Yesterday was my appointment with Dr. Lewis. It turns out that my last endoscopy showed food wedged in the lower esophagus. I saw a picture. It looked like nothing I ever ate, but I guess the main component was egg. After that was removed, Dr. Cano felt it was too inflamed to dilate significantly.
Dr. Lewis is confident that my ability to eat can be restored with dilatations. He does have experience with removable stents if needed. It is still a struggle to get even liquids down, and I get little sleep because of fluid in the esophagus coming back to my mouth at night and making me cough. Last night, I slept in the bed and not in the recliner. It was a little better. The head of the bed was elevated by cushions under the mattress.
Tomorrow, I go for another dilatation. In the meanwhile, I have been living on Boost+, 4 bottles today, 360 calories per bottle.
Today, I saw Dr. Flam this morning. He is very optimistic. He feels that this is benign disease, and doesn't even want to do a follow-up PET/CT for another two months. However, he did suggest that I would benefit from hyperalimentation if I lose another 5 lbs.
I am told I look good. My hair has come back, although the baldness has also come back. I look slim as if I am getting lots of exercise. My response is "I am half way between obesity and emaciation." One of these days, I will get a haircut, something I often thought I would never do again.
I plan to work at Kaiser tomorrow morning, go for my procedure tomorrow afternoon, play bridge Friday afternoon and work Saturday morning.
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