Top end-oscopy

What a weird week. This condition that started two weeks ago has simply got worse: when I swallow water, it goes up my nose, and I'm having huge difficulty getting food down, as well. I make horrid snorting noises while trying to eat and drink; it's as if I can't get the food past a lump of something at the back of my throat. My voice has become very hoarse this week, but I don't have a sore throat or sniffles or anything cold- or flu-like; I can breathe easily through my nose. I often get a post-nasal drip in the fall, and this seems to be a new twist on it.

I had already made an appointment to see a gastroenterologist about the indigestion I've been experiencing (and Dr. Lee wondered if I had an ulcer), which took place Wednesday, and he agreed the swallowing thing was of concern and was able to fit me in for a gastroscopy the very next morning. This involves putting a camera on a tube down my esophagus to examine it and my stomach and duodenum. (After wandering around the hospital at 7:45 a.m. trying to find the right department, I finally learned that "endoscopy" is a blanket term covering both gastroscopy and colonoscopy: scoping at either "end," a nurse suggested helpfully.)

I'd never had such a test before, but they gave me so much sedation that I scarcely recall lying down on the table. First they sprayed my throat with anesthetic that was horribly bitter (even worse than the bitter taste I have had in my mouth since this condition began). They started the sedative in my IV while I was sitting up; I have vague memories of being conscious of something happening and the next thing I knew I was in recovery. I didn't even have a sore throat. Finally the doctor came around and said he could find nothing sinister going on -- no tumours, no ulcers. "Then why can't I swallow?" I rasped. He did see some white spots in my throat somewhere and suggested I needed to see an ear, nose and throat specialist, which he said he'd set up.

I also asked the doc why I have this pain just under my ribcage and he told me it has nothing to do with my digestive tract or stomach. I asked him if he was sending anything for biopsy that I should call about in a week or two, and he said no. Later, a nurse showed me on the chart that routine samples had, indeed, been taken for biopsy. Go figure.

I don't know how much longer I can put up with this, so I'm going to see my GP today and see if I can talk him into trying some antibiotics. It must be an infection of some sort.

Well, I had wanted to lose some weight.

Not feeling very Pollyanna-ish these days. Maybe it's what the ads used to call "logy and sluggish." I still have pain that the T3s don't take away; now the right side of my spine hurts when I breathe. But I'm sleeping better.