Diaphragmatic hernia?

Joel C said:

Carol,

I’m doing much better than a week ago.  Eating is still an issue and if I eat even just a little too much I’ll vomit.  My surgeon set up an upper GI this past Tuesday and I have very delayed emptying.  In normal people as soon as you swallow the contrast some should start to trickle past the pylorus and into the duodenum.  In my case there was nothing exiting the stomach.  We waited 10 minutes (delayed study) and again nothing trickled out so we tested again at 20 & 30 minutes and the result was the same.  The plan is to meet with the surgeon again on 11/26 and see how things are going.  I have a feeling a pyloric dilation is in my near future.  I hope Joe has an easier go of it when he goes in for his hernia repair in December.

Joel

I am sorry you are having these problems.  Were you experiencing any delayed emptying prior to the surgery?  Joe has experienced nothing unusual in his eating except he seems to have increased pain with a longer duration if he does over-eat.  He has just been more careful about quantity and he has been fine.  The only way we even knew about his hernia was it showed up in a scan for something else.  His surgeon has been pretty casual about it except for giving us symptoms to report to him immediately.  I have great trust and faith in Joe's surgeon.  His esphagectomy went so smoothly and Joe's recovery was amazingly quick.

I hope you can get come answers and resolution when you next meet with your surgeon. 

Carol