diff --git a/src/bot/message-sender.js b/src/bot/message-sender.js
index 627c4cba..1f6b876e 100644
--- a/src/bot/message-sender.js
+++ b/src/bot/message-sender.js
@@ -55,13 +55,13 @@ export async function sendStreamingMessage(ctx, text, options = {}) {
   try {
     logger.info('📡 Starting streaming for message of length:', text.length);
     
-    // Send initial placeholder message
-    const sentMsg = await ctx.reply('⌨️  ⌨️', { parse_mode: 'Markdown' });
-    logger.info('📡 Initial message sent:', JSON.stringify({
-      message_id: sentMsg?.message_id,
-      chat_id: sentMsg?.chat?.id,
-      full_obj: Object.keys(sentMsg || {})
-    }));
+    // Send initial placeholder message using ctx.api.sendMessage directly
+    const sentMsg = await ctx.api.sendMessage(ctx.chat.id, '⌨️  ⌨️', { parse_mode: 'Markdown' });
+    
+    logger.info('📡 Reply response type:', typeof sentMsg);
+    logger.info('📡 Reply response keys:', sentMsg ? Object.keys(sentMsg) : 'null');
+    logger.info('📡 Message ID:', sentMsg?.message_id);
+    logger.info('📡 Chat ID:', sentMsg?.chat?.id);
     
     // Extract IDs safely
     const messageId = sentMsg?.message_id;