As most of you know I have been incredibly lucky to beat esophageal cancer, though I can't recommend the treatment!

Said esophagus (with massive tumour attached)& the vast majority of my stomach are in a glass jar somewhere after becoming rather more famous and closely inspected than the rest of me ever will be

Now because I have a small pouch made from the base of my original stomach which sits in my chest above my diaphragm, i'm in the enviable position of being able to eat relatively 'normally' albeit in small portions 5/6 times a day. There are some drawbacks which are difficult to get used to, but I will only bore you with one
Stomach Acid!!

Now I take an acid inhibitor which is supposed to reduce the production of said substance, & bolster it with Gaviscon and by & large it works reasonably well
except on chocolate biscuits !!!!
I had the first choccy biccy (well 3 actually

) for more than 2 years last night at around 8pm with 1/2 a cup of tea, and they tasted fantastic! Off to bed at 10pm & a dose of Gaviscon before 'lights out'.
Now, I have to sleep in a raised position because my new stomach is just below my neck & any contents can (and do) flow back into my mouth with potentially deadly results if enough is ingested into my lungs! The trouble is I also have an old spinal injury which gives me chronic pain especially with pressure on the base of my spine, & when I drop off to sleep I unconsciously turn on my side & slide down into a more comfortable position, & as said i've had a few 'incidents', though luckily they've been very small amounts of food & the acid has been relatively weak and explosive coughing fits have removed the offending gunk. However,.. last night was different! Extremely scary & unbelievably painful! I was woken by a loud gurgling rattle & a horrible 'sucking' sound to find it was me, choking on my choccy biccies

I automatically began vomiting violently all over the bedclothes, carpet & nightstand! desperately fighting the urge to take a deep breath & cough between the showers of chocolate acid! This went on for more than an hour until the vomiting became dry retching & I was left fighting for breath from my acid scorched lungs. This morning was purgatory as my lungs were in overdrive making mucous to fight the 'invader'. I've spend the best part of the day at hospital being checked out & x-rayed, but thankfully they won't do a bronchoscopy unless the breathing becomes more troublesome. I will however need the camera down my throat to see if the acid has done any mischief with my new foodpipe & I may need an operation to tighten the valve that is supposed to stop reflux.
All because the laddy loves milk
tray chocolate!

Oh, nearly forgot! I lost the back end on the mig as I turned right from my street onto the main road this morning

, did a 135deg pirouette before I got hold of it. Bloody Arctic weather! My heart was in my mouth!, but that's another story!
