Achalasia & Dilation

I had a 'procedure' this morning at the hospital. The nice doc and nurses call it a procedure rather than surgery, maybe because it's a short sub-1hr affair. But anything that is invasive is surgical to me. *blink*

It's for a condition called Achalasia, which according to Wikipedia, affects 1 of 100,000 person per year. I need better luck to strike 4D. Haha. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Achalasia)

In layman, it means:
Problem: esophagus narrowing at base that connects to stomach, giving rise to various gastro-related problems.
Solution: put a balloon to force dilate the constriction, and hope it stays open. *hope*

It was to be done much later, hard to find an appointment slot. But the nice doc was particularly sympathetic to triathletes. When he heard I had a race in late March, he penciled me on his day off so that I can recover to carbo load for the race. Awww.....

So the procedure involved a scope and a balloon, both of which had to be swallowed. Before that, the nurses hooked me to a machine to monitor my BP and pulse rate. But apparently both were so low that the machine went turned schizo and could not register anything! Haha. In the end, the doc had to manually count my pulse rate. Then came the sedation injection. The nurse poked and fiddled around one vein, could not get it right, and withdrew the needle. Ouch. Poked and fiddled a second time. Double ouch.

Some sedation, I felt drowsy. I guess the patient had to be somewhat awake and responsive as they needed me to swallow. First the scope, that was easier to swallow. Took a couple of pictures of the inside.

Then the balloon. Shoots, it was a plastic thingy, about 1" wide, 2.5-3" tall. That was terribly hard to swallow. I coughed as the doc shoved it down my throat. In my half-sedated state, I thought I would choke and die. :( Finally, it cleared. But the 'comfort' was not for long. The inflation began, and I could literally feel something expanding from within, and pressing against my ribs/ chest. People with heartburn might be familiar with that feeling. Or I suppose some pregnant ladies might feel that too, something pushing up or pressing into the lower chest walls. It was actually painful. I think I made a couple of unglam pathetic groans. The inflation lasted 3x 1min. Ouch ouch ouch. The doc said they were very small inflations, since it was the first time 'stretching' the constriction, and we did not want to risk tearing it. Oh my, culd not imagine bigger inflations! Finally it was over and retracted. Goodness! I hoped I did not have to repeat the procedure!

Now the tough part.... no food or drink for the next 6 hrs. Thereafter only liquids for the next 24hrs. I was already starving, having fasted before the ops. Oh geez, that would be harder to get over than the procedure! Food oh food......