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| Meet Evan Kay |
I am a 27 year old male that lives in Missouri. I was diagnosed with Achalasia in May 2002. One
evening I came home from work having breathing problems so my dad took me to the ER, they
didn't do anything but blood work and said I was having an anxiety attack. They gave me
medication for it and sent me home. I went back to the ER two more nights for the same thing and
by the third trip to the ER they finally decided to do a chest x-ray and they said it looked fine but
that the Radiologist will review it in the morning and if anything unusual they would call me at home.
I got a call from the hospital the following morning and they wanted me to come to the hospital for
further testing. So my Mom went with me to the hospital where they did an EGD, a swallowing
study, and hooked me up to a 24/hr Ph monitor. They told me I had an enlarged esophagus. After
the 24/hr Ph study, they diagnosed me with Achalasia and referred me to the Barnes Jewish
Hospital in St Louis. I went to see a surgeon and they set me up with a surgery date in the middle
of Ma The surgeon performed a Hellers Myotomy which took about 3 hours. The surgery did fix my
swallowing problems for about 6 months, then I was throwing up everything that I was eating. I went
back several times where they did EGD's after EGD's and they were telling me that the scope was
going down just fine and couldn't understand why I was still having swallowing problems. I was then
scheduled for another heller myotomy in 6 moths where they did a revision of the wrap, and when
the surgeon went in to do the surgery he found scar tissue underneath the liver that was stopping
food and not allowing it to follow into the stomach. After that surgery I did really well until 2006
where I was having trouble again with swallowing my food and throwing up at night. I went to
Columbia, MO where I saw a surgeon, they repeated all of the tests again...EGD, 24/hr Ph study,
and chest x-ray. He said the wrap done last time had a kink in it. He could do another revision of
the wrap, but it would be the last one since my esophagus was becoming so thin. The surgery
worked until 2009. I had a feeding tube placed in me until they could schedule me for an
esophagectomy. In April 2009, I had my esophagectomy done. They removed my esophagus and
pulled up my stomach. The surgery took about 8 hours to complete. After the surgery I developed
pneumonia, MRSA, and a lung infection and vocal cord paralysis. I was admitted to ICU for 5 days
until I was moved to the surgical floor. A week later, after returning home, I started experiencing
shortness of breath. The home health nurse listened to my lungs, and told me I had no air
movement on the left side and that I should return to the ER at the University. The ER did a CT
scan and found I had a lung infection and inserted a tube which did nothing so they were going to
have to schedule an OR for the next day to drain the lung. Since the surgery I have had nothing
but problem after problem with dumping syndrome (food goes right on through me), stomach
cramps, sweating, diarrhea...the whole nine yards.
Feel free to e-mail me if you have any questions about Achalasia, I will try to answer them the best I
can and if I don't know the answer, I will ask someone and get back with you.
E-mail: EvanKay@att.net
evening I came home from work having breathing problems so my dad took me to the ER, they
didn't do anything but blood work and said I was having an anxiety attack. They gave me
medication for it and sent me home. I went back to the ER two more nights for the same thing and
by the third trip to the ER they finally decided to do a chest x-ray and they said it looked fine but
that the Radiologist will review it in the morning and if anything unusual they would call me at home.
I got a call from the hospital the following morning and they wanted me to come to the hospital for
further testing. So my Mom went with me to the hospital where they did an EGD, a swallowing
study, and hooked me up to a 24/hr Ph monitor. They told me I had an enlarged esophagus. After
the 24/hr Ph study, they diagnosed me with Achalasia and referred me to the Barnes Jewish
Hospital in St Louis. I went to see a surgeon and they set me up with a surgery date in the middle
of Ma The surgeon performed a Hellers Myotomy which took about 3 hours. The surgery did fix my
swallowing problems for about 6 months, then I was throwing up everything that I was eating. I went
back several times where they did EGD's after EGD's and they were telling me that the scope was
going down just fine and couldn't understand why I was still having swallowing problems. I was then
scheduled for another heller myotomy in 6 moths where they did a revision of the wrap, and when
the surgeon went in to do the surgery he found scar tissue underneath the liver that was stopping
food and not allowing it to follow into the stomach. After that surgery I did really well until 2006
where I was having trouble again with swallowing my food and throwing up at night. I went to
Columbia, MO where I saw a surgeon, they repeated all of the tests again...EGD, 24/hr Ph study,
and chest x-ray. He said the wrap done last time had a kink in it. He could do another revision of
the wrap, but it would be the last one since my esophagus was becoming so thin. The surgery
worked until 2009. I had a feeding tube placed in me until they could schedule me for an
esophagectomy. In April 2009, I had my esophagectomy done. They removed my esophagus and
pulled up my stomach. The surgery took about 8 hours to complete. After the surgery I developed
pneumonia, MRSA, and a lung infection and vocal cord paralysis. I was admitted to ICU for 5 days
until I was moved to the surgical floor. A week later, after returning home, I started experiencing
shortness of breath. The home health nurse listened to my lungs, and told me I had no air
movement on the left side and that I should return to the ER at the University. The ER did a CT
scan and found I had a lung infection and inserted a tube which did nothing so they were going to
have to schedule an OR for the next day to drain the lung. Since the surgery I have had nothing
but problem after problem with dumping syndrome (food goes right on through me), stomach
cramps, sweating, diarrhea...the whole nine yards.
Feel free to e-mail me if you have any questions about Achalasia, I will try to answer them the best I
can and if I don't know the answer, I will ask someone and get back with you.
E-mail: EvanKay@att.net