Quincy Reporter

Blessing Health System issued the following announcement on Aug. 19

For many years that’s all Ed Biesk had to look forward to.

“One of the things I absolutely could not eat was popcorn,” the 85-year-old from Nauvoo, Illinois said. “It caused me to cough and carry on.”

It wasn’t just popcorn. Anything Ed put in his mouth, including medication, had a very good chance of “coming back on him” at any time with no warning.

“I’d have to chew it up and swallow it again, like a cow would do,” he described.

Ed suffered from Zenker's diverticulum, a condition that occurs when the muscle that divides the throat from the esophagus fails to relax during swallowing. When that happens, some food cannot reach the stomach. The body’s reaction is to create a pouch above the malfunctioning muscle to store the food that cannot get through.

Eventually the undigested food in the pouch is regurgitated. Zenker's diverticulum most often affects people 70 and older.

Ed suffered the effects of Zenker's diverticulum for more than 10 years, being told by two doctors during that time that it was untreatable.

One day recently, Ed had enough.

“Finally I decided, this is really bad and I am tired of living with it,” he exclaimed.

Ed began researching to see if ear, nose and throat specialists – known as otolaryngologists –might be able to help.  He came upon the name of Mark Mount, MD, of Blessing Physician Services and made another decision, to make an appointment with Dr. Mount. The two decisions changed Ed’s life.

“He said to me, ‘Oh, we can fix that,’” Ed recalled. “That was quite a surprise and kind of a shock. I had never heard a doctor say that to me before. He could fix it!”

During an outpatient procedure that did not require an incision, Dr. Mount placed two tiny staples in Ed’s faulty muscle to separate it into two, allowing all food to pass through to the stomach.

“There was absolutely no pain. No discomfort,” Ed said of his procedure. “I have had no more problems. No more food comes back into my mouth. I called the right man.”

“Zenker’s is uncommon,” Dr. Mount stated. “I see one-to-two cases a year. There are probably many people out there who have it, don’t get evaluated and live with it.”

“Now I can even eat popcorn again. So I am very pleased,” Ed said with a smile.

“Many people have conditions that can be managed, but have no solution,” Dr. Mount observed. “Here is a problem you can treat with minimal risk and complications. It is really the best of all worlds when it comes to medicine, and makes the patient really happy.”

“That’s why you go into medicine, for moments like these. It’s really satisfying,” the doctor concluded

Original source can be found here.