HOW I SAVED MY ESOPHAGUS

I had a GI bleed in Florida many years ago. I got weak, pale and sweaty for no apparent reason. It was due to aspirin. I used to pop 8 or more a day for my arthritis with no GI symptoms. They scoped me and cauterized the bleeder and told me that when I got back to Detroit I should have my upper GI scoped again to see if there was any residual or something else.

Path report came back 'severe dysplasia.' So they put me on Prilosec for a month and scoped me again. Still 'severe dysplasia.' Then they tell me what I didn't know, that 'severe dysplasia' of the esophagus is pre-cancerous. Oh? What then? They recommended an esophagectomy (removal of esophagus). I say "oh?" Who do I see to ask about it? Dr. Joe Louis. Meanwhile I tell my daughter-the-doctor in Mass General and she says from asking around that esophagectomy is 'standard-of-care.' Oh. I see Dr. Joe Louis and he says he can do it Tuesday. This is Friday. Oh. What's the mortality, I ask. He says 10%. Oh.

No way. New trajectory. I'm not going to risk my life to prevent esophageal cancer (the worst kind!) which maybe I won't get. Pre-cancerous is PRE-cancerous. So since I know a few things from medical school, I know the path diagnosis can be wrong, so I sign out the path slides and send them to my daughter in Mass General Hospital. Report back, you can't tell 'severe dysplasia' from these specimens, too much inflammation (aspirin irritation).

My oncology son in law in Seattle is in U of Washington and he tells me to hold on, I probably don't need my esophagus out. Sure enough, they have a Barrett's esophagus center in U of Washington that's famous in all the world and the top GI pathologist is going to read my path slides.

He says you can't tell 'severe dysplasia' from these slides. Whew! So I am given double the dose of Prilosec for another two months and my head elevated at night and stay away from acidy foods, such as tomatoes, alcohol and caffeine. No problem. Then they really check my esophagus, because they 'map' the area and do 30 biopsies (tiny) and see if there's any dysplasia.

Now the final, authoritative answer is no inflammation, no severe dysplasia. NO SEVERE DYSPLASIA? HARDLY ANY? NO, NOT ANY!!!! I don't have to get my esophagus taken out with one chance in ten I'm outa here!

So I'm on their study protocol and they scope me a year later, two years later and now, three years later. No symptoms, no bleeding, no severe dysplasia, and I still have my esophagus, my original one. Later I find out that the original pathologist is not the top of the list and the thoracic surgeon, a butcher, a f---ing butcher.

So I saved my esophagus and here I am for my last endoscopy. Just to make the record abundantly clear. My esophagus is abundantly clear. End of story.

Lesson: If somebody recommends elective surgery and there is a risk of mortality, get a second and third opinion!