Not the news I wanted to hear

I had an endoscopy on Friday since my reflux has been acting up since December. The results were not what I was hoping for. There is a good chance that I have Barrett's esophagus. Basically that means that the lining of my esophagus is starting to change to the type of lining you find in the stomach due to being damaged from stomach acid. This is not good because it increases your risk of cancer (the risk is very small but I would have to be monitored for abnormal cells). I have to wait for the official biopsy results but I would not be surprised if I do have it. I have been suffering from acid reflux since I was 10 years old.

If my reflux does not improve I will have to consider getting the nissen fundoplication surgery. Basically they wrap part of your stomach around the lower part of your esophagus to reinforce the closing of the of les which is what keeps stomach acid from getting into the esophagus.

The surgery has a very long recovery and I would have to be on a liquid diet for a while and that sounds miserable! Of course I've been reading up on it and freaking myself out with all the complications. Supposedly you won't be able to vomit and possibly not burp EVER! I'm not at the surgery point yet but I won't have much of a choice if I do have Barrett's and the medicine isn't working.

I'm feeling better about the whole situation now. I freaked out a little on Friday and Derek ended up rushing home from work, which I felt bad about. Before I think about the surgery I want to try Nexium and also be much more careful about what I eat. I've been more lax in my diet than I should be.

In my next post I promise to not talk about boring medical crap. Maybe I'll talk about Ke$ha or cats?