Thanks for asking, Rose.
My gastro guy generally has a personality like House ... one of my lifetime goals has been to make him smile before I croak, and I achieved it today. He loved my Light/Writer, and was downright cordial ... and CARING ! I think the diagnosed of ALS softened him up. When we left, he said to us, "Please keep your spirits up, you two" which I thought was nice.
Anyway: Feeding tube is OK. He said "When do you want it," and I said "Hit me with a brick and do it now." No, actually I typed "ASAP". He's trying to get it for first thing next week. He explained the procedure ... said it takes about 15 minutes ... and they do minimally invasive cutting. Alas, they are guided by putting a tube down your throat. At UCLA, they put you on some kind of x-ray table or something. I don't know if I should warn him about what happens when you put ANYTHING in my mouth ... buckets and geysers of thick saliva ... or let him be surprised.
Anyway, he said it's a 99.9% guarantee that nothing will go wrong. (I've heard that before ... ) Might possibly be a problem with bleeding, or infection, but most unlikely. He is most concerned about my heart disease ... He and I did have an adventure together with my last colonoscopy a year ago (before ALS diagnosed) when they administered too much fluid and it threw me into cardiac arrest and a wild ambulance ride to the nearest ER, where I had to wait until I'd peed it all out, at which time I was fine again. :roll:
Anyway, it will be soon. He showed me where it would go and what it would look like ... kinda like a curly piggy tail.
So, maybe, soon, this swallowing nuttiness will be a thing of the past! My BiPap is "in the mail". Now if only I could get my DynaVoxVmax to work ... or just shut off! It currently has a gray screen with white letters (like an old Dos computer) saying, "Operating System not found." Before that for two days, I had the Windows meadow screen but with no menus or responses whatsoever. I cannot turn it off ... I have disconnected every cable and line to it, and pushed the power button with all my might, including the use of tools ... unfortunately, I had charged its battery, so I'll just have to wait for it to run down. Or find a sledgehammer.
One thing you can say about ALS, it keeps your mind occupied. (Actually, there are a couple things you can say about ALS, but this is a family-oriented forum.
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