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Swallowing Up
This week's experiment is related to my surgery. You will do
something that I can't easily do right now. You are going to swallow upside
down. To do this you will need:
First, take a bite of the ice cream. As you swallow it, pay
attention to the way it feels going down. Why does the food go down? Gravity?
Lets find out.
Take another bite of the ice cream, but this time, don't swallow
it yet. Lay on your bed, so that the upper half of your body hangs
downwards. Now what would happen if you tried to swallow? Gravity would be
pulling it down towards your mouth, not up towards your stomach. Try swallowing
and see what happens.
It worked! Although you are upside down, the food still went to
your stomach. The muscles of your esophagus push the food towards your stomach
whether it has to go up or down. Once it gets to your stomach, there is a valve
that keeps it from coming back down your esophagus. That valve is not working
properly for me. Each time my stomach squeezes, some of the stomach acid is
forced up to my throat. Some of the acid goes into my lungs, making me cough and
my voice a bit rough. It also irritates the Eustachian tubes that connect my
throat to my inner ears. This is causing my ears to ring and causing some
hearing problems. All that should be fixed by Wednesday. If you want to read
about the surgery, you can find all the information at:
http://www.mayoclinic.org/gerd-jax/refluxsurgery.html
After the surgery, I will have a couple of weeks where I can
only eat soft foods, such as ice cream, milk shakes, sherbet, frozen yogurt,
etc. Hmmmm. Maybe there is a bright side to this after all.
Have a wonder filled week.
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