Still Miles to Go

The last few days since my last post have been action-packed! Today, Keith and I went into Boston for my gastric emptying study, which is a precursor to the Antro-duodenal Motility test I’ll be having at the end of October. We confirmed what we already knew from endoscopy: my gastric emptying sucks. I arrived at 11am for the study, having fasted for about 10 hours. I was exhausted and just wanted to sleep – but more on the reason why below. I was sat down with 2 eggs scrambled with some yummy radioactivity goodness, a glass of water, and some toast. I warned the administrator I wasn’t very good with solid foods and then began choking them down. I asked if I could take some zofran after nearly losing the eggs on the floor, but was told “no.” I finished the eggs – barely – with 2 sips of water and no toast. I think the test ruined scrambled eggs for me permanently because I will forever associate them with a metallic taste.

I was then told that for the first hour I had to remain still on my back while a scanner took pictures every minute. If my stomach had cleared 50% of the food after 60 minutes, I could leave. I was told that 60 minutes is the average for a “normal” person. We laughed. He continued to say that after that I could sit up but we’d have to take more pictures every 30 minutes until I reached 50%. We were there 3 hours – usually, the test ends by 2 – and I still hadn’t reached 50%. Because the reading was exactly the same for the last 90 minutes, he said I could go as he didn’t see much happening soon after I kept steady at 44% emptied. I immediately took a zofran and drank some water as I couldn’t have anything for the last 3 hours. And that’s how I finished the 2nd of my 5 medical appointments this month.

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