Barrrett's - one more thing to worry about

I know this picture of me is not my best angle but it is important to me. This is my esophagus (or oesophagus as I'd spell it if still living in Britain). The gastro-enterologist has casually annotated the picture with the word Barrett's.

Nothing for me to worry about until May 20th when I read Melinda Beck's article in the Wall Street Journal which starts:

"Got heartburn? Several times a week for five or more years? Then you're at increased risk for a form of esophageal cancer that, though rare, is the fastest-growing cancer in the U.S., particularly in white men over 50. It's also one of the most deadly, with a five-year survival rate of just 17%.

Doctors can sometimes see the cancer coming years earlier when acid reflux causes cells in the esophagus to mutate to become more like stomach tissue, a condition called Barrett's esophagus. In adenocarcinoma, the Barrett's cells keep mutating into cancer."

I'm white and over 50 and the just 17% survival rate has an unpleasant ring to it.

The Wall Street Journal article includes a video which is well worth listening to (it's worth putting up with the advert which precedes it).

The story starts several years ago when once in a while food got stuck in my throat. Usually it was a whole grain bread sandwich or something similar. A lump of food would just not go all the way down. I wasn't choking because I could still breathe but if I tried to drink anything my esophagus would fill up with the liquid and run back out. If any got down into my lungs I'd cough crazily.

Eventually I had it checked out and the reason turned out to be a Hiatal Hernia.

Look at these equally attractive pictures of me.

The first - to the right is the before picture - you can see that the esophagus (food tube ) is narrowed and a big dry lump of food could easily get stuck. Just like a toilet getting blocked and backing up.



Then comes the after picture - on the left. It's easy to see that the hole is bigger and food should slide down so much more smoothly.

The procedure worked. I haven't had a choking attack since.

So far so good until I read that Barrett's can be much more severe than I'd originally thought.

I take one Nexium tablet every morning to reduce stomach acid so that the chance of cancer is reduced. My thought had been to try and persuade the doctor to agree that I'd taken enough Nexium for a life time.

Maybe I'll not push to hard with the risk of something really serious around the corner.