Hi there
I am new to this forum but have reading a lot of your posts and would really appreciate any help and advice you can give me.
My brother, who is 67, has suffered with breathing difficulties and coughing for many years as a result of smoking. 8 years ago he was diagnosed with 'Acute Obstruction of the Airways Disease' and naturally stopped smoking but has been using a nebuliser with steroids ever since but always has a persistent cough. Each time he gets a cold, he then gets a chest infection and has just had another course of anitbiotics for this. He also seems to have a sore throat most of the time.
Anyway, he began having difficulties in getting food to go down - he said it goes so far and then gets stuck ! He also gets hiccups when this happens.
He went to the doctor and explained his symptoms and the doctor booked him for an urgent endoscopy (which he had 4 days later!). That was 9 days ago. The report he got after the endoscopy said he had Grade B Esophagitus, at least 1 mucosal break longer than 5mm confined to the mucosal fold but not continuous between 2 folds, a slight stricture beginning 35 cm from incisors (easily overcome with scope) and nodularity (biopsies taken to determine nature !!). They also said he had a sliding hiatus hernia.
He was put on Nexium and told he would have to return in 6 weeks for a further endoscopy to check the stricture had healed.
On Monday, just one week after the endoscopy, he got a 'phone call from the hospital saying that they want him to go for a CT scan on 22nd June as they want to look at the outside of his esophagus and believe there could be some nodules there. They said he would then be seen on 26th June to get the results following the doctors' review board (?).
I guess they must have the biopsy results back from the endoscopy and naturally he is panicking as everything has happened so quickly.
I have tried to assure him that I'm sure all is well and that they are just being thorough, but I can't help worrying myself also. Is it normal for things to happen this quick, and do you think that (without stating the obvious) something has shown up on the biopsies and they are now checking further afield.
We live in England and all of this is being done on the NHS, not privately, and things normally take a lot longer here.
Is a CT scan a normal follow-up after an endoscopy or is it only if they suspect something serious.
Could it also be linked to his Airways Disease problem ?
(My mother, who is 89, suffers with gastritis and Barretts Esophagus plus a hiatus hernia, but she has never had a CT scan for it, only endoscopies).
Any advice anyone can give would be much appreciated as I am trying to stop him panicking, without much success.
Thanks so much