From Kateel-Interesting Info After Brochoscopy

kateel

This morning, my husband, Bill, had a bronchoscopy, because he has been coughing, gagging, and throwing up phlegm after his esophagectomy on April 25th. We thought for sure that he would need a dilation, based on his symptoms, but that is not the case, according to his surgeon. It seems that his muscles are still weak and he is not swallowing correctly and is holding his saliva in the back of his throat. When he had his 3 swallow tests, he did just fine. It seems that when he concentrates and keeps his mind on what he is doing, he swallows much better, but when he is just sitting around,watching TV, etc., he doesn't swallow properly and the stuff backs up. He is going back Friday to learn some swallowing exercises to strengthen the muscles in his throat. Has anyone else had this issue? His surgeon says it could take around 3 weeks or more for this to get better, with lots of practice of the exercises. We are grateful and thank the Lord that they didn't find any major problem.

Waiting for your input,

Kateel

Unknown

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TRK411

unknown said:

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The fact that they did a
The fact that they did a bronchoscopy would likely be due to the fact that he was coughing, gagging, and having phlegm, as this can also be indicative of a mucus plug. However, as William pointed out, such a procedure would likely be unwarranted if breathing is fine and oxygen saturation levels were withing normal limits. My dad has had several of these procedures while in ICU and, despite the fact that his oxygen and breathing were good, they did it anyway. It may just sound like they were trying to rule things in/out.

fredswilma

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Hi William
Hey this is quite
Hi William
Hey this is quite interesting, as you know my husband is not a surgery candidate and we went to have a dialation (due to increased swallowing problems) however the surgeon did not do the dialation as he thought that Marks swallowing problems were due to the muscles in his oesaphagus around where the tumor is, not working properly, in other words not helping push the food down, not because the tumor had closed the oesaphagus. Also Mark has had a really hoarse, raspy voice and this could be because of the saliva and acid coming up and irritating his trachea (think thats the right word). He also said the risks in doing a dialation because of tearing were too high, I don't know if thats just Mark or is there an inherent risk in dialations?. Our surgeon has suggested a stent if the swallowing gets worse, both Mark and I are not so keen on that having read so many horror stories. Anyways I know thats not what the original post was about, just thought I would mention it.
Ann

Alaska_Kim

Hi Kateel,
Just as William
Hi Kateel,

Just as William suggested, I strongly urge you to get another opinion. I am surprised they did not schedule your husband for an Endoscopy to confirm his surgery site is not constricted. My husband had very similar symptoms and has had 3 dilations since surgery (April 7). Does your husband have a GI doctor? If so, I would suggest making a phone call to ask about the Endoscopy.

Our docs here are convinced my husbands ongoing problems are chemo related and have up'd and added to his nausea meds (although he doesn't ever feel nauseated) to see if that will help with the excess saliva. He actually made it 3 days without throwing up to the point of vomitting food, just saliva (we consider that an improvement because we haven't had to use the j-tube to supplement his calories), but he started his 3rd round of chemo today and they are trying to head off the same thing starting over again.

While I still think an Endoscopy is called for, my husband did have a nurse just last week suggest that he consider going to a speech therapist to see if they could help him swallow differently. I thought it was a little far fetched at the time, but now I'm not so sure...

His Oncologist wants to try the other nausea meds first to see if that will help, but she wasn't against him trying the speech therapist angle once he is done with the chemo and he still has problems.

I am very glad they didn't find any major problems. Please keep me posted on his progress.

Kim

jojoshort

fredswilma said:

Hi William
Hey this is quite
Hi William
Hey this is quite interesting, as you know my husband is not a surgery candidate and we went to have a dialation (due to increased swallowing problems) however the surgeon did not do the dialation as he thought that Marks swallowing problems were due to the muscles in his oesaphagus around where the tumor is, not working properly, in other words not helping push the food down, not because the tumor had closed the oesaphagus. Also Mark has had a really hoarse, raspy voice and this could be because of the saliva and acid coming up and irritating his trachea (think thats the right word). He also said the risks in doing a dialation because of tearing were too high, I don't know if thats just Mark or is there an inherent risk in dialations?. Our surgeon has suggested a stent if the swallowing gets worse, both Mark and I are not so keen on that having read so many horror stories. Anyways I know thats not what the original post was about, just thought I would mention it.
Ann

Hi Ann
So far Steve is doing excellently with the stent. The complications are sobering, but if you do your homework and find an experienced gastro doc at a large teaching hospital, (like we did) you may find the stent to be the answer to your prayers.
If you go to my blog on my CSN space, you can see how it's going for us with the stent. I've been blogging about it every couple of days and I must say, so far--and that's important--it's been working like a charm. We both know that anything is possible, however.
An important reminder is that for those who are Stage IV, there are considerations that may not affect stent migration. Since we don't have radiation or chemo anymore, his tumor won't shrink and cause the stent to slip. One less worry there, but do your homework. If you like, I can send you some reading so you are well educated on this subject.
Jo-Ann