Suprise Heller Myotomy!

[Guest guest]

Hello everyone. I am going to keep this brief as I am in the hospital and tired.

I met with Dr. Melvin at OSU Medical Center this past Friday and he scheduled me

for a Barium Swallow Study and an upper GI scope. He told me I did not have to

do the manometry again! Yay. Best news ever. I went for the barium study Tuesday

morning and guess what happens when someone who can't swallow drinks a bunch of

barium? Yep, it gets stuck. So I had not been able to get ANYTHING down at all

from Monday evening to Wednesday morning. No water. I was very dizzy and weak

and could feel the barium was still in there. I regurgitated so hard I blew a

bunch of blood vessels under my eyes but the barium would not budge. Called Dr.

Melvin and he said to come back to OSU (2 hour drive for me) and be admitted for

IV fluids and a chest X-ray. I laughed to myself while interns tried to tell me

it was not possible for the barium to still be in there and that this was just

the natural progression of my disease. Low and behold, the X-ray showed there

was, infact, still barium in my E! So I was schedule for an emergency myotomy

the next morning. I am now a little over 24 hours pre op and doing great. Quite

sore, lots of gas in the shoulder pain, but I got to eat tomato soup and pudding

today with no struggling! It was like heaven.

I am a little concerned that Dr. Melvin didn't get to do the scope to check out

my E tissues, but he said he couldn't see anything through the barium anyway and

if I want to come back in a few weeks he will take a look.

Dr. Melvin was having a team of surgeons come up from Chicago to teach him how

to do the POEM surgery, and I wanted to be a part of that, but the barium study

showed that I have a sigmoid achalasia with a moderately distended E, so I was

not a candidate for that. Anyone wanting to get the surgery done soon in Ohio

could call his office and volunteer for this new procedure, it sounds amazing. I

was quite disappointed I had to go the old route. But I can swallow now and that

is what matters.

While Dr. Melvin's bedside manner wasn't wonderful, he seems to be a very

competent and knowledgeable surgeon and I would recommend him to friends.

Hoping to go home tomorrow! Take care everyone.

-Devin