I propped myself up for three years.
Two pillows became four. Dinner moved from 8pm to 7 to 6. I cut the wine, the coffee, the tomatoes. I took my omeprazole every morning like clockwork. And every night around 2am, I still woke up choking.
My GP said I was "managing it well."
What none of them told me — what I only learned 10 weeks ago at a family dinner with a gastroenterologist — is that none of it was fixing anything. The pillows weren't protecting my oesophagus. The pills weren't repairing the damage.
They were just buying me hours.
I'm sleeping flat tonight for the first time in three years. Below are the 10 things I wish someone had told me at year one.