First off, I'll start with the good news. The endoscopy didn't show any visible varices in Jessica's esophogus at this time; we are very happy about this.

Now for the bad news. The endoscopy showed food still left in Jessica's stomach after not eating for over 10 hours. Her GI specialist thinks she has a new condition called Gastroparesis.

Some info~ Gastroparesis, also called delayed gastric emptying, is a disorder in which the stomach takes too long to empty its contents. Gastroparesis happens when nerves to the stomach are damaged or stop working. The vagus nerve controls the movement of food through the digestive tract. If the vagus nerve is damaged, the muscles of the stomach and intestines do not work normally, and the movement of food is slowed or stopped.

Jessica is scheduled for a test called Gastric Emptying Study. This test will confirm the diagnosis, so the GI can start treatment. Until the test is done and we have the results and talk to the GI, I won't have any more information about this. We have never heard of Gastroparesis before, so we are quite lost at this point. The info that I have found on the internet about Gastroparesis doesn't sound very good at all. I will post the test results as soon as I can.

Jessica is also scheduled for the HIDA Scan to see if she has a blockage going from her liver into her small intestines. This test will be done the day after the Gastric Emptying Study; so we will be in Gainesville for a few days.