Happy thoughts would be nice

[sally_maria]

My youngest brother, Carer, came home on Thursday for a long weekend. Unfortunately, he suffered from a re-occurrence of a medical problem, and after going to A&E on Friday evening, they kept him in. It's nothing terribly serious in 21st Century Britain, and often resolves itself, but they want to keep an eye on him, and if it doesn't go away by tomorrow they'll have to take more aggressive steps to cure it, which won't be fun for him.

So if anyone has any prayers/good thoughts to offer in his direction it would be appreciated.



Basically, on a semi-regular basis he'll get a lump of food stuck in his oesophagus, either because he's not chewing properly, or because his oesophagus doesn't work as well as it should. It's too far down to choke him but nothing he swallows can get past it, not even saliva. This is a bit of a nuisance, as I'm sure you can imagine.

Usually after a few hours, or overnight, it'll clear itself spontaneously. By Friday it hadn't, so he decided to go up to A&E. He did this before, and they gave him something intravenously that solved the problem. This time that didn't help. So they kept him in, on a fluid drip. (Dehydration seems to make it worse and of course he hasn't eaten anything since Thursday, so they're giving him glucose.)

If it hasn't cleared by Monday, they'll have to do something more proactive, and I'm sure he won't enjoy that, though if it sorts it out it'll be worth it.

On a previous occasion when he was in Luton he had something stuck for several days before he went to the hospital and after it resolved itself, they did do various investigations. There was apparently no sign of an obstruction so there wasn't much they could do. It would be nice to think that this time they can come up with something more helpful, but sometimes bodies are odd things, and just break down in odd ways.

Comments

[inzilbeth-liz.livejournal.com]

Oh this does sound most distressing. Prayers and good thoughts coming your way and hoping this is resolved soon. *hugs*

[sally_maria]

Thank you. *hugs back*

[nakeisha.livejournal.com]

That does sound troublesome.

*Good thoughts and vibes*

*Hugs*

[sally_maria]

Thank you.

It's not a major thing, at least not in a world where they can just put him on a drip, but it's still a nuisance, and being in hospital is never fun.

[frodobaggins252.livejournal.com]

Thinking all the good healing thoughts for him and for you and yours **hugs**

[sally_maria]

Thank very much, that is much appreciated.

[miss-next.livejournal.com]

Ouch, poor chap! I hope they can sort that out for him. :-(

[sally_maria]

Thank you. It's not fun, though as ailments go, it could be far worse.

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

We will hold im in our thoughts.

[sally_maria]

Thank you to both of you.

[bouncy-elf.livejournal.com]

Bodies are very silly things sometimes. Hope they can cure it!

[sally_maria]

Thank you. :-)

[alitalf.livejournal.com]

That must feel horrid, specially with the dehydration as well. What is the cause, if that is known?

I wish him recovered asap.

[sally_maria]

We can't be sure of the cause, except that it's not an existing obstruction. It might be that he doesn't chew properly, or that he doesn't drink enough generally, or maybe that the muscles of his oesophagus aren't working as well as they should.

The nurse is going to get the dietician to talk to him, so maybe that will sort something out. In any case, thank you for the good wishes. :-)

[http://users.livejournal.com/naki_/]

Sending him, yourself and family my best wishes.

[sally_maria]

Thank you. :-)

[meglorien.livejournal.com]

I hope it all gets sorted soon. Poor brother!

[sally_maria]

We saw him this evening, and it finally seems to have shifted - he had soup for tea. :-)

Thank you. By many standards it's such a minor problem, but it's still not fun for him.

[didiusjulianus.livejournal.com]

Good thoughts from me too; so many interesting (and annoying) ways things can go wrong wth the old bod! (Or indeed young bod.)

Maybe he's like some of my family members in that his ability to chew well is lax, although they never have this problem (so therefore prob not), just moaning about having to chew things that are 'chewy'.

[sally_maria]

Not chewing certainly seems to be part of the problem, but whether it's enough in itself to cause the problem is what we are not sure of.

It only started after he went to uni - he was cooking for himself, but as far as we can tell pretty much all pasta and other things that don't need much in the way of chewing. So he comes home and eats other things, and he's got out of the habit...

[alicambs.livejournal.com]

Sounds really nasty and I'll certainly send positive thoughts his way.

[sally_maria]

Thank you very much. He's over the worst of it for the moment, and they've sent him home, but we'll have to see whether anything can be done to stop it happening again.