Hammer

Hammer

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WTF Is Achalasia And Why Did It Choose Me?

It is not too often I delve much into my personal life, because well, it's personal. But lately I have been going through something that has affected more than just my personal life.

It started during a Caribbean cruise I went on with family at the end of June last year. I noticed I would get the hiccups every time I ate. I didn't think too much of it and dismissed it as probably just stress-related since I was in the process of selling and buying a home last summer. Unfortunately things continued to get worse where it suddenly became hard to swallow any food or drink. I decided it was time to see my doctor. I was then referred to a specialist where I had an endscopy (I think that is what they called it). They put a camera down my throat and checked things out. It wasn't too bad since they knocked me out for that.

They then had me get another procedure done. I think it was called manometry or something? All I know is it was one of the worst experiences I have ever had to endure...OK maybe not the worst, but it was one of the most, if not the most, unpleasant. They shoved a wire up my nose and down my throat that would monitor me swallowing salt water. This led to the diagnosis of a rare and non-curable condition known as Achalasia.

When a normal person swallows, muscles in the esophagus work together to push food down to the stomach. Mine don't. In fact, the muscle at the end of my esophagus just above my stomach no longer releases to allow food and drink to pass through to my stomach. This is a problem.

No one knows what the cause of Achalasia is. My belief is that I must have been bit by a radioactive bug while on one of the shore excursions during my cruise. I think I would have rather become a super hero.

The past few months have been pretty tough. I stopped going out to eat for the most part because eating was causing me anxiety. I never knew if I was going to be able to force food down. Sometimes it would cause a burning pain in my chest as it tried to go down. Other times it would refuse to go down causing me to spit up a little bit. And trying to wash down food with some liquid was a big crap shoot. Sometimes it would work. Other times it wouldn't and since the liquid had nowhere to go, it would cause me to choke and make me feel like I was drowning.

Another unforeseen consequence of Achalasia has been my inability to sleep. You wouldn't think of this as being too big a deal, until you go weeks without a good nights sleep. The analogy I use to describe what happens is that of a cup. My esophagus is like a cup since the muscle at the bottom has it all but closed off. When I lay down, it is like that cup being tipped over and whatever is in there goes right to the back of my throat causing me to choke. I have been able to get some rest here and there, but even sleeping on an incline I will still wake up with coughing bouts in the middle of the night. It is not a fun way to wake up.

I was given three options recently at a surgical consult. Botox shots, which is a temporary fix. A balloon thing that they force down to try to open up the bottom of the esophagus or some surgery that has the name Heller in it which is the most common treatment. This is what my surgeon was recommending. He asked me if I wanted to watch a video and my response should have been, "Hell no!" but for some insidious reason I said, "Sure!" He pulled up the below video from YouTube showing the surgery where they are cutting away that muscle that closes off the esophagus. Skip to about a minute in for the good stuff.

I have never had a big surgery like this before so I am not sure what to expect. I am looking forward to the hopeful outcome on the other side. Even though there is no way doctors can get your esophagus to function as it used to, they can treat the symptoms and most will go on with a fairly normal life after the surgery. The cut muscle will allow passage through the esophagus to the stomach and they do something with the top of the stomach to prevent food from coming back up. So being able to eat somewhat normally and sleep at night are my two main objectives.

I am going to be out of commission for a couple weeks due to the surgery, assuming all goes well with no complications. This means no work, no shows and if it were racing season, no racing. So at least I have that going for me.

My question is why is there so little awareness of this condition? I had to get it to even hear of it. I just Googled Achalasia Awareness Month and apparently that is September. I don't recall hearing anything about it back in September. Maybe there should be more research and fund raisers and awareness campaigns for this. Or maybe I am just being a baby and I should go walk it off.

Hope to see ya on the other side.


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