Hi gang -
I'm going to apologize in advance for this being a slightly lengthy post. To understand the full scope of why I'm where I am at this point, it has to be. I hope no one is offended or put off.
You all know me and know that's not how I am! This is very important to me, so bear with me.
You may have noticed I've not been posting as of late. There are a couple of reasons for this. One of them is because the format change is - quite frankly - confusing, and I'm not a fan of the layout. I realize things aren't done with my aesthetic tastes and desires in mind, and that's perfectly fine, and i mean no offense to anyone, especially to the person or persons who designed the new layout, but I'm going on record as saying I'm not a fan...
Secondly (and this is the main reason), I had surgery on my left shoulder and arm on Monday, May 13, to take care of the following:
Repair torn rotator cuff
Remove extra bone in collar bone and shoulder that been there since birth
Remove arthritic spurs and bone segments
Repair torn bicep
Repair carpal tunnel damage in arm and hand
I wasn't able to sleep at all the first night after the surgery...well little snippets at a time. When I WAS able to sleep, I dreampt I was unable to sleep!!
I was sent home with a pain "block" that was inserted into my shoulder that - at the time I left out-patient services - was the equivalent of an over-sized softball. It was placed in a zippered pouch that had a strap so it could easily be worn around your neck, and also had a control panel that allowed you to set it from 8 (slowest flow of medication) to 14 (fastest flow). Obviously, the higher the setting, the shorter the life of the pain block.
So here I am, dozing in a "slightly used" recliner (bought especially for this occasion), a cast on my left wrist, my wrist wrapped in an Ace bandage, the entire arm trussed up in a Velcro sling designed to keep my arm and shoulder immobilized, and began to get sick.
Really sick.
Over the next few days, I would experience issues with aspiration (food coming up out my stomach, and going into my respitory tract), severe, uncontrollable hiccuping, such that I could barely get my breath. There would be also be times when I would be sleeping (wearing my CPAP mask over my nose, mind you), and my body would sense that I was going to be sick, so it would start to wake me up a few seconds before I actually GOT sick, giving me time to "grab a trash can!"
I could only eat soft food, such as apple sauce and the like. I couldn't anything "solid," because when I put it in my mouth, my throat would instantly close up. Trying to swallow non-soft stuff was out of the question, and even if I DID manage to force it down, I felt as if I was absolutely full.
My throat was raw, it was so sore, and I was spitting up really ugly colored mucus. I knew something was amiss, so at the urging of several people (most notably, my wife, who's still in Austin), I called my surgeon. This was on Thursday. He was very concerned, going as far as to tell me it could be a problem with the intubation, and since i have cardiac issues, advised me to call my primary care physician right away.
I called my PC right then, and he saw me the next day, which was Friday. I went in, and as is my habit, I had a list of questions/issues that needed addressing. I had my sister in there with me, not only in case I forgot something, but he's been her doctor for over 30 years, and he's only been mine for a few months. Since I became disabled, I automatically qualified for Medicare (my claim was active for three years), and finding a new doctor is near impossible.
He and I were new to each other (this was only my 3rd visit), and I wanted every advantage I could get! I needn't have worried. He was great. He's one of the best doctors I've ever had. He listened patiently to my HUGE list of symptoms/complaints/maladies, and looked over at my sister with a look on his face that could only be interpreted as: "Is he for real?!"
He told me, based on my symptoms, that he was going to do a chest X-ray, and probably a barium swallow test. I was still decked out in all the wrist cast/wrap and Velcro brace.
They took me to X-ray to get their pictures, and then back to talk to the doctor again. I was getting very tired at this point. While I was sitting there with my doctor and my sister, he started talking about the X-rays we just took, and I took in a deep breath to answer a question he asked about severe my hiccups were, and...WHAM I was hit with a BAD case of the hiccups. For a few seconds, we thought it was funny. Until I couldn't stop. This s a BAD episode, and I a horrible time trying to catch my breath.
He then said he was afraid (among other things) of a possible pulmonary embolism, and didn't want to send me home and have me die waiting to be treated. He told me to go to the ER right away, and he would call ahead to tell them I was coming.
So that's what we did. We drove the 30 minutes or so to the ER, saw the triage nurse, who had been briefed (she said "I understand you have something stuck in your throat?), then I set her on the right path. We then saw the ER doctor on call. Predictably, he asked the same question SHE did. So I went through it all again...
He acted rather stumped, but he plodded on. He came back after awhile, and explined that he had spoken with the Gastroenterologist on call, who advised him that, based on all the available data, the best course of action would be to do a...barium swallow test. Only they don't do these on Fridays. I'll have to come back on Monday. So...the ER doc gave me two prescriptions to fill ASAP. One for stomach cramps (which I didn't have), and one for a blister pack of steroids to take in preperation for the barium swallow test. He gave me a THIRD one for the test itself. He said to bring it back to the ER BEFORE 10 AM on Monday, and they'll do the test.
OK. No problem. We can do this.
I go the next morning...well, I have to have someone come out into the country to pick me up, because I'M not cleared to drive yet!!! The morning of my surgery, my sister, who's supposed to drive me, has BLOWN OUT her very fragile knee!!! Now SHE can't drive!
Anyway, I have my niece pick me up Monday morning at 8:30 AM, and drive me to the ER. We get there, I present my prescription to the registration people, and the lady says: "We don't do those procedures here..." OK...they tell me my primary care physician has to do it. Then they call the supervisor of the ER doc who set it up and chewed him out. He works out of 3 different ERs, and didn't realize he wasn't supposed to do it that way.
They drag the supervisor out and let ME (gently) chew on him a little bit, then on the way back home, I go by my doctor's office and have HIM schedule it for the next day. I go to where I had my shoulder surgery, they give me the barium, put me in front of the X-ray, have me take ONE sip, then the radiologist AND doc say "STOP," They show me that the barium ISN'T going down, because there's a severe narrowing (or "sticture") at the bottom of the esophagus. It's letting water through, but the barium is VERY thick and just barely trickles through.
Oddly enough, I had a colonoscopy and an endoscopy scheduled for that Friday (this past Friday, the 24th) for a few months prior to this, but they recognized I wouldn't be able to get the "prep" fluids down for the colonoscopy, so they wanted to just do the endoscopy.
They did the endoscopy early Friday afternoon, May 24. Because of the position I had to be placed in for the procedure, it put some strain on my already compromised arm. After the procedure, my sister and I met with my doctor to discuss the results.
I have Dysphagia - which is difficulty in swallowingm AND it has worsened since the surgery
Abnormal gi X-ray - gi tract
At the top of the esophagus there were white plaque material that, according to my doctor, usually indicates cancer, but in this case, he doesn't think it is. Just to be safe, he took biopsies to be analyzed. We should know something by this Friday, May, 31.
In the lower part of my esophagus and the main part of my stomach, there are (in his words) "gobs and gobs" of undigested food, and he has no explanation for this. Since I haven't been eating food for a while, it means theses "gobs" have been there a good little while.
In the lower part of my stomach, ther are several ulcers present. He's not convinced that they're caused by stress. Neither am I. However, he's not ruling stress out altogether, and neither am I.
What ALL of us thought at one point was: someway, somehow, the intubation was fouled up. But so far, there's been no evidence of that.
I know this has been a long read, but I great appreciate your indulgence in reading it. This ordeal with my health issues is something only a few of you have any knowledge of, and I'm not trying to force any of it on the rest of you, but I feel very comfortable with you all, my surrogate family so to speak, and I want you to know what's goin on in my life.
Anyway...that's the scoop. Feel free to fire away, although it might be better to do through PM, I suppose!
Keith, Kevin, Chester, et al...if I've overstepped or not done what I should've, I sincerely apologize - even f it IS a sign of weakness (according to Cpt. Nathan Brittles)
Thanks,
Russ (aka -The Tennesseean)
