How can you tell if what you are swalloing is actually getting to your stomach or not? I have been trying to sip water because I am so craving it right now. I do not want to cause any mroe damage, so is there anyway to tell that the water is going down the right way? Would I be able to notice that it was going down the wrong way?

Angelia:

I think if it weren't going down the right way, you would start coughing and choking and would know. You're probably doing okay.
julieann

Angelia

Coughing, spluttering and nearly choking are signs that things are not going down the right way. It can take a while to get things moving properly after treatments, so take it slow.

Karen

Angelia,

Actually for one that had EVERY problem one can have DURING the Tx I think you are doing better than most immediately post Tx so congrats on that front and yes you would know in a second if it went down the "wrong" way.

So you mean when I am sipping my water since I am not coughing and choking that means it is going down the right way?

Yes and BELIEVE US you would know in a second if it went down the wrong way. Now with that said, are you getting yourself wet when you sip? Maybe it's not even going in your throat. lol

LOL, David. I would much rather have dry mouth than all this mucous I have.

Angelia

Yep, you are swallowing the water. "silent aspiration" is very rare and it's when you do swallow the wrong way but without coughing etc - unfortunately I had that but the very first MBS in the hospital identified it. Even so, water alone will not cause any problem, it's when food gets aspirated. See my other reply to you on EricS' thread.
Charm

Silent aspiration, one more thing for me to worry about.

No comment on ths one, The others gave you great answers . You would probably hear a splashing sound when you moved if it went the wrong way.

Thanks Charm, now she's gonna get that!

Re the dry mouth, don't wish for something you don't want. Believe me again it will come and very soon now.

David & Angelia

Oh, if only the premise behind "The Secret" and your last posts were true. Then we could just attract the universal energy and cure the cancer without all the messy radiation & chemo. Still just like monitoring your radiation TX is a good idea, getting vetted for swallowing is good also. The MBS is painless and the only way to truly tell where something goes.
Once again though I am struck by David's masterful way of gently chiding while still making me smile. Awesome talent
Charm

No, I am not gonna get that. That is one thing I do not want and will not get.

I have no been on in awhile, been a rough few days. I have another qustions about swallowing. I have noticed that when I swallow not all of the water goes down, some of it goes up. Is that common? Or is that one of those rare things that I just happen to get, because we all know that I am a rare breed and will get anything that could happen.

Angelia

Relax, its perfectly normal.
Charm

Angelia, I've had just about every variation of swallow problems imaginable, so I feel your discomfort! First, my speech therapist told me early on that you often don't know exactly when things are making their way down your throat. In my case I often felt that stuff was getting stuck down there. She said that the throat often feels a kind of phantom sensation of material even after it's gone down all the way. (you didn't specifically mention this but thought I'd bring it up anyway)

I too experienced the down/up thing and I know how disconcerting - even frightening - it can be. As others have said, you will get past this... however that being said, if you're really having a lot of trouble you might think about getting a video esophagram (I had one) to determine exactly what and where the problem lies. Like you I often had the feeling I was sending things down the wrong pipe and in fact I might well have been - small bits of water only - based on what the esophagram showed.

Next: in my case (and I'm hoping this is rare) I had a web growing across my esophagus - twice - which along with the radiation damage (temporary) to my swallowing mechanism made it impossible for me to swallow anything other than liquid for awhile. I had two endoscopies to remove the webs and thankfully they don't seem to be growing back.

Third is the possibility of esophageal narrowing, something I believe many of us suffer from. That's something a GI doc can assess through endoscopy, maybe you've already been checked out. In many cases (mine included) a series of dilations is necessary to stretch the esophagus back to normal. Thank god for propophol.

To repeat myself, but it bears repeating, you will overcome these things. As David El Primero said earlier, the dry mouth is more or less inevitable, alas. Oh well.

Courage!
David El Segundo