Nasopharyngoscopy, anyone?

Some of you may have noticed that I have lost a bit of weight lately and while I wish I could just say "Thank you." and bask in the glory of it for a while I have to be honest with you and tell you that it was not on purpose. Not that I couldn't stand to lose some weight, mind you, but this wasn't my intentional doing. And it caused alarm for me.

I have been struggling with a pretty bad case of acid reflux since May. Longer, actually but the symptoms I was having didn't add up for the doctors over the past two years until things kind of spun out of control starting this spring.

It had gotten so bad that I gave up coffee in July in the hopes it would help. And if you know anything about me - that was huge. H.U.G.E. I have barely been able to eat much at all and forget about before bedtime snacking. I gave that up because of the pain it would cause. All good things for losing weight and all but not that great for the reasons it happened.

I have been on weeks and weeks (I think 11) of Prilosec OTC plus 3 weeks of Zantac 150 twice a day. I have downed more Mylanta than I care to ever see again. I have felt pretty crummy and, of course, all the "What if's" that I am prone to were none to easy to deal with either.

In early August I was referred to an ENT and after a 5 week wait, I had my appointment this morning. He was great! He talked with us (Dakota went with me which was really great and meant the world to me) and basically all my symptoms line up with acid reflux. He did a nasopharyngoscopy and determined there was nothing any more serious going on (and let me tell you - while not a painful procedure it sure the heck isn't comfortable either. Dakota said it looked like a magic trick as he extracted the tube from my nose. Gross!). While there I had him look at a weird spot under my dental appliance (that is worn full time) which was causing me...well...fear. Two dentist and a hygenist had already looked at it and figured it to be a non-issue but an ENT calming my fears was just what I needed! He was totally "Eh. No big deal." about it which was exactly what I needed to hear. I really do need to stay away from Google.

So anyway - I am now on a double dose of Prilosec for a while (6-8 weeks at least) and then, hopefully, I can wean down to a single dose. I'm hoping that my throat and my vocal cords will heal up quickly. Not that I don't enjoy the occasional raspy-sexy sounding voice but enough is enough. And the sore throat I have had almost constantly for a year? Yeah - that can stay away too. I will say that the Prilosec really did take care of that part early on. Thank goodness.

I can just add this to my "learn to deal with" list. A list that already has quite a bit on it but honestly? It sure the heck beats the alternative, you know?

And why is this the first you are hearing about this? Because Casey doesn't share medical stuff well. If it makes you feel any better, Dakota heard precious little about it as well. Sometimes I prefer to keep the crazies locked in my own head. :)

So there you have it. All in all - it was a day full of really good news for me which may seem odd to say but I'll take it. Though between you and me - I would really like to get well enough that I can enjoy my coffee again. :)