hi,

esophagus stretching seemed to be the proceedure of last chance... i waited for the spit to subside. did 9 months of eating school - which help lots. then waited 6 months before getting the stretch... they did 2 barium swallow exams - i think that was as waste of time.

i could tell that my epoglatus was functioning somewhat, but it seemed that the pipe was too small.. my burps strained to get air out... small stuff was always getting stuck in my lower throat...

so i asked my ENT to schedule me with a GI doc. GI listened to me, then set the date... did the first proceedure... no pain during.. but afterwards for 1-3 days were not real fun... after 10 days things felt better... he told me that he increased the size from 2 to 20 mm... or about the size of the wire in a large paper clip to half the a dime... the second stretch got me to 42 mm, normal population is about 50 mm... now things go down much better... thats roughly the size of a dime... doc does not want to do this again, so i'm happy... the proceedure: they knocked me out... put a wire with a ballon down my throat and inflated.. 1st time i don't recall anything. second time, i was not completely out and remember them pushing thing down my thoat an asking me to swallow... it was weird but not painful.

i recommend this proceedure when someone is ready for it... i waited because i wanted my throat to have lots of time to heal from rad/chemo and to try everything else first... but in the end, it was what i needed. now i eat much more normally... still with low saliva i need moist stuff.. however, if you didn't know my background, i probably could eat without you knowing that i am wierd... or strange... any way,
i hope that fills in some background for you all. it certainly is something that should be considered.

in my case, the damage was probably from secondary radiation. GI doc said problem was outside not inside so it is likely that the stretch will last.. i know a woman who has to be stretched every 3-6 months.

cu,
larryb
i am better with numbers than spelling.. sorry.