Botox does the trick

It looks like Dr. Philip Styne hit a home run today.

Doc Styne scoped me, found a clean digestive tract and injected Botox into my pylorus, the valve that regulates the flow of food from the stomach to the small intestines.

I uploaded some photos from my phone to the blog earlier, but they didn't seem to land properly, so I'm attaching them to this post, plus

a view of said digestive tract as the good doctor saw it earlier.

But the results seem evident. I can eat, and the food seems to be traveling as it should. Depending on how long the Botox lasts, I might

need another injection in a few months, possibly more. If it lasts just a short period, the docs might huddle to find a different option, possibly a surgery called something like pyloroplasty. This

would surgically alter the pyloric valve so it would allow foods to move on down the road.
But for now, that doesn't seem to be in the picture.

A day away from Botox

Well, about a day from now I'll be waking up from my snooze during the endoscopy and Botox injection(s) into my pyloric valve.

I spoke with Dr. Philip Styne yesterday, Tuesday, to get a couple of questions answered. First one, I was eating wrong on Monday. I shouldn't have had anything but clear liquids, so the yogurt and pudding were not correct.

Yesterday I corrected myself and had only clear liquids, though I was permitted to have chicken noodle soup. I had a lot of chicken noodle soup.

I also asked more about the procedure. For example, this is not done often. The goal is to loosen muscles of the pylorus so food will flow more often from the stomach to the small intestines. Right now this flow is spotty. The Botox will knock out the nerves controlling the pylorus for a while.

Dr. Styne and Dr. Joseph Boyer, my surgeon, want to see how long it will last before another Botox shot is needed, or even whether it works at all. If it works and lasts a while, I'm likely in for another procedure or two down the road. If it works but does not last all that long, surgery might be the answer.

Thrills.

I also found out that the Botox just numbs out the nerves, but does not kill them as I suspected. That was good news, as I didn't really want to deal with any form of death in my body. Had enough of that.

So here I am, typing and sipping my cup of tea. Mmm, breakfast. For lunch I will have either chicken or vegetable broth, and then the same for dinner at work.

But I can't wait for my breakfast on Thursday -- about a day from now.

Hello, Too Jays.

It has begun ... mmm mmm good!

Well Thursday morning, I have another endoscopic procedure. This one will again be by Dr. Philip Styne, but unlike the last scope or two this will be at Florida Hospital.

Also unlike the others, I have to be on a liquid diet for the three days leading up to my procedure. Which means starting this morning, I've been pretty much off solid foods.

So I've had yogurt, pudding, soup, soup, cereal and, oops, a couple of summer rolls. Yes, I cheated. But they're mostly noodles, which I'm allowed in soup, so I'm not too fazed.

But tomorrow I'll be very loyal to the diet and Wednesday I'm going to stick with mostly clear liquids.

The reason for this diet is because in the last scope, Dr. Styne had a tough time spotting parts of the stomach he should have been able to see. So I had to be intubated again and suctioned while I was unconscious. He determined my pyloric valve -- also known as the pylorus -- isn't doing the job it's supposed to do, namely move food from the stomach to the intestines.

Because it might not be working right, I'm going to get a shot of Botox in the pylorus so it will loosen up and let the food flow.

Back to my short-term diet. Soup. Mostly soup. Mmm mmm good. I do like soups of all kinds, yet I don't know if I really like them this much. I fear that once the procedure is done, I'm not going to want soup for a long time.

Murky look

Dr. Philip Styne took a look inside my esophagus and stomach on Friday, and he said it was kind of murky inside.

Apparently this is because I've been eating the wrong foods since the opening to my stomach was dilated two months ago. I grew cocky, daring my system to work right. Of course, it wasn't, and Friday's exam, pictured here (look if you dare) was the result.

Another result is yet another endoscopic exam, this time at Florida Hospital in a couple of weeks, to dilate more and also to inject Botox into the muscle at the base of my stomach, easing its clench so food can pass easier through to the intestines.

I know, sounds both exciting and appetizing.

Meantime, my diet must change. Steaks, out. Burgers, in. Salad, out. Burgers, in. Nuts, berries and fruit, mostly out. Eggs, in. Get the picture?

Hopefully once the Botox is in, things will change I at some future point I'll be able to go back to a normal diet of salad, steak, dessert, you know, the Outback kind of dinner.

Though I hear they have a good chopped steak on the menu.