The Hot Dog Extraction

So, did I catch your attention with that title? Some interesting things have happened at the Turners since I last posted. Some of you have heard this crazy story, but for those of you that haven't, hold on tight! Anyone that knows me very well knows that I can't swallow pills and often times get stuff stuck in my throat. I always thought this was because I have a huge fear of choking. Well, this past Friday Kim and her girls were over playing and we sat everyone down to eat lunch. We were having the usual 3-and-under lunch - hot dogs. I took a bite of hot dog and it seemed to get stuck in my throat so I tried taking a drink which usually cures the problem, but this time it didn't seem to cure it. I was too embarrassed to tell Kim I thought I had a hot dog in my throat so I kept trying to fix the problem myself which was only making matters worse. Eventually I ended up having to call my dad to come stay with the kids while Shawn took me to the ER. The ER was defnitely our last choice, but I called our family doctor and our OB who both told me to get to the ER as soon as possible since they didn't have anything to extract the hotdog with. For those of you that do not live here, we were in the middle of an ice storm on Friday so the roads were bad and there were lots of wrecks which meant I was probably not going to be the only one in the ER. This whole episode started around 11:45, we got the hospital around 1:30 and the hotdog was not extracted until around 5:30. So, for about 5 and half hours I was dry heaving and attempting to throw up. Throwing up is quite difficult when you are this pregnant since you have no ab muscles. They tried giving me a shot of glucose to relax the esophogus to let the hot dog out, but it didn't work. Eventually they had to call in a GI team (of course they had already gone home for the night and had to travel back out in the ice to get to the hospital). I had to have an upper endoscopy which is where they stick a camera down your throat and push the food into the stomach. Doesn't sound too bad, huh? Well, try doing that WITHOUT anesthesia!! Usually you are put out for a procedure like that but since I am prego they couldn't give me anything. It was absolutely horrible. I felt like they were trying to strangle me! Luckily it only took a few minutes and the hot dog was pushed thru. I do not ever want to go through that again!! One good thing that came out of all of this was that we found out I actually do have a problem with my esophogus - it is smaller than average and also has a lot of scar tissue around the base so that's why I always get food stuck and why I have difficulty with pills! And, the condition is actually treatable, but we can't treat it until after I have the baby so that I can have the anesthesia. As for now, I mostly stick to milk shakes and tomato soup. I am still paranoid to eat any solid food and have vowed to NEVER eat another hot dog the rest of my life. Somehow we got through it all - we are so lucky my parents are so close that they could take the kids at a moments notice. Since then, it's been pretty quiet around here! If you have any good soup recipes let me know...ha!
That's it for now - a word to the wise....Chew your food!!

Hope you are having the time of your life!
ST