Post Nissen things to have on hand after surgery

Hi all,
Emma gave me some ideas for what I'll want to have in the house after surgery, and appreciate her input. I thought it might be a good idea to open it up as a new thread. We're headed for the grocery store, and I thought it might be helpful to get some more suggestions.

I usually use Maalox, and wondered if there's an advantage to Gas-X over Maalox.

Also, do you still chew TUMS? Is Gas-X better than Tums?

Any difference in the taste and effectiveness of Ensure/Carnation Instant Breakfast/ boost? Do they go down easily?

Has anyone used a smoothie maker? Any recipes?

Any good recipes for soups that are tolerable? I made myself a bunch of chicken broth--flavored with lots of veggies. (I strained it through cheesecloth twice, so it's definitely chunk-free) I have trouble stomaching store-bought broth. I heard that there's a good squash soup you can make with chicken broth. Anybody have a good recipe for soups that are good after surgery?

Also, how about store-bought foods? Anything you've found good and also "swallowable"?

The surgeon said he prescribes pain pills to his patients. How do you get pills down, when you're not even allowed solid foods? Can you request liquid? Any advantage one way or the other?

If anyone can give me a list of things they couldn't do without after surgery, I'd GREATLY appreciate it.
Thanks again for everything!

Thanks so much Janice. I really appreciate your wisdom--and willingness to share! There is so much valuable information here, and I can't say enough about people who take the time to respond to our pleas for help and guidance! I'll get some motrin and gas-x and ask the doctor for a script for the two nausea meds when I go on Tuesday for my pre-op follow-up. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that my lungs will allow me to have the surgery Friday. I'm ready now and want to get it behind me.
I can't thank you enough for your help!
Denise

Hi Dencha - I'm all most 5 weeks post op for my second Nissen so I'm still very much dealing with my recovery. I can share some of the things I have found to help me. Keep in mind each person is so different so what I deal with is perhaps something you won't have to at all.

LdyJane hit on most of the main things that will be needed. For me the most important was the anti nausea meds ( Zofran and Phenergan ) I'm on the Phenergan suppositories because I have troubles getting the crushed meds down so while I don't care for the suppositories I don't have issues making sure I get them down and any time I don't have to start gagging is a good thing ; ) I'm getting better with the nausea but it's still present so I alternate between the two meds.

I use Maalox (because I have a supply of it on hand) for the gas and bloating but several ppl say Gax x is good. I guess I'm one of the fortunate ones because I have been able to burp after my surgery but I do still deal with some gas and bloating.

When I came home I and troubles with liquid that weren't thick because it would just seem to go down to fast so I did the carnation instant breakfast (which is more affordable then other things like ensure) as well as a store brand nutritional drink that was all ready made. I ate a lot of Jello and cream soups like chicken and mushroom but I picked out the pieces in it. Take it very slow while eating anything and chew A LOT. If anything hangs up or gets stuck don't panic, stop eating and take small sips of liquid to help get it down.

Do have plenty of childrens ibuprofen on hand as Ldy stated. It helps with taking the inflammation down and helps me with my shoulder pain.You can also take Tylenol as well in liquid form. I also use a heating pad cause it just feels good to me and helps me relax. As for prescribed pain meds I tolerate Dilaudid best. It is in pill form but it's small, so I crush it and put it in juice and that goes down fine for me.

If you have troubles sleeping get some Unisom Sleepmelts, they let you get a good nights sleep which helps with your recovery and you don't have to bother with any crushing.

Hope that was of some help and good luck with your surgery. We will be waiting to hear from you after you return home.

Teala

Your welcome dencha. Also it's not Maalox I use but rather Mylanta. Sorry about that. It works quickly and takes away the extra gas but it doesn't taste all that great....

Just wanted to share one more thing. I'm enjoying a small glass of Sunny Delight right now ! All us Gerd suffers know how huge this is to be able to enjoy orange juice and not be reflexing and burning like crazy. That's how amazing the effects of this surgery can be !

Take care now, Teala

Dencha, I'm so glad Teala is on hand to give you advice; you wouldn't think that you would forget some of these things so quickly..of course it could just be me :)

I'm going to tell you something that did happen to me, and I'm telling you this to reassure you, not to scare you! so keep it in mind and also remember that this doesn't happen to everyone. I happened to have a lot of problems swallowing afterwards, but that is another story entirely. Because of this, though I had many times when something I would try to eat would get stuck and it would end up coming up (picture a cat with a hairball!! yuchh!!) When this first happened, I was terrified and completely out of breath..eventually I realized what was going on... a good analogy (for me) when you're putting coins in one of those little coin sleeves and one goes down sideways..the rest of the coins won't go down either..get the picture??? Well that is what would happen to me and food.

Once I understood what was going on and learned to relax and allow the process to work I was much better....so, just in case this happens to you, don't be afraid, it's your esophagus regurgitating the food, not you vomiting from your stomach and you will be okay!!

I am 5 weeks post-op and have been eating just about everything. The only thing the doc told me not to eat was red meat. I see him this week and will see if that changes.

When I came home I ate vanilla pudding for a week. Gradually, started adding things back into my diet. The one thing I have trouble with is bread getting stuck, but just have to make sure I take small bites and chew very well.

I was only on the liquid pain medicine at home for about 6 days. I started weaning it down after 5 days. It made me feel weird. Also had Zofran for the nausea, which is a great drug.

Surgery has given me my life back. I feel 100% better now than I have in years. Would do it all again.

I just found a good recipe for full liquids. Just make 1C broth (chicken, veggie, beef, homemade, storebought, whatever) and strain it. Then, whisk an egg in a bowl and and add 1/8 - 1/4 C of parm cheese (finely grated) to the egg mix. Then, slowly pour the egg into the hot broth while stirring quickly with a fork to create these little egg strands.

Let cool till it's an ok temp for you to eat and voila! A little italian recipe idea i got from Giada this morning. Of course, she added things like Basil and Spinach but i figured it best to leave those out for now. The egg is a good source of protein.

Also, i've been drinking vanilla boost with extra protein and its OK. Definitely not too thick as that's what i was afraid of.

As for liquid pain medication i highly recommend roxicet which is liquid percuset. I had it also when I had a UPPP surgery (uvula removed) for sleep apnea and couldnt eat anything for 2 weeks. The roxicet was fantastic and tasted like a high test cough syrup.

looking for any more soup ideas! can we eat noodles on full liquids? (i'm only on day 4 but am looking forward to eating more things)