Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Feeling Human Again

The end of April and most of May was a little rough. I had to have my esophagus scoped and six enlarged blood vessels banded as they were at high risk for bleeding.

Afterward wasn't such fun at all. Uncomfortable pain when the food hit the bottom of my esophagus, then they seeped blood into my stomach for 4 days, which caused many visits to the toilet.

At the same time the doctor dealt with my expanding abdomen. The fluid buildup was quite substantial. I was very uncomfortable as the fluid was pushing up against my stomach, which is partly why I had no appetite.

It was also very difficult to bend over and laying down was hard too, so he put me on diuretics. He had been holding off as long as possible before putting me on them as they are hard on the kidneys.

I had to have my blood checked every week for the first month to make sure everything was OK. Now I just have to have it checked once a month. At the same time I was dangerously anemic and all my blood numbers were extremely low.

Iron pills took care of that and I am now gaining some weight back. I am not freezing cold anymore either and my appetite is back. I eat at least six times a day now. I just have to stick to a low sodium diet because of the fluid problem.

Most days I am feeling great, although still tired a lot. My hip is doing pretty good and I know it when I've walked a lot, but that usually passes after a night of rest.

Feeling good again is great!

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