Gastritis

I went to the GI doctor yesterday afternoon to have an endoscopy. The purpose of this test was to hopefully find out what is causing me to feel nauseated on a regular basis. The doctor put me to sleep, and slipped a scope down my throat to look at my esophagus, stomach, and upper intestines. She found a few things down there of interest.

First of all, she said that I have gastritis. WebMD defines gastritis as: “an inflammation, irritation or erosion of the lining of the stomach. It can occur suddenly (acute) or gradually (chronic)”. She said that this might be the main problem, and told me to continue to take my Nexium. She took a biopsy and is sending it to the lab for more information. She also found a node at the bottom of my esophagus, and sent a biopsy of it off, as well. And, finally she said that I have a hiatal hernia. WebMD says a hiatal hernia is: “A hernia occurs when tissue from inside the abdomen bulges out through a weak spot in the muscles of the abdominal wall. When part of the stomach bulges upward out of the abdomen and into the chest cavity, it is called a hiatal hernia”. It seems that lots of people have this type of hernia and never know it because they never are looked at. She said that it is not causing any problems and probably will not cause any in the future. So, in conclusion, I get to add gastritis to my list of infirmities (yippee).

I have dialysis scheduled again tonight. I did not bring any emla cream with me today. I want to see how the treatment goes without it. I am not a big medication fan, so if I can do without it, I think I might just skip it. Saturday, my fistula started to hurt, so the technician stopped the machine and moved one of the needles around. She got to it pretty quickly, so I did not have any bruising. It is always important to complain when there are problems. I just have to remember that next time. I should get my chest catheter flushed today. They said that they are only going to look at it once a week now that they aren’t using it. I hope that it will soon be removed.

I sent my cardiologist a list of my blood pressure for the last two weeks. She had upped the dosage on one of my medications, hoping to lower my pressure. That did help some, but not enough. So, she is adding a third medication to my hypertension list. I am now taking 5 mg of Norvasc every day (at least for the next two weeks). I am supposed to show her my pressures again and then we will see where to go from there.

Finally, I got a call Monday afternoon from the pre-transplant coordinator. I am officially on the kidney transplant list for the next year! It seems that I passed all of my tests, and that I am on the list. I guess the insurance company re-evaluates you on a yearly basis, so you basically have to have your status as someone that needs a kidney renewed every year.

Being on the transplant list is great news! I have the packets of information, and I just have to go to the Post Office to mail them out. You should be getting them (and a cheesy DVD) in the next week or so if you volunteered to get tested.

Thanks for coming by to read!