Getting Started

I am an esophageal cancer patient. I have friends and family that wish to be kept up-to-date on what is going on with me. So, rather than writing separate emails, mailing out an occasional newsletter, etc. it seemed to make sense to jump into the Internet age, post news here and let folks visit at their one pace. They can then leave messaes as well.

I'm a 56-year-old male QA Manager living in Wisconsin, who ended up driving truck for the last 10 years. I may get into that more at a later date.

January of 2007, I had complained of lower abdominal pain. My doctor at that time had me undergo a colonoscopy, and a CT scan (which the insurance company did not pay for). I later started having trouble swallowing. It seemed as if the food would enter the stomach and then be rejected, i..e. be pushed up against the esophageal sphincter, both physically and with gas pressure. Some time later, the food would move out of the way and I was able to express the gas. I could belch, yeah!!

March 16 started out just fine until I tried to have scrambled eggs, stir-fried onions, and crumbled sausage for breakfast. The first few bites went down just fine but eventually, the situation mentioned earlier occurred. But this time, it seemed as if the esophageal sphincter "spasmed." It seemed like a 'charlie horse' had occurred at the top of my stomach at the diaphram. Same kind of pain, and unrelenting. It wouldn't let up. I was getting weak from the continued pain which lasted weel over a half-hour.

I live two blocks from a hospital that is accepted by my company's insurance carrier. So, rather than drive and possibly cause an accident, I decided to walk. Tried to relax and just keep moving. If I had any other trouble, if I fell to the ground, there was a lot of traffic that would see me there, near the hospital, and call for help. I hoped.

The emergency room physician became annoyed as I told him what was going on. He didn't want me to explain what was going on, he wanted symptoms. He informed me that I did not have an esophageal sphincter, I had a one-way valve.I had explained how, during my spasm, the thick, "ropy" saliva would build in my mouth and I would inadvertently swallow, feel the peristalsis move the saliva down my throat to the "one-way valve" and when the peristalsis subsided, I would felt the saliva move back up the esophagus to the mouth.

From this, he concluded that I had a "blockage."

By this time, the spasm had subsided and I went home feeling drained.

-More later-