Findings:

So, I guess the day didn’t get off to a great start when during the night I got up to turn in bed and ended up smacking my head on the very sharp corner of my bedside unit. A quick trip to the bathroom revealed a swollen scalp with a small cut, nothing to worry about but uncomfortable none the less.

In the morning I was quite nervous. If you’re nervous, you feel sick, and feeling sick at the thought of feeling sick during the Endoscopy makes you feel sick even more. So, sick nervous wreck ridden me and quite understanding, supportive none geek wife (erase the quiet part) make our way to the hospital.

Walking into Endoscopy unit I noticed a variety of people of mixed ages and cultures. I handed my booklet that contained the consent form to the nice lady behind reception and after the formalities of confirming my GP and name etc, we sat down and started to read some of the 2 year out of date magazines. I realised then that I had forgotten my iPhone in the car, so was a little sad not twit live.

After 20 minutes I was led into a room where a friendly Scottish chap went over the procedure and made me sign my life away. I was number two on the list so the wait shouldn’t be too long. I waited a little more than 40 minutes before a nice nurse called me in for the procedure.

The room itself was full of the usual things, a computer screen, pulse, BP monitoring machines and few other non disrupt computers. I was told to lie down on my back sitting up at first. I noticed another Phillipino male nurse at the back of the room filling a extra large syringe with a dark blue ink like substance. A brief thought fluttered around, maybe the ink like substance is the ‘throat spray’, I felt a little slicker.

The consultant that was to conduct the Endoscopy again walked me through the procedure. She said that we would use the throat spray for the initial run and that if any Varices were detected, we would repeat the process and ‘band’ the Varices. Sedation would be advised if the latter was required.

At this stage, I was pretty confident that the initial investigation would not lead to anything and I would be discharged. I mean, I’ve been playing tennis, badminton and even squash, it really hasn’t been a problem and I haven’t felt anything untoward.

The nurse asked me to lean up whilst she declined the bed. A quick ‘What about the spray’ reminder from the nurse at the top of the room put a stop to her antics and a spray was subsequently squeezed in my mouth filling my throat with a sour cough medicine like taste. The bed went down and I was told to lie on my left hand side. I was asked to bite around a piece of blue plastic and concentrate on my breathing, ‘breath through your nose and out through your mouth’. As the camera entered my throat, a natural gagging reflex kicked in, all the while the nurse was asking me to ignore the fact someone was trying to shove a vaccum hose down my Oesophagus and concentrate on my breathing. A few minutes into the procedure, I over heard the consultant say that yes there were Varices present. At this point, whilst gagging, I felt like the whole world had collapsed around me. My cirrhosis was real. Tears rushed down my cheeks as the camera was led further down my throat. Another nurse prepped my right hand for the sedative that would be administered ready for the banding.

The first camera was led out and I was so relieved. The consultant spoke and said that there were 4 varices that had been detected. I asked whether instead of banding we could perhaps use medicine to reduce the portal tension caused by the Cirrhotic liver.  She advised me that the best remedy would be to band the Varices, after a few weeks the rubber bands would naturally fall out. I felt backed into a corner, and really didn’t have a choice. The alternative was to leave the Varices intact and open myself up to potentially life threatening haemorrhage which could happen anytime.

So under sedation, I swallowed a bigger camera and went through the whole process again but this time I felt very little discomfort….like hell I didn’t. The sedation actually didn’t work. I felt all the same and the whole process made me gag and feel sorry for myself. 10 minutes later the whole thing was over and I was lying in the recovery room.

Upon discharge, which incidentally, if you go for the sedation option you’ll have to have someone with you for the next 24 hours and you’ll also be advised not to drive or operate heavy machinery. The nurse gave me a prescription for some Antepsin (sucralfate), to line the stomach and Oesophagus preventing acid affecting the banding the Varices healing process. She also made another appointment for me on the 15th May to go through the whole thing again, yipee.

Looking through the report below, the four Verices that were detected were of Stage 2.

 

The consultants report as as follows:

Timing	This was a procedure and this examination had been requested on a “soon” basis.
Indication	Screening for Varices
Scores	ASA Status 1 (i.e a healthy person).
Medication	Xylocaine Throat Spray 10 puff(s) and maidazolam 3mg The patient was awake during the procedure. The patient appeared moderately uncomfortable during the procedure.
Oesophagus	4 Varices, Grade 2 oesophageal varices (easily seen and did not disappear completely on inflation of the oesophagus), in the lower third of oesophagus, non-bleeding and without stigmata of recent bleeding.
Stomach	Portal Hypertensive Gastritis.
Duodenum	Normal.
Procedures	Ligation: 4 band(s). Site(s): in the lower third of the oesophagus.
Complications	None
Treatment	Sucralfate 1g QDS.
Followup	Repeat Procedure in 3 week(s).

Comments:

4 bands applied to his varices, he requires a further endoscopy in 3 weeks. 1 week of sucralfate suspension.

 

By morning I should have forgotten what I have wrote here.

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