To Make a Long Story Short

I haven’t posted since shortly after my return from Guatemala, and I’m not exactly sure why. Writing has always been therapy for me, but I find it more difficult to do as a leisure activity now since copywriting is what I do for a living. I don’t even want to look at a computer after I log off work for the day.

Anyway, I digress…

I’m here with an update on my health.

I noticed some unusual symptoms during my trip to Guatemala, which I initially dismissed due to the higher elevation and the fact that we were eating different food than I’m used to. But the symptoms persisted after I returned. In fact, they got worse.

A burning feeling in my stomach. Nausea. Bloating. I felt sick almost constantly.

I contacted my doctor and she ordered a parasite test. That came back negative. My next step was to ask her to refer me to a gastroenterologist. So she did, but I had to wait two months to even get the appointment.

I saw him in mid-June. He ordered an endoscopy, which I had on July 8. The endoscopy showed that I had a hiatal hernia, and the hernia caused another condition called Barrett’s Esophagus. The next step was an esophageal manometry or, in layman’s terms, a swallow test.

That’s when things started clicking. I have had trouble swallowing for months, usually when I’m lying down. I dug into the research and also learned that these esophagus disorders are the reason I cough all the time.

I was told I would be having surgery, so my case was referred to a surgeon who specializes in hiatal hernias. But first, I had to do the swallow test. This took place at the end of July, and this “mildly uncomfortable” procedure was honestly pretty traumatic for me. Having a catheter inserted up your nose and into your throat while you’re conscious is not something I recommend.

Anyway, the swallow test revealed a third problem: a rare blockage disorder that was beyond the skills of the surgeon to fix. So he referred me to The Ohio State University Medical Center, and my first appointment with them (gastroenterology) is October 30.

So, I have three esophagus disorders, and doing the surgery we originally planned could actually make the third problem worse.

I’m not sure what happens from here. Assuming I will still have surgery, it will be a different type of surgery than the one I was planning for. And if it happens, it will likely be next year at this point. I will have a long recovery period, so I suppose it’s ideal if we do this in the winter when I’m more inclined to be indoors anyway.

In the meantime, I’m still living with symptoms that are more annoying than painful. I still have trouble swallowing. I’m still coughing. I’m still bloated. I have excess saliva because of all this, so I have to dab at my mouth constantly and the corners of my mouth are getting dry and cracked. I also have what’s called burning mouth syndrome, which is completely harmess and mildly affects my sense of taste. Until all of this happened, I had no idea what was causing it — but I think there might be a connection and I will ask my pathologist when I see her in October. Anyway, my tongue feels fuzzy all the time.

Oh, and now my risk of esophageal cancer is higher, so I love that for me.

At the time of my diagnosis, I was just ramping up my training for MammothMarch Cuyahoga Valley, which takes place three weeks from tomorrow. But this really threw me for a loop and I couldn’t get back into the mindset I need to train. So I sold my ticket to a friend. I’m a bit sad about that, but I’m now focused on doing more core work in hopes that I can recover faster when this is all over — again, assuming I’m having surgery. (I registered for a 5K at Ohio State on what would have been MammothMarch day, but I’m going to walk instead of run.)

I’m still hiking, but the hikes I’m doing are shorter distances and less intense. I just celebrated my first anniversary as a Hikerbabes ambassador, and I was even named Ambassador of the Week this week!

Will I do MammothMarch again? We shall see. As the training intensified, it was starting to take up the whole weekend — hike 10+ miles on Saturday and spend Sunday recovering. It left me little time to spend with Lance or get any work done around the house.

Speaking of which, I have some bushwhacking to do today in the yard. Hopefully I won’t neglect this blog for so long going forward. I already feel a little better now that I’ve written an update.