My latest companion: Barrett's Esophagus

After enjoying a few months of stability with my health, my biggest long-term issue (after arthritis damage or infection) seems to be my most recent diagnosis of Barrett's Esophagus. I can't feel it. Years of acid reflix, gastritis, ulcers and other stomach complaints may have likely caused it, but even that seems questionable to some degree.

The treatment for Barrett's is seemingly a life of daily Nexium or some other related drugs to prevent it from growing. There are also clinical studies available through Mayo Clinic, where your case can be tracked and experimental treatments are available. I am willing to take the drugs, join the studies, cut NSAIDs from my life and eat less chocolate...with the latter being the most difficult (if it's dark chocolate, that is).

What I am not too happy about doing is having an endoscopic procedure every two years. Yikes. Although I have had an endoscopic procedure before which found the Barrett's, it is still hard. You do a preparation, devote a day at the center waiting and it requires you to be anesthetized. All that is better than esophageal cancer, so doing it is a no-brainer. I will.

Fuming at Freedom

America has just traversed a huge chasm with respect to the health care freedom of its citizens. Arguably a civil right, and clearly an inalienable right and part of first world human rights, America was holding out on this issue until Sunday evening. The new laws are not nearly as good as many would have liked, but it has undeniably extended something originally promised in founding documents, to most all of its citizens: the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.



Being sick in America remains a sentence to poverty, stress and insecurity. These problems are not understood by citizens disconnected from the perspectives, but in time I am confident even the most certain of health care deniers will come around.