Today I attended the dreaded gastro-surgical clinic appointment up in London. The last few times I've been have been nothing short of a nightmare. I've been pushed from pillar to post for years now as no one wants to take responsibility for performing my surgery. This is because they have so many concerns about maintaining my airway during it. This drives me nuts because its not like I don't spend loads of time going under emergency anaesthetic as it is. And (although granted I know emergency anaesthesia is life of death), they seem to be able to get a team together in quick time to sort me out then. Why will no one sort this out?
Bottom line is... I've had GERD for some years now. Which in itself isn't earth shattering stuff. But because I have the tendency to aspirate my stomach contents into my lungs - leading to pneumonia's and all sorts of nasties, I need this operation called Nissens Fundoplication. Its a procedure where they essentially create a tightening around the sphincter of the stomach so that it doesn't reflux the stomach contents up. In most 'healthy people' the sphincter does its job, unless you are a premature baby and its not developed yet, or elderly and its just lost its ability to contract. But due to lots of different reasons mine doesn't do the job it should and consequently I need the surgery - ASAP.
Today's appointment was very different. After being told my doctor had left (they forgot to tell me!?) I had to start all over again with a new doctor. I wasn't too impressed and thought 'here we go again, may as well go home and not bother'. I had a bit of a wait in clinic but eventually was seen by a doctor who was truly the most capable doctor I've seen in this area. He was keen to listen to all my concerns and really apologetic for all the hassle they'd caused - though it really wasn't his fault. He spent ages making phone calls and made real commitments for things to be done to help my case. I felt strangely reassured. I usually don't hold out much hope for these guys because more often than not I'm let down by false promises. But he seemed really keen to make some progress with me. He is sending me for a bravo capsule examination. They've previously tried to send me for this but it has been cancelled at the last minute as yet again 'no one wants to be responsible for protecting my airway while they do the investigation. So a specialist theatre slot needs to be arranged and a different hospital. He has put the wheels into motion so lets hope things start to happen from here. The dude even gave me his email address and said if I didn't hear in 2 weeks then I should email him directly. How many doctors say that?!!?! If I can get this surgery to go ahead my life will be better by far. No reflux = no/very few, minor aspirations which means my lungs will be much happier :)
