DECEMBER 17th

[Guest guest]

It suddenly dawned on me why this date was so familiar to me.

 

It was Dec 17th, 1991, I had traveled from Long Island to s Hopkins in

Baltimore in order to have a closed Heller Myotomy. While I was using the top

thoracic surgeon at the hospital at that time, the laparascopic method was still

new, and he did not use it (and interestingly never embraced it).  Back then a

normal stay in the hospital was for 11 days, and for the first 9 days on an

I.V.  On Day 10 I " enthusiastically " was introduced to ice chips! Day 11, to

liquid foods.

 

Unknown to me I had been termed " late stage achalasia " even though I was

getting myself checked on a regular basis. After a check up a few months after

the surgery, the surgeon declared me his first failure.

 

While the ensuing 20 years have had its challenges, I'm doing pretty well, all

things considered.

 

I am not going to conclude this message without making one very important point,

While most of us have concluded that we are all different in some respects, I

firmly believe that there is one universal " truth " that I feel that not all of

us take seriously enough, one that has enabled me to get this far in spite of

symptoms to the contrary (mostly behind me now).

 

At the risk of sounding like I am lecturing to the " oldies " here, there is

probably nothing more important than making every effort to clear your esophagus

before starting every meal and right after finishing one, to the best of your

ability and awareness.  As a group we seem pretty evenly divided as to the

usefulness of carbonated beverages. Some (like myself) swear by it, while others

cannot tolerate it. My doctors conducted a " cornflake " study proving that food

went down only a little with water, while it got swept thru with soda.

 

Whatever works best for you, err on the side of caution. Drink more than you

think you need to or have to. Get the last scraps of food down and out. It will

extend the life of your esophagus and make eating much easier for a much longer

period of time.

 

 

PS to .  I am so very sorry to hear about your grandmother. Knowing she

is of advanced age, I pray that the doctors can do the best they can to give her

a quality of life and minimize her suffering.

From: Kim Abrams <xploring37@...>

Subject: Re: Hey all - need some help

" achalasia " <achalasia >

Date: Saturday, December 17, 2011, 1:09 PM

 

________________________________

From: zlmmom1 <mcnairmichelle@...>

achalasia

Sent: Friday, December 16, 2011 10:00 AM

Subject: Hey all - need some help

 

Hey Everyone - I haven't been around for awhile- super busy with life - yea!!

Anyway - my grandmother just got diagnosed with cancer of the E and is on a

liquid diet - didn't someone post a smoothies cookbook or recipes on this site

at one point? We have reason to believe she will be on liquids until the end and

I want to help her have as many options as possible...

Thanks - this was the first place I thought of when my mom called me with the

news - I don't think there's anyone in my family who is going to understand and

get it like I am.

Hope everyone is doing well.

~ in NC

Achalasia free for almost 4 years! - can you believe it's been that long??