Endoscopy is a fancy name for a tube down your throat with a camera that slides down the middle. It is a fairly routine procedure for many illnesses, in my case it was needed because of the cirrhosis.

In simple terms, when the liver gets blocked it can cause some back pressure in the portal vein that leads from the stomach, this can cause blood vessels to pop and bleed. Bleeding in your stomach is not a good thing :)

This is probably a better explanation:

What is portal hypertension and what causes it?

Normally, blood is carried to the liver by a major blood vessel called the portal vein. If blood can’t flow easily through the liver because of cirrhosis, the blood gets slowed down in this vein and the pressure inside the vein increases. This higher blood pressure in the portal vein is called portal hypertension.

If blood can’t flow normally through the portal vein, it must return to the heart using other blood vessels. These vessels become swollen because of the increased amount of blood flowing through them. They are called varices. Varices have thin walls and can easily break open because they aren’t meant to handle such high-pressure blood flow. Bleeding from a broken blood vessel is serious and can even be fatal.

source

Cirrhosis is really quite a slow moving thing, it won’t kill you overnight, bleeding in the stomach can and so its important that the medical people take a look.

Thats the boring stuff out of the way, now for the exciting part!

So I turned up at the hospital, alone as usual as I like it that way. The family were away on holiday which I was pleased about, saves them sharing the stress. Nothing to eat for 6 hours before and nothing to drink for 2 hours, not the end of the world although I did want to punch the two women in the waiting room drinking what looked to be great coffee!

A short wait followed, been surprised at that as I have been expecting to wait around for hours but everything has been snappy so far, and in for a quick bit of form filling. Just the usual stuff, what is going to happen etc and a sign of the consent form. The question of sedatives was raised, these are given to calm you down as they put the tube down your throat, I said yes.

So another bit of waiting, this time with others waiting for the same procedure. Thats what I assumed anyhow, its a bit like being in Jail you are not supposed to ask what everybody is in for. Mostly just me and another guy, a BIG guy with more tattoos than I had ever seen.

The big guy goes in first.

My turn. In I go and then ask again about the sedative and I ask if the big guy had it, they say no. Now that called my whole manhood into question, there was no way I could have the sedative. Also one of the guys at work had an Endoscopy and he had the seditive, another good reason for me not to have it.

I won’t bore you with the details but its not as bad as you think [they squirt a bit of local at the back of your throat first] and the bit they put in your mouth is handy to bite on, a bit of gagging and spluttering, lots of burping and farting [they pump a bit of air in] and over in about 10 mins. I felt a bit sorry for the staff there, all female, spend all day listening to guys belch and fart then probably go home for the same from the husband :)

Just a few comments, hopefully this will help anybody going in for the same thing.

Your tounge is still free and I found it helped to push the tube up to what was the top of my mouth, I was lieing on my left so that would be pushing the tube into my right cheek. I think that mainly stops the tube wallowing about as much and helps with the gagging.

I was worried about being sick, more for the embarrassment than anything, but at no time did I feel the urge. Gagged a lot but never thought of being sick.

You cannot speak with the tube in, which may sound obvious but still can come as a shock, so no asking to go to the bathroom halfway through. One of the nurses was stroking my hair the whole time, saying things like “don’t worry, won’t be long now”. As nice and as reassuring as that was I did want to say “I am not a baby, I am a full grown man” :).

I have to wait a while for the results, I prefer to wait for them rather than badger for immediate feedback. I rely more on taking the vibe of the room, generally if things aren’t too bad they look you in the eye, its when they look away that I find bad news tends to follow. They did spot an ulcer while they were in there and gave me some tablets to take, to be honest I think they are making me a little unwell but it is only for a month. No big deal but it does seem to be a case of one thing after another, cutting into stuff that I like. No alcohol is not a problem but I did look forward to a nice curry, but that is no more. Thankfully I like Farley’s Rusks a lot, 3 at a time with lots of Milk [skimmed of course] mashed up into what can only be described as a soup. Nectar :)

So, the Endoscopy…not as bad as you think, not pleasant but not awful either, I was surprised that my throat didn’t hurt after. With the sedative it is probably a walk in the park. I’m glad I didn’t have the sedative though, made me as much as a man as the BIG guy and more of a man than they guy at work. Even when I lose I win.

This entry was posted on Friday, September 2nd, 2005 at 5:34 pm and is filed under Hepatitis C Treatment. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.