Where do I start?

[Guest guest]

Hi everyone,

I'm not really new to this group, but its been close to 2 years

since I posted or even read the messages here.

I was diagnosed with achalasia in March 2004 and found this group

shortly thereafter. Had all the usual tests and was supposed to have

Botox in June 2004, but that procedure was cut short because I

aspirated after they put me under anesthesia.

About a month later I got pregnant and I got really paranoid about

any kind of complications. I can't remember exactly what information

it was, but I read a few posts here from women who had experienced

complications during their pregnancies, possibly due to achalasia.

So, to keep myself from worrying too much, I just stopped reading

the stuff that made me worry.

My pregnancy ended up being great. Women without A usually have

heartburn because their LES relaxes from the hormones. Mine relaxed

to the point where I felt normal. I could eat without having to

worry about food not going down.

I had my daughter in April last year and planned on breastfeeding

her for a year. After that I was going to find a GI I liked and work

on getting a myotomy. It turns out my achalasia was worse than I

realized.

Fast forward to February this year.... I ended up hospitalized with

aspiration pneumonia and an 8cm abcess in my right lung. I spent

almost 4 weeks in the hospital, during which they cleared up the

pneumonia and started to get the abcess to go down. They also tried

a dilation & then botox on my LES, but neither was effective enough

for me to eat normally. My last procedure was to have a j-tube

inserted so that I could get nutrition without using my esophagus.

My doctors referred me to Dr. Orringer @ U of M - Ann Arbor for

surgery. I finally met him for a consultation last week.

Because my esophagus is so stretched out (megaesophagus he called

it), the myotomy isn't really enough to help. I'd always still have

food that doesn't make it down. So, now we're looking at an

esophagectomy. Usually its something they do to people with cancer

or serious damage to their esophagus. I guess the irreversible

stretching is serious damage.

From what I've been reading, I only saw one other person in the

group (Ed?) who had gone through the esophagectomy. I was curious if

it was just a partial (where they remove the lower half) or if they

removed the entire esophagus? How was your recovery and what's life

( & eating) like for you post-surgery?

Here's the link to U of M's info on the surgery I will be having, if

anyone is curious: http://thoracic.um-

surgery.org/ref_esophagectomy_FAQ.htm

(Sorry, I don't know how to make it clickable)

I think I've rambled enough now. Its nice to be back with people who

understand what living with achalasia is like.

Nora