hi Ann, Mal and all

[Guest guest]

Hi Ann, Mal and everyone ! Mal..., we read your post, so glad you are feeling well and your surgery is over. Tia wanted to give you some advice, "Mal, this is Tia, I want to give you some advice on eating. Your probably getting stomach aches because your eating too much in one meal. I have experienced this too. A month will seem like a long time but it will be worth it. Don't start off with crunchy and hard things. Eat well! Tia" That's my Tia for you... she is 9 years old and she is a self declared "expert" on achalasia. Ann, I wanted to let you know that the weight issue is something we are watching in our home. Tia was having to search her closet to find pants small enough to keep on. She is eating all the time now. I'm worried she will start to gain too much weight. She has a long way to go before this happens. She isn't playing basketball

as she needed a break from sports so she could fully recover. So she is less active and eating more. I'm sure it will all balance itself out. It is interesting to know that others are dealing with the same thing. I wanted to let everyone know that Tia was interviewed by our small town local newspaper. A reporter had heard about Tia and contacted us. They are going to run an article about being diagnosed with achalasia. I wanted to let you all know that I told the reporter about the wonderful support group I found online. I even shared how Tia was an inspiration to Mal all the way in Australia (manometry test). I got really choked up during the interview when I talked about all of you. The interviewer said it seemed like I was lucky to find this support group. I definitely agreed and said that it was the best thing that happened to us. Maybe when the article is in the paper someone

will read it and find a support group that may help them to deal with a particular issue. If I can I will try to email the article to you. I'm sure you can imagine how shy Tia was during the interview. She really doesn't like to be in the spot light. NOT!! Tia continues to do well. She is figuring out that she still needs to eat small amounts. She is starting to get some scar tissue around her scars. We have been rubbing vitamin e and aloe vera lotion on them. Does anyone have any other ideas? OK, I gotta run. Everyone take care and happy holidays! and Tia __________________________________________________