Waiting for a balloon dilation

Good evening BennyM, i have never had dilation of the oesophagus but i know quite a few people who have had it done, most say it can be uncomfortable and a bit painful , please make sure you do have some sort of sedation as i have always found having anything down my throat is not the best experience. The actual dilation does not take long and normally they are very successful, it sounds as if it could be the side effects of the radiotherapy and scar tissue. Well done on getting through the treatment, good luck with your continued recovery,take care.

                                                                         Chris 

Hi Benny. I haven’t had this problem  but there are a few people here who have successfully. It does tend to have to be repeated. 
Best of luck. I hope it works for you. 

Thank you Dani for your good wishes.

Thank you chris2012. Yes I think it is a side effect of the radiotherapy. Sometimes it occurs as a later side effect, but it’s been a quick development for me. When I had my PEG fitted I think I had some sedation, at least I had fentanyl which meant I was awake but didn’t feel anything. 

with good wishes,

bennym

Good evening bennym, i should think the dilation will be quite straightforward for you if you had the PEG fitted without feeling anything, i had my PEG fitted during my first operation so i was sound asleep Please keep us updated (if possible ) as its a subject we dont hear much about on here. All the best.

                                                                                  Chris.

Hi Bennym

I am also waiting for a date for a dialation. I am 6weeks past 35 sessions of radiotherapy and haven't had chemo ! My NG tube came out  in May though I had my laryngectomy early feb. I had a few set backs along the way and am slowly overcoming them one by one except for eating . I have not been able to eat  anything except sloppy foods and even that takes forever to go down. My new throat has been tight even before radiotherapy and I have a vertabrae sitting at an odd angle , sticking into my throat right opposite where my speaking valve  was meant to go. As this vertebrae can't be moved  and often causes a back up of food , I can no longer have a speaking vAlve , which was meant to be fitted at the same time as I was having dilation under a general anaesthetic  but now don't know if and when I can have dilation ! But since the very start of my journey I am steadily losing weight, not that I couldn't afford to lose a few lbs, but  I was 13 stone and now I'm 9st 7lb.  The protein drinks , shakes ect  are horrible but NG worse. If you are lucky enough to have your dilation before I have mine, can you please let me know how it goes. Because after reading that it can hurt I'm really nervous ! 

good luck , Mei Li 

Hello Mei Li, I am sorry to hear about the complications with your attempts to eat and speak. I would definitely ask your  doctor/ team about your options and ask questions to really try to find out what they can do at least with your swallowing. I was lucky and had a PEG fitted before treatment started- it wasn’t long before I couldn’t swallow any solids at all. I certainly will let you know about my balloon dilatation- I haven’t had a date through yet for it. I opted for a local anaesthetic for several reasons, the main one being that I have trismus and I think the consultant thought it would be difficult to fit all the required equipment in my mouth. I think the procedure with a local anaesthetic will probably be uncomfortable and maybe a little bit painful ( like a bad sore throat) but hopefully it will be over fairly quickly and I don’t think you should worry or stress too much about it ( easier said than done I know )

I’ll be thinking of you,

bennym