Endoscopy

The fun is over for today.  I had an upper endoscopy.  The results... I have gastroparesis, gastritis, and a nice duodenal ulcer.

Next week the fun continues with the dentist, my doctor for a physical.

The following week I will be going through the nuclear medicine study called gastric emptying.  Finally I will be taking the "smart pill.

The Fun Begins

Alright everybody...

The fun begins this week with...

Tuesday, an endoscopy...

And next week, a gastric emptying exam (nuclear medicine)...

And next week I will swallow the "smart pill"...

And next week I will have a physical...

It all starts this week!  So please keep me in your prayers.  I know it is a bit tacky to ask for prayers, but at this point in my relationship with gastroparesis I will try anything!!!!  I will post updates.

God Bless!

Hope Restored

It's has become a sad symptom of my gastroparesis (GP) that I had entirely lost hope for a cure or receiving the nuero-simulator I need so much to help alleviate the 24-hr nausea. This situation is not something easily spoken of by me. I hate being a shut-in or not being able to make plans for any appointments (as I will most likely cancel).  The worst  part is that I have lost touch with everything that was in my life prior to GP.  I was on the road to becoming ordained.  No longer.  I do not have the option to visit with any of my family, all of my friends but one, and the loss of my church family.  Simple things like going to Christmas Eve at my in-laws or going to visit with my brother are no longer viable choices for me. Let me put it to you this way, my brother has a young son, well over a year and a half years old, and I have never met him.  Not once.  I am always ill.

Please do not think that I am in some deep dark depression.  I get through each day as every other GP sufferer does.  Each hour, each minute is lived by treating each GP symptom as it comes.  The problem is that is all I do, ever.

Thus I have lived without hope for years.  How long I have been dampened is unknown.  For me time is one long blur of nausea. Yet, hope has been rekindled!  I have been loathe to talk about this until it was official, I did not want to jinx anything.  Here it is:  I have been officially entered into a GP medical study at the University of Michigan Hospital in Ann Arbor, Michigan.  The initial part of the study will begin with an endoscopy, a 6-hour gastric emptying test, swallowing a "smart pill" and frequent discussions and visits with the doctor and his staff.  I was given a long questionnaire about my GP and their symptoms.  I received a physical exam by the gastroenterologist in charge of the study.  All the prerequisites (blood sugar, A1C levels, etc.) I had for entering the study have been fulfilled.  

"Smart Pill/Capsule"

What is so exciting for me is that I finally have a team of doctors working to relieve my GP symptoms.  I have been officially accepted by U of M by gastroenterologists and researchers who truly understand how severe my GP is and whom actually desire to help.  They understand I am not a drug seeker!

Thus, for me, hope has been restored.  What keeps me going is:

my wife,

my daughter,

my pup Tess,

my best friend C,

my best friend Yeshua,

a hope for treatment,

and the desire to live a life and not be a shut-in!

How do you manage?

God bless you all.

To Have Somewhat of an Awesome Opportunity

University of Michigan Hospital.  Ann Arbor, Michigan

For the first time in a long time, I have some good news concerning my gastroparesis (GP).  I have been accepted into an University of Michigan Hospital device & observational study of my GP.  This entails swallowing a "smart pill" that tracks everything that goes on in my digestive system. This study will be centered at the main hospital in Ann Arbor, Michigan.  I am hopeful that some form of breakthrough may be found that may decrease my levels of nausea, retching and vomiting.

There is one huge drawback to this good news, for I will have to retake the gastric emptying nuclear medicine test again.  For me this is no easy feet.  Last time the CT scans ended up with me vomiting in the radiology department at St. Joseph Mercy Hospital in Pontiac, Michigan.  It literally took me three tries to get through the exam as I could not hold the radiated food down.  I pray that this will not be the case here.

An illustrated example of a "smart pill."

My question is simple, has anyone else taken a "smart pill?"  If so please share with us.