Guest guest Posted June 9, 2010 Report Share Posted June 9, 2010 Hi Ann, Thanks for writing. If you don't mind me asking, how " messed " up was your E when you had the myotomy? From all the research that I have been doing I see that it is possible to have a myotomy with an advanced sigmoid megaesophagus. HOwever, the results aren't as favorable as they would be for an undialated E. I think the percentages are in the zone of 50/50, but I guess it depends on your surgeon. Since you are 4 years post Heller, I guess you are on the lucky side of the 50%? Or was your E not as bad off as it could have been? Ann, my E is about 10.5cm in diameter looking at it from the side and about 9.5cm in diameter looking at it head one. This is at the widest point which is at the lower (distal) end. SO I guess if you looked at a cross section of it, it would be kind oval looking instead of circular. It also has a tortuous turn in it at the bottom which my GI called sigmoid but I am not sure its considered totally sigmoid. I thought sigmoid was a complete S shape. I don't trust anything my GI says because I had to teach him more about this disease than he already knew. I asked him what he thought I should do and his response was, " since you are a symptomatic, I would do another dilatation or some botox. " SO clearly he is not up to date on how to treat A. I am only 36 so botox is not an option. And its so temporary. As for a dilatation, I am not sure if that would be dangerous since my E is so dilated. That is why I am meeting with Dr. Rice on July 9th (change of day). I hope he can tell me realistically what will happen to my E if I 1) do nothing 2) have a myotomy or 3) go for the total removal. I will tell you now that I am not ready for an ectomy. Grated I may be ready in a year. But right now, I am too emotional and freaked out at the thought of it. But living with the knowledge that its an inevitability is also pretty difficult, I would presume. If I am told that my E won't spontaneously rupture and kill me, then I would be happy to keep on going like I am. I consider myself so very licky that I can swallow and I maintain weight and nutrition. The only thing that concerns me is residual food/liquid that may or may not be trapped in my E. The GI told me that I am passing the " bolus " into my stomach with a drainage time of 10 minutes. (how he got that without a timed barium, I have no idea but that is what he said. I asked if there was residual and he said yes but couldn't quantify the amount an/or how fast it was draining or if it was stuck in a pocket at the bottom. I also asked if the tortuous portion of my E was hanging below the esophogastric junction, meaning that gravity won't get it into my stomach. He couldn't answer that. SO that is what concerns me. If Dr. Rice sees residual that is not draining then I am at risk for aspiration and further stretching. He won't let me go with doing nothing. This is just my opinion but I think its pretty logical. SO I guess we will see on July 9th. I fear the worst because up until now its been nothing but the worst news possible. I feel like I am on a downward spiral. Funny thing is, I just drank some tea and I felt it build up in my E, so I stood up and bent my body to the left because my E bends to the left on the bottom and then " poof " it drained into my stomach. I wonder if I just overcame gravity by tipping my body in the direction that my E turns. Just nuts I tell you. So there, that is where I am today. Thank you so much for your support!!! Cara Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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