Always chew your food!
Well, I had a bit of an interesting Easter weekend while staying with my girlfriend in Filey. Warning: fairly icky medical stuff and ewgf lengthiness to follow...
On Saturday evening I made us a roast pork meal (photo to follow on the saucer thread!). We ate at about 8.00pm and after a few mouthfuls I realised that a bit of pork/crackling/other had managed to get jammed in my oesophagus (well, with hindsight that's where it was, it wasn't in the windpipe as breathing was fine). I've had this happen a couple of times before, but it's always sorted itself out in a minute or two even if it was a bit uncomfortable 'going down'. On this occasion though it didn't resolve itself and as I couldn't even swallow water it was getting uncomfortable pretty quickly. Even saliva wasn't going down so I had to periodically spit it out/make myself sick (above the blockage) to lessen the pressure. I decided (probably stupidly) to wait it out until morning and had a pretty bad night with little sleep. On Sunday morning I called 111 and was told to go to A&E.
Off to Scarborough hospital via taxi while spitting into a plastic bag...
Checked in and, considering it was a bank holiday weekend, I was seen pretty quickly. A nurse asked if I'd tried 'the coke trick'? Apparently drinking coke can help to dislodge the offending object, but they're not sure quite why. So, while waiting to be x-rayed my girlfriend got me a can of coke from the vending machine. Tried drinking it but attempting to swallow any liquid was very painful and just came back up. Got x-rayed (throat and chest) but nothing showed up and apparently they can only really see things like bones rather than regular food. I was then put on a drip for fluids as I couldn't swallow any liquids. Eventually a doctor came to see me and said that Scarborough didn't have ENT staff working on the bank holiday.
Off to York hospital in an ambulance while spitting/being sick into a cardboard vomit 'hat'...
Booked in at A&E and put in one of those curtained corridors waiting to see a doctor. A medic came to see me and said he'd need to perform an endoscopy and would go and find 'the pipe'. He disappeared for ages and returned with a colleague (it turned out that he hadn't performed the procedure much before and wanted some help). His colleague said 'this one goes up the nose' and proceeded to spray my nose and throat with numbing mist that felt/tasted like Listerine on crack. She then asked me if I had one nostril that was clearer than the other. I said 'left' (more just because I felt like I wanted to be part of the decision-making process than anything else) and in it went. I was asked to swallow a few times to help the pipe on its way. A very odd feeling but not as bad as expected even if it reminded me of Neo having the 'bug' removed in The Matrix or any part of Existenz. It turned out the tube wasn't long enough to get right to the blockage but they could see saliva pooled above something so there was 'definitely something stuck there'.
So... another long wait while they went to ask a consultant about using another contraption to see what was going on/remove the problem. On their return I was told that they didn't want to use a rigid tube as it might damage the oesophagus and the team who used the bendy tube weren't in until the morning. I couldn't be sent home as I couldn't swallow fluids and needed to be kept on a drip. By this time I was feeling pretty dehydrated and was happy just to be getting some fluid in me.
Off to the A&E observation room/ward while waiting to see where I was spending the night (possibly there or possibly in another ward).
Time passes...
Asked the staff nurse (a lovely chap called Godrey) if there was any reading material available and was told to check the waiting areas. Sadly no YS, Crash or Retrogamer but I did manage to pick up Homebuilding and Renovation and Grazia (amazing how you're grateful for anything to read then you're literally staring into space and your phone is almost out of juice).
Time passes...
At around 11.00pm I was still sitting on the chair by the bed when I noticed I was feeling achy from sitting in one place for ages and thought 'hang on I can't feel the discomfort from my gullet' and noticed that I could swallow properly. Nervous and not wanting to jinx it I asked for a glass of water and found I could actually swallow something. Absolute heaven! Having not been able to drink anything for over 24 hours and spitting out/sicking up all my saliva I was absolutely parched. As anyone who has been on a drip knows, it might keep you from being massively dehydrated but it doesn't stop you feeling thirsty. A jug of water later and I realised that the food had moved and I was back in working order again. I still had to stay the night under observation and there was still a chance I would have to 'enjoy' the endoscopy/gastroscopy in the morning.
A fitful night's sleep, being woken up by various additions to the ward (all of them in a worse condition than me)...
A different consultant came to see me in the morning and said as long as I was able to swallow and have some breakfast I could avoid the tube and go home. I had a cup of tea and some soggy cornflakes and was then given my freedom. The consultant is going to write to my GP and suggest a proper endoscopy/gastroscopy examination just to check that there's nothing sinister that caused the problem. I'm currently pretty sore and eating soft foods but hopefully back to normal in a day or two.
I certainly don't want to go through that again!
On Saturday evening I made us a roast pork meal (photo to follow on the saucer thread!). We ate at about 8.00pm and after a few mouthfuls I realised that a bit of pork/crackling/other had managed to get jammed in my oesophagus (well, with hindsight that's where it was, it wasn't in the windpipe as breathing was fine). I've had this happen a couple of times before, but it's always sorted itself out in a minute or two even if it was a bit uncomfortable 'going down'. On this occasion though it didn't resolve itself and as I couldn't even swallow water it was getting uncomfortable pretty quickly. Even saliva wasn't going down so I had to periodically spit it out/make myself sick (above the blockage) to lessen the pressure. I decided (probably stupidly) to wait it out until morning and had a pretty bad night with little sleep. On Sunday morning I called 111 and was told to go to A&E.
Off to Scarborough hospital via taxi while spitting into a plastic bag...
Checked in and, considering it was a bank holiday weekend, I was seen pretty quickly. A nurse asked if I'd tried 'the coke trick'? Apparently drinking coke can help to dislodge the offending object, but they're not sure quite why. So, while waiting to be x-rayed my girlfriend got me a can of coke from the vending machine. Tried drinking it but attempting to swallow any liquid was very painful and just came back up. Got x-rayed (throat and chest) but nothing showed up and apparently they can only really see things like bones rather than regular food. I was then put on a drip for fluids as I couldn't swallow any liquids. Eventually a doctor came to see me and said that Scarborough didn't have ENT staff working on the bank holiday.
Off to York hospital in an ambulance while spitting/being sick into a cardboard vomit 'hat'...
Booked in at A&E and put in one of those curtained corridors waiting to see a doctor. A medic came to see me and said he'd need to perform an endoscopy and would go and find 'the pipe'. He disappeared for ages and returned with a colleague (it turned out that he hadn't performed the procedure much before and wanted some help). His colleague said 'this one goes up the nose' and proceeded to spray my nose and throat with numbing mist that felt/tasted like Listerine on crack. She then asked me if I had one nostril that was clearer than the other. I said 'left' (more just because I felt like I wanted to be part of the decision-making process than anything else) and in it went. I was asked to swallow a few times to help the pipe on its way. A very odd feeling but not as bad as expected even if it reminded me of Neo having the 'bug' removed in The Matrix or any part of Existenz. It turned out the tube wasn't long enough to get right to the blockage but they could see saliva pooled above something so there was 'definitely something stuck there'.
So... another long wait while they went to ask a consultant about using another contraption to see what was going on/remove the problem. On their return I was told that they didn't want to use a rigid tube as it might damage the oesophagus and the team who used the bendy tube weren't in until the morning. I couldn't be sent home as I couldn't swallow fluids and needed to be kept on a drip. By this time I was feeling pretty dehydrated and was happy just to be getting some fluid in me.
Off to the A&E observation room/ward while waiting to see where I was spending the night (possibly there or possibly in another ward).
Time passes...
Asked the staff nurse (a lovely chap called Godrey) if there was any reading material available and was told to check the waiting areas. Sadly no YS, Crash or Retrogamer but I did manage to pick up Homebuilding and Renovation and Grazia (amazing how you're grateful for anything to read then you're literally staring into space and your phone is almost out of juice).
Time passes...
At around 11.00pm I was still sitting on the chair by the bed when I noticed I was feeling achy from sitting in one place for ages and thought 'hang on I can't feel the discomfort from my gullet' and noticed that I could swallow properly. Nervous and not wanting to jinx it I asked for a glass of water and found I could actually swallow something. Absolute heaven! Having not been able to drink anything for over 24 hours and spitting out/sicking up all my saliva I was absolutely parched. As anyone who has been on a drip knows, it might keep you from being massively dehydrated but it doesn't stop you feeling thirsty. A jug of water later and I realised that the food had moved and I was back in working order again. I still had to stay the night under observation and there was still a chance I would have to 'enjoy' the endoscopy/gastroscopy in the morning.
A fitful night's sleep, being woken up by various additions to the ward (all of them in a worse condition than me)...
A different consultant came to see me in the morning and said as long as I was able to swallow and have some breakfast I could avoid the tube and go home. I had a cup of tea and some soggy cornflakes and was then given my freedom. The consultant is going to write to my GP and suggest a proper endoscopy/gastroscopy examination just to check that there's nothing sinister that caused the problem. I'm currently pretty sore and eating soft foods but hopefully back to normal in a day or two.
I certainly don't want to go through that again!
Post edited by Maroc's Other Projection on
Cheeky Funster (53)
Comments
To be honest, that's pretty much how I felt once I started feeling better!
He had a bellend stuck in his throat??? ouch...
It's off my menu for a while too!
Glad your okay!
@luny@mstdn.games
https://www.luny.co.uk
:) Cheers. Steering clear of dense meats for a while though!
Games List 2016 - Games List 2015 - Games List 2014
Seriously, glad to read things are ok, mate!
Posted in the saucer thread :)
Thanks!
*Puts knob away!
Grumble Grumble!
:))
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One thing I've learned from A&E experience is that although you need to get there quickly, packing a few things may help in the long run (reading material, handheld console, phone charger). I had to stay overnight in hospital with tonsillitis and I didn't even have a spare pair of pants.
If I had one of these the last time I went to hospital, things would have been so much better, it took three days to get all that I needed delivered by family & friends, by the time I had it, they were letting me go. Also it is good to remember that Hospital food sucks, but people can still bring you Pizza, burgers, etc, so there is no need to starve in there, I even ate in the staff canteen once a day !