with me. I wonder if it's an allergic reaction or something stuck. I'm given something for the allergic reaction and it doesn't work.
Having had my normal sort of tea time meal shot of insulin I'm feeling decidely wobbly at this point and so I'm hooked up to a glucose drip and when my blood sugar levels are more normal I'm put on a sliding scale (a syring pump with insulin that they vary depending on blood sugar levels) and taken up at a ward to spend the night.
When the s all come round to have a look in the morning I'm asked to try and drink some water. No such luck. They have a brief conversation to decide what to do. Eventually one of them comes back and has a look down my throat with a small endoscope and thinks it's most likely blocked and the blockage will have to be removed. Much later in the day while MC is visiting a couple of all dressed in green come to see me - the anethestist and the surgeon they go away after I've answered some questions. A short while later I'm led over to theatre for them to do their stuff. I'm glad it was all done under a general anesthetic as I'm not sure I would have wanted to know what was going on while the passed tubes and stuff down my throat and brought out the blockage- a piece of meat, must remember to chew before swallowing.
The next morning I still don't feel right and still can't swallow water all the way down. I've got a sore throat and wonder what will de done next. The s decide to put my name on the list for three things and see which one turns up first! In the afternoon I'm taken all the way across the hospital to see another surgeon for him to have another look and see if he can fix it - this even jokes about how he's always bailing out the ENT guys This time it's not done under a general but a local anasthetic is sprayed on the back of my throat and I'm given a sedative - much needed as I've spent the last day and a bit rather fightened and stressed! Afterwards I'm told what the problem was - more food and a narrowing which this doctor has fixed. I'm taken back to the ward and just sleep while the sedative does it's stuff.
Later on I try and drink some water and by golly it works! hurrah! I'm taken off the sliding scale and glucose drip and given some food. But manage to go hypo so the glucose is turned back on again. It's decided I should stay in overnight again and be discharged in the morning.
Yesterday morning I manage breakfast with ease and relish the feel of food. Eventually when the follow up consultation has ben confirmed and I've been given some drugs to take home I'm allowed out. Rather groggy and feeling a bit spaced by it all I manage to leave the hospital and get home.
Now suitably rested I feel much better.
Thanks MC for being a bully when I needed it and for coming to see me inside

So that is where you had got to!

How scary! But I'm so glad you are feeling better and the problem was resolved eventually.

Have a ,

And one for MC too , cos it is just as scary sitting beside your best beloved when they are poorly and worrying yourself as to what could be the matter with them.

Sounds like a dreadful time for both you and MC, m'dear. Glad to hear that you're all better now, though.

I wondered where you had got to. And a for MC for looking after you.

Oh dear that is scarey, - for all concerned, and I hope that you're feeling better now!

I am so glad that the s were able to sort it out. Very scary stuff, indeed.

I'm glad you're feeling better.

Did the doctors give any reason for the blockage starting in the first place? It can't be simply because you didn't chew. Maybe the gas leak caused some inflammation?

I was just wondering if you felt it getting blocked at all.

It wouldn't have happened to have been a case of Zenker's Diverticulum, would it?

hope you feel better very soon.

Phil, good to hear you're back in order and it was found out what caused it. Good on MC, as well, for getting you to have good help check it out.

I suffered from a slowly growing diverticulum and wound up having a laproscopic and a full-fledged 'open the chest up with a knife' surgery. You're symptoms are very reminiscent of what I went through. Blockage after eating. Can't seem to get even water to sluice down into the old gullet. Tightness in the chest and difficulty breathing. Occasionally having to lean over a loo and bring some of the food matter back up again.

Do yourself the additional favor of consulting more on the issue. If it is a diverticulum, you can mitigate the effects early on by being more careful in the way you eat. If it's already gone far enough along, that little 'pocket' will continue to cause food to get stuck and be VERY uncomfortable. The 'nicest' remedy is to have the Docs go in laproscopically and staple the 'pouch' that's forming. Least invasive and works well if your esophageal lining is healthy and otherwise strong. The worst case scenario is letting it go to the point they'll have to remove your esophagus and 'move' your stomach upwards a bit. Not a pleasant thought, in my book.

Do take care of yourself. It may be a bit more work to go back and have additional exams, but this is another one of those things that an 'aging body' can't ignore. Seek good advice and make some sound decisions on what to do next to settle the matter.

B4mybodywearsout2

Eeew! *resolves to chew her food very thoroughly in future*

Didn't mean to 'gross you out', Amy.

B4idivulgeTMI










TMI = Too Much Information (slang jargon), or Three Mile Island (if you're in nuclear)

What do you know, my mother was right. Always chew your food thoroughly before swallowing.

Glad to see you are okay there now. Is the gas back on?

for Phil and for MC

Here's a for when you're up to it Phil

*really hopes he chewed his kebab well enough What odd thing, I've never heard of anything like that before.... Well you always were awkward; couldn't have an ordinary* ailment Hope its all working fine now, here is some and for when its back to its normal fine fettle

I think what happened has been just an 'ordinary' oesophagal stricture because of acid reflux. This it seems from reading on the internet can be fixed quite easily by opening up the gullet at that point (various ways with tubes, balloons and so on) without having to open me up. I do hope to find out more next week when I go back for a follow up gastroscopy and will keep everyone informed

Oh and Munchers, the gasmen came and everything there has been fixed

And can you eat or are you surviving on soup and Ready Brek?