Hiatal What?
This is Ethel here. I'm 73, and I just wanted to tell you about my hiatal hernia.
Isn't a hiatal hernia something that, well, old people get? It belongs in the same conversation as osteoporosis, arthritis, and glaucoma. Or so I thought. It turns out, thirty-seven-year-olds can have hiatal hernias too. Like me.
This is Joanna here. I'm 37, and I just wanted to tell you about my hiatal hernia.
For the last year or so, or really ever since Eden was born, I have been dealing with upper abdominal pain on a daily basis, coupled with anemia. The pain was very hard to describe, and not super severe, so I tried to ignore it for a while. But in January, Josh sent me to the doctor to ask about it, and hence we started down a road of blood tests and doctor visits. I ended up in a GI doctor's office, who then recommended a colonoscopy and endoscopy to diagnose the issue.
Now, the colonoscopy I'll just have to save for another post, because... have you ever had one? You'd remember it. It just deserves an entry all its own. That's one you had better laugh about or you'll cry!
I had mycolonoscopy *ahem* I mean my procedure yesterday (I always wondered what that word "procedure" really means. Why do people talk about "procedures?" It's code for "colonoscopy-or-any-other-unmentionable-medical-operation." Now you've learned something.) and as I was groggily trying to wake up from my glorious anesthesia-induced nap, my doctor explained to Josh that he had found that I have a hiatal hernia. I'll tell you what that means, because I didn't know. I always thought that was old people jargon, and I'd have plenty of time to learn about it when I got old. Apparently, that's today.
A hiatal hernia is a condition in which the upper part of your stomach bulges up through the opening in your diaphragm muscle. Sounds comfortable, doesn't it? In my case, the stomach lining also has several sores on it where it has been rubbing on my diaphragm, and the doctor thinks that those irritations have been bleeding, which has contributed to the anemia.
Now what would cause all that, you ask?
Noah, 10 lb 4oz
Seth, 9 lb 4 oz
Eden, 9 lb 8oz
Thanks, guys! I didn't need that stomach anyway.
In all seriousness though, I have much to be thankful to God for. Three beautiful children, for one! Also that I wasn't suffering from a condition much more serious because, for a while there, we thought I may have some kind of cancer. God was faithful to me all through the "procedure" (ho, ho!), and gave my doctor wisdom to find what we believe is the cause of all that pain. In a couple of weeks, we should also have the results from the biopsies (another old people word, no?) they took to find out if I may have celiac disease. In the meantime, we keep trusting the Lord and trying to maintain our sense of humor, which I hope you understand by now is where I was going with this post. Tongue in cheek, people! I have the utmost respect for old people, especially now that I am one. :)
Isn't a hiatal hernia something that, well, old people get? It belongs in the same conversation as osteoporosis, arthritis, and glaucoma. Or so I thought. It turns out, thirty-seven-year-olds can have hiatal hernias too. Like me.
This is Joanna here. I'm 37, and I just wanted to tell you about my hiatal hernia.
For the last year or so, or really ever since Eden was born, I have been dealing with upper abdominal pain on a daily basis, coupled with anemia. The pain was very hard to describe, and not super severe, so I tried to ignore it for a while. But in January, Josh sent me to the doctor to ask about it, and hence we started down a road of blood tests and doctor visits. I ended up in a GI doctor's office, who then recommended a colonoscopy and endoscopy to diagnose the issue.
Now, the colonoscopy I'll just have to save for another post, because... have you ever had one? You'd remember it. It just deserves an entry all its own. That's one you had better laugh about or you'll cry!
I had my
A hiatal hernia is a condition in which the upper part of your stomach bulges up through the opening in your diaphragm muscle. Sounds comfortable, doesn't it? In my case, the stomach lining also has several sores on it where it has been rubbing on my diaphragm, and the doctor thinks that those irritations have been bleeding, which has contributed to the anemia.
Now what would cause all that, you ask?
Noah, 10 lb 4oz
Seth, 9 lb 4 oz
Eden, 9 lb 8oz
Thanks, guys! I didn't need that stomach anyway.
In all seriousness though, I have much to be thankful to God for. Three beautiful children, for one! Also that I wasn't suffering from a condition much more serious because, for a while there, we thought I may have some kind of cancer. God was faithful to me all through the "procedure" (ho, ho!), and gave my doctor wisdom to find what we believe is the cause of all that pain. In a couple of weeks, we should also have the results from the biopsies (another old people word, no?) they took to find out if I may have celiac disease. In the meantime, we keep trusting the Lord and trying to maintain our sense of humor, which I hope you understand by now is where I was going with this post. Tongue in cheek, people! I have the utmost respect for old people, especially now that I am one. :)
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