February 10, 2006
The procedure itself was pretty quick; if my admittedly hazy memory is correct, I first woke up less than half an hour after being conked out. They took a look around and didn't see anything out of the ordinary, aside from my hiatal hernia. (What's a "sliding" hiatal hernia, by the way?)
Once they made sure everything was OK they expanded the part of the esophagus I was getting food stuck on. They used a balloon this time instead of cutting and stretching, and as a result there was no irritation to deal with. I got to eat non-soup for dinner!
I was tired as hell that night, though, so even though I probably could have made it home it's better that I had someone drive me. And yes, I do find it odd that I consider driving tired to be more hazardous than driving drunk.
So the end result is that as long as I stay on the Prevacid I should be OK. I have a follow-up appointment in six months to discuss other long-term options.
