this is an email i sent to some on 13 may 2021. it is a companion piece to the blog entry i’m about to post. i publish it here to provide continuity and clarity to the impending 2021.06.07 posting.
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barium swallow.
so much fun.
now i’m not complaining. really. as far as tests go this is not the worst by far. it is probably the most chalky though. and one of the most interactive ones. they have you stand on the xray on a platform. (see photo below.)
then they give you some fizzy stuff to drink. then the chalky stuff. then while you’re standing on the xray platform they put a pillow behind your head and move the contraption you’re on so that your whole body is now lying flat down. (see photo below.)
phil took the photo above from inside the control room behind a radiation shield. you see me lying flat with the radiology technician beside me telling me which way to turn. on the monitor you can see the fluid in my esophagus…or whatever body part that is.
then while you’re lying on your back, they have you turn your body 360 degrees while xraying you the entire time.
then they have you turn on your stomach and drink through a straw while they take more xrays. not so easy to drink this way.
this next photo is of some part of my body with some chalk in it. it kinda looks like a rooster, doesn’t it? maybe it’s just me. oh wait, it is just me.
after the procedure we went back to the car. i consumed the postponed sustenance and medication after fasting for the morning’s chalk entrée. i ate my more nutritious breakfast, took my waiting pills, and sipped my morning tea at last.
before we left the medical professionals, they basically confirmed what we had known anyway and what the doctors will call us later today or tomorrow to tell us: i still have bad reflux issues and need to keep taking medications and can’t lie down for 2-3 hours after eating and need to eat small portions when i do eat while maintaining an anti-acid diet.
okay. got it. blah blah blah.
so, that was my day beginning. all in all not a bad day, feeling okay. just a little chest pain. hoping tomorrow is better though since it doesn’t begin with a test. it also doesn’t begin with my not taking my meds right away. i’m just mostly tired today. but like i said, all in all… pretty good.
thanks for asking ; )
hope y’all are good too. probably not going to send out an update again unless there’s something to say. going to try to get the blog going next so i’m not sending out lots of emails and y’all can just check the blog if you want without getting peppered with lots of status emails.
get vaccinated. then you don’t have to wear a mask outside… or to visit me apparently ; ) that’s what the CDC says!
xoxox
~breathie
