MP 44

Matt: I can swallow. My cough is greatly reduced. Tumors are stable. Praise the Lord!

I’ve had a few unexpected procedures and tests involving my esophagus over the past few months. Last year, I needed a stent installed as tumors in my chest had pushed part of my esophagus nearly shut. However, from what I can tell, my esophageal stent likely slipped out of place last summer resulting in a near constant cough and interrupted my ability to swallow anything more than my own saliva. Unfortunately, my oncologist, whose job it is to review scans, did not notice my stent being out of place at any point in the past ~9 months. It wasn’t until I reached out to my gastroenterologist in desperation in March 2024 that things started happening.

During my conversation with my gastroenterologist, he looked at a recent CT scan image and instantly identified that the stent was out of place and scheduled me to have a replacement stent installed and clipped in place just a few days later. Later that month I had my appointment with the speech pathologists and laryngologist in a clinic at the University of Washington. They recommended injecting my weaker vocal cord with a bulking agent to improve the closure which would make swallowing safer.

While I was awake and sitting upright, the doctor jabbed through my throat into my vocal cords! (‘We can do all things through Christ who gives us strength.’). Annie has enjoyed not only my improvements, but also having a front row seat to some of the more interesting and technical clinical applications of her craft. After my throat jab, she explained where and how they performed the injection. In my sore, gravely voice, I simply responded…’I am Batman’.

A week after this procedure, they did another video scope assessment to watch me swallow some liquids and soft texture foods. All looked surprisingly good and they recommended that I start building swallowing strength by only eating pureed texture foods and slowly build up my quantity of intake as I feel comfortable. Also, since the injection, my voice is now more consistent and audible.

I’m now eating all food orally again and only use my feeding tube for dissolved pills. I will gradually test my ability to swallow pills. Once that feels comfortable for a period of time, the gastroenterologist and I could discuss removing my stomach tube. I may only be weeks away from being freed from this necessary, but very disruptive medical device!

Honestly, I’m overjoyed. I’ve never felt so helpless as I did when I couldn’t swallow food. The feeding formula is fine, but it obviously lacks the live plant based nutrition that was so important to me when I experienced such significant healing in 2020.

In my recent meetings with doctors, a couple times I’ve been asked, ‘so who is coordinating your care and all your specialists?’. I typically point at myself and respond, ‘THIS GUY!’. I appreciate that doctors need to specialize in order to reach advanced expertise. But thinking holistically and critical reasoning has remained my own responsibility and probably caused me more than a little paranoia.

Lastly, my recent scans of my brain and chest show stable conditions. There remains evidence of pneumonia and scarring in my lungs, but I am confident that this will decrease in the coming months. I had hoped for more improvement in my chest, but given that my cough is significantly reduced and I’ve only recently restarted eating real food again, I can be patient.

Annie continues to make a positive impact in the schools she is placed at and advocates for improvements in many ways; all of which ultimately improve the experiences for the PreK-5th graders she serves. She regularly gets kind remarks from parents, teachers, principals and her peers for the creative and thoughtful ways she handles difficult situations. This time of year teachers typically need to communicate their intentions about working the following year so districts can hire accordingly. But Annie was informed from the district administration that she was already approved to work in the district next year; which I interpret as them saying ‘yeah, we want you to stay!’.

Still loving: hiking and meditation locales so close to our home. Also, some fun horse-play with Faith.