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I'm not one that goes to a doctor. So I just, you know, bluffed it off...it was nothing...but
I couldn't eat. It just wouldn't go down. It just came back up.
I'm very social, as you can probably tell, I do go out a lot, and a lot of it has to
do with food.
It was sort of embarrassing. I had to sit by the door where you could run to the restroom
because I didn't have any confidence in what was going to happen.
And it just got to the point, finally, where she just couldn't swallow at all. I was very
worried. I thought I was going to lose her for sure.
When it got to the point where I couldn't even swallow water, it was really scary That's
when I thought, "Well, I better go to the doctor."
They gave me some kind of medication for that, but that didn't work.
They weren't sure what it was; so they were trying to find out I guess before they sent
me to Stanford.
Then like a month would go by, and -- and we'd see the doctor again and say, "Listen.
She's losing a pound a day." We got to do something about this. I mean, I actually had
to get mad say, "It has to be done. Do something. Find somebody," you know, and that's when
they called that Dr. Rivas.
Esophageal achalasia a failure to relax of the lower portion of the esophagus,
So they're nerve cells in that area, the ones to relax, they're gone and we don't really
know why.
He was a wonderful doctor. It was such a relief to go to a doctor that isn't in a hurry to
get to the next patient because he really was very complete as far as telling me what
was going to happen.
The treatment of choice for this would be to do what we call a myotomy. Myotomy, that
means to cut a muscle. In this case, circular fibers that are around that esophagus in the
lower area,
I researched him and found out, oh, my God, this guy's, you know, the one that invented
this procedure that, you know, is less invasive.
There were only seven doctors in the United States that did this type of surgery.
We make a small, less than an inch, incision in the lining of the esophagus to then travel
all the way down to that area of trouble where we have those multiple circular fibers, and
we simply can just cut them, release that pressure, and give a new quality of life to
people like Mrs. McFadden.
I remember waking up in the room where they returned me. They brought me some soup, and
when I swallowed that I was very cautious. So I just took a sip and it was such a pleasure
to be able to swallow and keep it down.
My life is back. Thank goodness. Everything just tastes so good. It just -- I'm so happy
to be able to eat.
It seemed like I -- it was so long without food. I mean, being able to swallow it and
enjoy it.
I've been very fortunate, very, very fortunate. Not everybody gets a second chance.
"I might end up eating the whole thing."