Bubbling in esophagus when eating acidic foods

I've noticed those of us who get stretched early... seem to need to be stretched often. Just an observation from the hundreds of esophagectomy patients I've talked to.

That being said... you are doing well considering how early on you are post-op. And that's what you must realize... you are still early on for an esophagectomy patient. I saw continual and tremendous improvements, even in my 2nd year post-op. So keep playing with things... experimenting if you will... as what doesn't work today could very well work 3 months from now. Could there eventually be permanent changes you must make in terms of your diet... in terms of OTC med use, like PPIs, using Tums or Gaviscon Advance, drinking less dairy, or carbonation, or whatever? Could be. But I find everything works for me again... but it just took its sweet-ass time getting there. I'm two months away from being 5 years post-op... and I did not have the stomach ulcer you're also dealing with. I was dilated 4 times... but my first one came at 6 months post-op. My anastomosis scar tissue was fully healed and quite firm... it held the slow and steady stretches my GI doctor gave me.

Be well.

Gary

I also use a Maloney Dilator. Has been a life changer.

Thx Gary

I actually eat everything. I have actually pigged out several times and my stomach hurt like hell with cramps but thats because I obviously ate too much. My only issue nowadays is the occasional bubbling with some acidic foods that happens from the acid in the food, or a combination of that with food sticking in my throat. I self dilate and that helps with food sticking. Overall my life is pretty much back to normal and I am exercising more than ever so I am pretty healthy now. Also, I dont have a stomach ulcer, it was a STROMAR tumor 5 cm long and doc took it out. It was on the opposite side of gastric junction cancer,

THX

I use three sizes but neither on goes past 30 inches. Doc says it should go down further but it feels like its getting stuck somewhere in my upper chest, still it seems to be working since I haven't had to go for endoscopy in two months. (I was going every two weeks)

Any advice on getting dilator to go further down?

Cheers

I use a 48FR dilator, but have a 46FR as a backup. I have to insert it 20” (white “35” on the dilator) past my incisors (front teeth). I haven’t had an endoscopy for two years. I was having one every week, and then had stents until I started the self dilation. I could write a book about problems I encountered with stents. The only advice I can offer about getting your dilator to go farther is the dilator sometimes “coils” and it is difficult to “push” them when this happens. What, if anything are you using for lubrication?? I used to use McKesson Lubricating Jelly. It worked well but I eventually stopped using anything and have not had any problems. How often do you dilate?? I do it every day, but have discussed with Doc about reducing the frequency and see what happens. He said to go ahead and do that and I had about a 50/50 chance it would work. If it doesn’t work it would mean an endoscopy to get back on track. I haven’t had the guts to try yet. It took almost 6 years to get this far and I don’t want to screw anything up.

Just thought of a couple more things. You say “30 inches”. The dilator is not quite that long from end to end. You might mean 30 cm, which would be the “white 30” on the dilator. You also say you have 3 different dilators. I am assuming they are different sizes. You should only need to use one and it would need to be the correct size (mine is 48FR/aka 16mm). How did the doctor measure you for your dilator?? In my training, the Doc started me with a smaller size (around 42FR), and gradually increased the size until I could not pass the dilator through the “connection”, which in my case was 51FR. That is how I settled on the 48FR and have been using it since (2 years +). If yours is hanging up at the “connection” it may be a little too large.