The last two steps before getting the surgery date! I was very nervous for the gastroscopy but it actually was so easy :-) Of course the date coincided with Storm Barra hitting the country, so I was quite nervous it would have been difficult to reach the hospital and that the appointment would have been cancelled. Dublin was spared the worst of it though, so it all went well.
The gastroscopy
This is the test they need to do in order to examine your stomach from the inside, to check what's what and to confirm the kind of surgery they will recommend to you. It consists of a big tube they insert down your throat, within which there is a smaller but longer flexible tube with a camera at the end of it. The surgeon performs this test and guides the smaller tube according to what he sees on the screen.
Below is not a picture from the internet but my actual esophagus and the beginning of my stomach! You can definitely tell I've been good and I've been fasting (no food nor liquid for 8 hours).
They found a non-perforated gastritis (see below) for which the surgeon prescribed a tablet to protect and repair the lining of the stomach. They also took samples for further histology tests, but I haven't heard back yet from the results of this biopsy, so I guess everything is good (ok, I'll indeed enquire next week if I keep not hearing anything).
I guess my neat-whiskey drinking days are over, cannot possibly do that now that I know that it may become perforated (and therefore dangerous). Ah well, after Christmas that is... ;-)
Pre-test
I checked in at 2pm, was accompanied to the ward and shown around. Then they brought me downstairs where I had my full abdomen ultrasound performed by a great technician: she did not have to press too hard, knew exactly what she was looking for and was very professional. Impressive experience. Apparently my liver is quite enlarged and with fatty deposits within the liver itself - both consequences of obesity and lifestyle. I haven't spoken to the surgeon about the ultrasound results, but I am sure he'll mention them to me when I'll see him before the surgery.
Then back upstairs to the ward, where I had all the pre-op bloods taken. The results would be important to both the endocrinologist and the surgeon.
The gastroscopy
They brought me into the small theater where they conduct this test, there were the surgeon, an anesthesiologist and a nurse.
As always they all introduced themselves, but I'm a devil for names and faces, so aside from the surgeon's name I cannot remember the others.
The surgeon was very reassuring and let me know it would have taken only minutes. I was put under oxigen (not the mask, just the tubes up to the nose) and then they inserted the anesthesia (well, sedation only) with a syringe through the cannula I had received in the ward when they took the bloods.
I remember having had to bite on something quite large and hard, but that was it, cannot remember anything else after that.
I woke up in the ward, but was quite drowsy and dozed on and off for a good while, maybe an hour.
The surgeon came to visit me, explained the results of the gastroscopy and walked me through the pictures (above). He told me he'd be seen me again two weeks before surgery and that was that. Some paperwork to do, then I was ready to leave.
My friend was waiting for me outside to drive me home (you cannot drive after sedation) and I had a very pleasant journey back home.
The endocrynologist
Although I am followed by an endocrinologist already, the surgeon has his own multidisciplinary team and wanted me to be seen by his own specialist. Fair enough, I am sure that she is much more experienced with bariatric patients than my own endocrinologist so I did not insist for them to take his word for it.
She called me (phone consultation per my request) ten days after the gastroscopy, blood results at hand, and walked me through them.
Basically it's all good and all vitals and minerals/vitamins levels are perfect.
I learnt that after surgery the B12 levels may drop, so I may need to get an injection regularly. Also my thyroid mediations may be adjusted.
What she was not impressed by was my slow metabolism, that is not responding well to Semaglitude - an injection I'm on to control diabetes (which I don't have any more!!!) and to help with weight loss.
Her plan B is to add Metformin to Semaglitude soon after Christmas. This tablet can provoke nausea and other unwanted side effectsd, so she wanted me to have a decent Christmas before trying to see if I can tolerate it. I hope I can.
Ideally I need to lose a good bit of weight (nobody told me how much) before the surgery. I guess they expect me to lose close to 10kg, but again, it's just a guess.
Happy Christmas!!!
This will be my last Christmas of my old life. I'll spend it savouring each and every bite, I can tell you that. I'll drink high quality wines (my friend Alex is a great connoisseur and guides me to make excellent choices all the time), but then ... then the new life will await to be lived!
Come the 3rd of January, as I have written in another post, I'll give up smoking, drinking and will start controlling food, slowly easing myself into the January diet (I've posted that here).
I have a deadline at work on Jan 31st, so to be on the safe side I explained tot he surgeon I cannot have surgery before mid-February.
Now... let's go!
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