"Bump" in the road.

I wanted to start this post by again thanking everyone for their love and support during this difficult time. It really makes a difference to read these posts and know there is so much love and prayer for me.

Unfortunately, we have run into another little “bump” in the road. The first “bump” is that my new esophagus has become too narrow to swallow solid food. So I have already had my first of four procedures where they do an endoscopy and stretch out the esophagus a little bit at a time. The narrowing or stricture is apparently is quite common with my type of disease and treatment.  For the medical folks out there, it constricted to 5mm.  Normal is 20-21mm.

The second “bump” in the road we are working on is that my gall bladder decided to act up the day after the endoscopy. I have never had gall bladder problems before so I was surprised. Apparently, this is also common with my disease and treatment. I was admitted to Aspen Valley Hospital (AVH) on Tuesday and have been getting antibiotics and medicines to hopefully “cool” down my gall bladder without surgery for now. As of today, I am having less gall bladder pain and nausea then the past few days and my lab values have been a little better each day. Our plan is for me to be discharged from the hospital tomorrow or the next day.

Next Wednesday I have a doctor’s appointment with the GI surgeon that did my initial surgery and we will figure out what to do with my gall bladder. My guess is that if the pain is gone we wait a little before removing it. Hopefully it will resolve, and we can deal with the gall bladder later when I am more healthy. If I am still having gall bladder issues next week my guess is that he will take it out as opposed to waiting. Then, on Thursday I am scheduled for my second of four “stretching” procedures. Sounds like a fun week…..LOL

So…..next week will be a full week but we need to deal with my esophagus so I can move onto solid foods. After all, one needs an occasional hamburger or steak…haha. We need to fix my gall bladder either with medicine or surgery as soon as possible so I can resume chemotherapy and be done with all this stuff sooner than later.

I can hear ”him” calling my name. It would be nice to head for the Yucatan Peninsula (Mexico) and/or back to Asia sooner than later. I am in scuba diving withdrawal right now.

Again…I want to thank all you guys for making the posts. It really means a lot to me. We will beat this thing and I will move on with my live and I will dive again.

Enjoy your weekend.... :)