Update on Scott

The oral surgeon and a doctor from our family practice did not discover anything wrong with Scott's throat or mouth on Monday. The doctor told Scott to take some Ibuprofen and if it didn't go away for a few days to call back so they could order a few tests to try to determine why he can't swallow.
Around 8:00 he followed doctor's orders and took the Ibuprofen. Only problem, the pills wouldn't go down and caused his problem to become significantly worse. At this point I am thinking I have to crush the pills up and put them in applesauce so I call the pharmacist to ask some advice and also to check on Benadryl dosage (because I'm thinking a little benadryl can't hurt and we only have children's Benardryl). The pharmacist tells me if Scott can't swallow a small pill like motrin then he needs to go to the ER because that is NOT NORMAL!! She tells me to get off the phone and get him there as soon as I can! Scott is starting to feel alarmed because his throat is starting to swell again so we decide to go to Urgent Care. It was a blessing that my sister was here so we didn't have to worry about a sitter for the boys (who were already in bed anyway). It ended up that the Urgent Care Center didn't have the proper equipment to do the testing Scott needed (even though we called ahead of time to make sure they did...so frustrating) so they sent us to the ER. The doctor suspected that Scott had a condition where the esophagus forms scar tissue and starts to narrow in certain places causing swallowing difficulties...some kind of fissure. We were seen at 11:05 p.m. Turns out the radiologist at this particular hospital disappears every night at 11:00...yeah, five minutes too late. We had to wait until 2 a.m. to see another radiologist who was covering 3 different hospitals in town. When the radiologist finally arrived he did a barium swallow test on Scott in which everything checked out normal. At this point we are absolutely BAFFLED as to what is going on!!! The doctor talks a little about acid reflux, gives Scott a Prilosec, and writes a referral for Scott to see a GI doctor.
Scott takes the pill, which immediately causes more aggravation and discomfort, which results in Scott having a horrible night of pain and sleeplessness. Not good. Not good at all.
The plan from here is that he has an appointment with a GI doctor for Wednesday in which they will put him under for two hours to scope his upper GI system. The poor guy still cannot swallow and has been living off of chicken broth and shakes. I've had to do some research on how to keep him getting the protein he needs to function and stay hydrated. It has been a trial, to say the least, never mind all of the worrying that is going on. The little research we've done on our own has turned up several different possibilities of what could be wrong...some of them I don't even want to consider. Apparently it takes over 50 different muscles and nerves working together just to perform the simple act of swallowing...something I will never take for granted again!
Please pray that Wednesday's appointment goes well and that Scott will have some relief soon. I will keep you posted if anything changes or improves!!