And the Doctor Said

Well, it was one heck of a day. We did the week's food shopping before a fantastic lunch on the coast (at the tiny airport, for goodness sake) before driving to my university hospital for the appointment with the surgeon. We were there to discuss the test results from the four tests of my esophagus and acid levels in my stomach.

I was worried that the tests would not reveal the acid reflux, as I had taken some medication days before the 24-hour test, and that the sensor in my stomach would find no reflux. Two of the other tests were benign but one showed a slowing down of my esophagus. The cause? The doctor began the sentence with, "As we get older..."

Fortunately, the 24-hour test did show a higher level of acid that normal. The question was then, what to do?

If the problem was being caused by the loosening of my 2009 Nissen fundoplication, that was going to be a problem. That surgery is considered very safe. If it needs to be re-done, the fatality rate soars. Not good.

If the problem was being caused by the hernia at the Nissan site, that would involved hernia surgery.

The doctor believed that the Nissen was actually popping in and out of the hernia, making it larger and causing problems. He also believed that the acid reflux problem might be the result of that interaction.

Next steps? Within the next two weeks, I will have an endoscopy to "see the landscape" and give us more information. This involves a chest X-ray and blood tests, which I will do next Wednesday when I need to have blood taken to check my calcium levels after the Prolia shot.

Why all the drama? Even with medication, microaspirations can make their way to the lungs to cause flares. If I need new lungs, this must be cleared up before damage can be done to the new lungs.

I must admit that when he mentioned that the goal of any doctor was to always help the patient, he was concerned that my lungs may not do well during a surgery and that it, in fact, could cause my death or a very long stay in ICU, it gave me chills. That was how my dad died. Same day surgery to fix a problem. He died after thirty days in ICU. In November. Twenty years ago.