Having my Throat scoped

davkel
davkel Member Posts: 20
in Head and Neck Cancer #1
I'm having an NGD done on Monday, and don't really know what to expect. We are doing it because at 5 months post radiation therapy I still can't swallow anything more that little sips of water. Doc plans to send the scope down my esophagus to see what's up and also possibly dilate it to get things started. Can anybody let me know what to expect post-precedure? Anything will help. I'm praying that I can start eating my mouth pretty quick, but don't want to get my hopes up too high. The nurse I talked to said that this is usually a pretty successful procedure. Any helpful comments?

Comments

  • deedee54
    deedee54 Member Posts: 7
    #2
    Having my throat scoped
    I wish I could help in this area, but I don't really know much about it. I can tell you this -- I had a devil of a time swallowing for many months after my last radiation treatment. In fact, I was very ill throughout the whole thing and did not touch solid food at all from the first week of February 2011 through May 2011. Even now, swallowing is an issue, but it's nowhere near as bad as it was. At five months out, you still have a good year in front of you to recuperate from the radiation effects.
  • davkel
    davkel Member Posts: 20
    #3
    deedee54 said:

    Having my throat scoped
    I wish I could help in this area, but I don't really know much about it. I can tell you this -- I had a devil of a time swallowing for many months after my last radiation treatment. In fact, I was very ill throughout the whole thing and did not touch solid food at all from the first week of February 2011 through May 2011. Even now, swallowing is an issue, but it's nowhere near as bad as it was. At five months out, you still have a good year in front of you to recuperate from the radiation effects.

    Thanks deedee54
    Thanks for the input. I appreciate that. I'm probably being too impatient but not being able to eat is damn frustrating. It's extremely hard to keep weight on. Having to put up with this for another year doesn't sound good at all. If you couldn't touch solid food for only a couple of months that must have been fantastic. That's what I was hoping for in my case but it didn't turn out that way. What other kinds of junk am I going to have to put up with for the next year?
  • Laralyn
    Laralyn Member Posts: 532
    #4
    Testing?
    Have you had a barium swallow test? If not, it might help identify problems. I was also connected with a speech pathologist to help train me in better ways to swallow. I think they can recommend exercises too. Hope this helps!
  • davkel
    davkel Member Posts: 20
    #5
    Laralyn said:

    Testing?
    Have you had a barium swallow test? If not, it might help identify problems. I was also connected with a speech pathologist to help train me in better ways to swallow. I think they can recommend exercises too. Hope this helps!

    testing
    Yep, I've had 3 swallow tests so far. On the last one they said everything was working fine and they took me off any restrictions as to what I could try to get down. There was some inflammation in my esophagus but I was still able to get small amounts of liquids down. I've got another one coming up the end of July. I've also got throat exorcises to do: mendolson, hard swallow etc. The speech pathologist didn't see any reason that I shouldn't be able to be swallowing.
  • George_Baltimore
    George_Baltimore Member Posts: 303
    #6
    davkel said:

    testing
    Yep, I've had 3 swallow tests so far. On the last one they said everything was working fine and they took me off any restrictions as to what I could try to get down. There was some inflammation in my esophagus but I was still able to get small amounts of liquids down. I've got another one coming up the end of July. I've also got throat exorcises to do: mendolson, hard swallow etc. The speech pathologist didn't see any reason that I shouldn't be able to be swallowing.

    EGD procedure
    You will probably go into a "non-sterile" endoscopy suite. By non-sterile I simply mean you take your shirt off and put on a gown. Some places you just leave your shoes on. They will hook you up to an IV to provide you fluids. The anesthesiologist will come in and talk to you about the anesthesia which, in all likelyhood, will be Propofol. You go into the room, they put you out so that you don't remember a thing about being worked on. You wake up about 15 to 20 minutes later with a sore throat if they have to dilate (stretch) your esophagus. The soreness, depending on how much dilating they have to do, will last from 1 to 4 days. If it is an esophageal stricture that is the problem, you will be able to swallow without pain as soon as the soreness goes away. The procedure is nothing to worry about!
  • davkel
    davkel Member Posts: 20
    #7
    George_Baltimore said:

    EGD procedure
    You will probably go into a "non-sterile" endoscopy suite. By non-sterile I simply mean you take your shirt off and put on a gown. Some places you just leave your shoes on. They will hook you up to an IV to provide you fluids. The anesthesiologist will come in and talk to you about the anesthesia which, in all likelyhood, will be Propofol. You go into the room, they put you out so that you don't remember a thing about being worked on. You wake up about 15 to 20 minutes later with a sore throat if they have to dilate (stretch) your esophagus. The soreness, depending on how much dilating they have to do, will last from 1 to 4 days. If it is an esophageal stricture that is the problem, you will be able to swallow without pain as soon as the soreness goes away. The procedure is nothing to worry about!

    George_Balitmore
    Fantastic, thanks for the input. Having the hope to be able to swallow again is like hearing that I just passed Q school. (another dream). Thanks for the input. If you are willing to give me more info, how was the swallowing for you? Was it small bites of mashed potatoes or chicken broth or something else of heavier consistency? Not looking for a guarantee here just some sort of idea of what others have experienced. Thanks for giving me some hope that the light at the end of the tunnel isn't necessarily a train coming my way. :)
  • George_Baltimore
    George_Baltimore Member Posts: 303
    #8
    davkel said:

    George_Balitmore
    Fantastic, thanks for the input. Having the hope to be able to swallow again is like hearing that I just passed Q school. (another dream). Thanks for the input. If you are willing to give me more info, how was the swallowing for you? Was it small bites of mashed potatoes or chicken broth or something else of heavier consistency? Not looking for a guarantee here just some sort of idea of what others have experienced. Thanks for giving me some hope that the light at the end of the tunnel isn't necessarily a train coming my way. :)

    Everything
    When I first started having my problems swallowing in 2007, it was as a result of a stricture due to the radiation I had in 2004 for BOT cancer. I never totally lost the ability to swallow but it became very difficult. After the first dilation, it was much easier to swallow anything and everything, especially with a swallow of milk to wash it down.

    Right now, I am having problems swallowing anything. I had surgery June 24th of last year for a mandible reconstruction due, once again, to radiation. It killed the bone on the left side. To make a long story short, I am left with a disfigured face and an inability to swallow. Before I had the surgery, I was being dilated every 4 to 6 weeks to keep the stricture open. After I had the surgery, I wasn't dilated for 6 months. The period of not being stretched allowed the stricture to become more resistant to staying open. My old school gastroenterologist who had been dilating me agreed to dilate me every 2 weeks to see if that would loosen up the stricture. After three dilations, at that interval, he gave up on me.

    I just saw my surgical ENT Wednesday. Starting July 26th, he agreed to dilate me every 2 weeks for a longer trial period. I am keeping my fingers crossed that I will at least be able to swallow liquids again. LOL, I miss my Mexican coffees.

    I hope I haven't discouraged you. My case is probably a bit extreme. Since 2007, I have had almost 50 dilations. I just wanted to make sure you were at ease having the dilation. I did, however, want to let you know that you may require more than one dilation if you do have an esophageal stricture. If that is the case, as long as you have them when it becomes difficult to swallow, you should be fine!
  • davkel
    davkel Member Posts: 20
    #9
    George_Baltimore said:

    Everything
    When I first started having my problems swallowing in 2007, it was as a result of a stricture due to the radiation I had in 2004 for BOT cancer. I never totally lost the ability to swallow but it became very difficult. After the first dilation, it was much easier to swallow anything and everything, especially with a swallow of milk to wash it down.

    Right now, I am having problems swallowing anything. I had surgery June 24th of last year for a mandible reconstruction due, once again, to radiation. It killed the bone on the left side. To make a long story short, I am left with a disfigured face and an inability to swallow. Before I had the surgery, I was being dilated every 4 to 6 weeks to keep the stricture open. After I had the surgery, I wasn't dilated for 6 months. The period of not being stretched allowed the stricture to become more resistant to staying open. My old school gastroenterologist who had been dilating me agreed to dilate me every 2 weeks to see if that would loosen up the stricture. After three dilations, at that interval, he gave up on me.

    I just saw my surgical ENT Wednesday. Starting July 26th, he agreed to dilate me every 2 weeks for a longer trial period. I am keeping my fingers crossed that I will at least be able to swallow liquids again. LOL, I miss my Mexican coffees.

    I hope I haven't discouraged you. My case is probably a bit extreme. Since 2007, I have had almost 50 dilations. I just wanted to make sure you were at ease having the dilation. I did, however, want to let you know that you may require more than one dilation if you do have an esophageal stricture. If that is the case, as long as you have them when it becomes difficult to swallow, you should be fine!

    Everything
    Thanks George. I appreciate the honesty and additional information. Doing the actual procedure isn't what scares me, it's the unknowing of everything that is unnerving. I assume you only had the one radiation in 2004? I suppose back then that is when they really blasted you with the radiation. Hopefully with the new procedures (I had IMRT radiation) I can avoid the pain and troubles that you have had to deal with. I thank you for taking time out of your day to give advice and hope to me and my fairly minor problems. Thank you.
  • George_Baltimore
    George_Baltimore Member Posts: 303
    #10
    davkel said:

    Everything
    Thanks George. I appreciate the honesty and additional information. Doing the actual procedure isn't what scares me, it's the unknowing of everything that is unnerving. I assume you only had the one radiation in 2004? I suppose back then that is when they really blasted you with the radiation. Hopefully with the new procedures (I had IMRT radiation) I can avoid the pain and troubles that you have had to deal with. I thank you for taking time out of your day to give advice and hope to me and my fairly minor problems. Thank you.

    No problem
    Yep, just a set of 38 back in 2004. i really don't know what it was called. I do remember after the 11th treatment I almost gave up and was ready to tell them just to let me die. Between the rad and chemo, I was a mess. Hope you come through all this with the best success you can have! Take care.

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