For those of you who have been following my health journey, you may understand the reasoning behind my excitement when I say that finally, maybe, I have something going on with me. I met with the GI clinic’s PA about 2 weeks ago, a fantastic gentleman who was really helpful, considerate, and understanding. A week ago, at his suggestion, I had an EGD (the prep was so much better from this end), and I called today to see if the results were back. I couldn’t hear the receptionist too well when she gave me the results besides the word “negative”, but she said that the PA wanted me to schedule a follow-up appointment and some additional blood work, so I did.
Fast forward to 15 minutes later, when I checked the mail and—lo and behold—a letter from the clinic with my scoping and biopsy results. I actually read the first sentence of the letter wrong, and thought that once again, everything was negative—force of habit. After reading halfway through, however, I learned that they discovered chronic gastritis in my stomach mucosa (stomach lining).
It took me reading the sentence over a few times before I finally understood that it was not a negative result again. The biopsies showed that I am negative for H. pylori, so thankfully there’s no bacteria swimming around in there. There’s nothing going on in the section of the small intestine that they scoped either, so it’s all just in the gastric region. The letter outlines a couple of more tests that they need to do at my follow-up appointment as well, just to rule out bacterial stuff. It also mentioned that, although it was a long shot, I did not show positive signs of celiac either, so that’s good.
I did a little bit of research, but have decided that I will just wait to talk with Spencer, the PA, about treatment courses and such (probably a smart idea, since I sometimes end up researching a bit too deep and needlessly stress myself out). He mentioned at our appointment that we would likely end up building a new diet for me, to help with symptom control and now, I guess, inflammation as well. Even if this ends up being just part of the overall problem, I’m glad we finally have something to work with.
Stay tuned for more to come.
