nissen fundoplication

thanks Joy, glad you are doing so well. You're at the one month mark, so your surgery is still fresh too, so guess in time a couple more weeks maybe i'll be feeling better too. Can't wait. I think i will try driving next week wednesday, that puts me at the 3 week mark, gota get out and about sometime. LOL I'm still hoping the eating thing gets better in time too. Im so ready for "real" food, but i know they told me not too till the 4 week mark cuz of the swelling. It's a bummer even now with eating soft food and that constantly feeling of it being stuck. I just hope that part goes away!

Wow, Joy i'm glad you can eat chicken nuggets and fries now, that sounds soooo yummy! Can't wait for a couple more weeks to try that too! I did try chinese noodles today, i was so scared to try noodles again that i took me forever to make sure they were little bites and chewed to a mush. But it was funny trying to chew a noodle to mush, cuz the noodle moves around so much in your mouth , i didn't realize how hard it is to catch a noodle to chew it. LOLOLOL But i did not have any problems with it so i guess i did it good, and i didn't over do it either, just a little bit. But it tasted so good to eat something different for a change. I also bought some oatmeal for tomorrow for breakfast, been just eating malt o meal and scrambled eggs. i'm taking everyone's advice on new foods to add that are still safe to eat and i appreciate it very much. When did your doctor say you could try a soda???? And i understand the reeses craving, i would love to have some peanut m&m's. LOLOL Keep me posted on your moving up diet if you can, gives me an idea time wise when i can add more stuff to try. Thanks for your input! And i hope you continue to do so well!

Hey Joy, thought i'd check on you today,see how you are doing? I'm still hanging in there, bored and tired of being in recovery! I'm still sleeping alot and sore, but must admit not as sore as it has been so maybe thats good news that the swelling is getting better. The tightness under my rib cage is better too, Everyone here was right that those things will get better if you give it a chance. Thanks to all for the words of support, it has helped so much. i still have bouts of regret of ever doing it, but at least now i know i'm not alone and maybe things will become tolerable eventually. Thats all i can ask for. Just want to be as close to normal as possible and the sooner the better. Let me know how your progress is coming along when you have the chance. Take care

Chocolate and peanut butter gave me bad heartburn that I had a very, very hard time quenching.

I'm feeling very good today, stormie. Give it time to heal. At first I was afraid the surgery didn't help me. I had a horrible cough for almost four years and for the first few days I would cough some. It has totally stopped now. Each day I feel better and better. You will, too. Remember they remodeled your insides and it will take time to recover from it.

I'm trying it without any nexium. It's been three days without it and no burning (knock on wood).

Joy

Hi

I had a nissen fundoplication (laproscopic) on Monday 18th Jan and was sent home from hospital on the wednesday still in pain. That's the UK NHS hospital system for you.

From the moment I woke up after the operation I have been able to burp. In fact eating anything or even drinking water causes me to burp quite strongly indeed. I mentioned this to the registrar the day after the operation and on the day of discharge and he informed me that 'it wasn't a bad thing'. He didn't seem that interested that it was giving me a burning sensation. Not very inspiring but at least he turned up at my bedside unlike the consultant who was probably too busy admiring himself in front of a 5ft mirror.

It now 9 days since the operation and I'm still burbing all the time. I don't get the intense burning sensation I use to get at the bottom of my chest but I get a very strong bruning feeling at the back of my throat each time I bring up gas.

Does anyone know if its normal to be able to burb like this? I was expecting not to be able to burg for 3-4 weeks.

In terms of eating, The hospital didn't give me any special kind of food in hospital, I ate soup and a small amount of pasta in a cheese sauce on the first day. The next day I decline the dry pork chop they served up in front of me and just ate the soup.

Since my operation I have been able to eat lots of things, spaghetti bolognaise, scrambled egg, even small bits of potato as long as I chew them for a long time. Bread is still a no-no, it gets stuck very easily.

I have had several OGD scope exams and they said I have a stricture and barratts for I'm not suprised the bread is a problem, it has been for several years.

So I'm left wondering, Did they do the wrap up tightly enough?

(I'd be especially interested if anyone medical can give me their view)

My current opinion is that they haven't, I would be burbing all the time if they had the wrap correctly tightened.

The other thing I'd be interested on people's views is the scars that were left by the 5 holes.

In my case all 5 scars look quite small but I do have an issue with one of them as it seems to be very intented compared to any of the others. The same place is also causing me serious amount of pain if do anything where I stretch it at all. People have noticed that I can't stand up straight properly. Getting up out of bed is almost impossible, I get a ripping feeling in my side with a severe burning pain. Even after I stop moving the pain stays for quite some time. I now have to ask a friend to come in and get me up in the mornings as any use of the lower stomach muscles leaving me in agony. They have to push my up by my back from behind. I'm worried they have over stitched the wound or torn a muscle.

I've been taking 100 mg of trimadol hydrochloride in the morning and before I go to bed and 50mg around midday but it doesn't stop the pain. I don't know what it will be like if I stop the pain killers.

Did anyone else experience this level of pain?

My symptoms don't seem to be the usual although a friend of mine had it done 4 years ago and he had the complications they suggest: Bloating, excess wind, problems swallowing. These all resolved themselves after 6-8 weeks and he is very happy he had it done.

One last thing my operation was carried out at a university hospital in London by a surgeon who has carried out hundreds of these procedures apparently.

Patience...Patience

Please slow down with your eating. I can't believe they gave you a pork chop! That's unbelievable! My first meals for the first two weeks were broth, jello, popcicle, and tea.
I didn't even attempt puddings or pasta until day 15 or later. I'm on week 6 now and I can eat mushy foods and things that can be chewed to a mush easy.

My scars are still present, bumpy and a little tender.

Wind-yeah, it gets bad in the evenings. I find dairy does it worse.

I burped alot at the beginning.

You're both in the swelling phase. Anything can happen. Give it time.

Joy

It's hard to learn to control yourself. I've had a hard time limiting my food. I feel so good that I want to eat like I used to, but I know I need to control myself. I've lost 17 pounds over this time frame from limiting myself. My pants are needing a belt to hold them up. LOL!

I try not to eat more than 4-6 oz of food a meal. I'm down to a yogurt in the morning. If I'm still hungry I eat either a small biscuit with a chicken patty, a waffle, or a piece of fruit. I've never wanted much in the mornings.

At lunch I eat for my meat either vienna sausages, tuna & crackers, or a small pasta meal. I usually have a fruit like applesauce or peeled manderine oranges. I either have for my desert a sugar-free jello or pudding. I drink G2 also.

I eat a fruit juice bar for an afternoon snack.

Supper varies: pasta, tuna, toasted ham sandwich, pimento cheese, scrambled eggs

I'd like to eat more veggies, but the veggies I like don't chew very well to mush. And If I cook them to softness they feel icky and bland. I'm taking a multivitiamin until I can eat firmer foods.

If it's a floppy nissen it's probably a loose nissen. A hill is only taking a small part of the stomach and wrapping it partly around..... like wrapping your pant's leg around your ankle.

Joy

Stormie & Joy

Thanks for your replies, some good advise on the food front.

Even though I can seem to eat more solid stuff it probably is better to hold off on anything more than soup and yoghurt for a while.

Glad to hear other people also burped quite a lot afterwards.

The Pork chop just goes to show how well organised the UK NHS system is, the doctors can't talk to the nurses to get the right food ordered.

I was given a liver shrinkage diet for 2 weeks before my operation where all I ate was 2 soups, 3 yoghurts and a pint of semi-milk a day so the freedom of being able to eat something else has got the better of me. One thing I do find I can eat without too many problem is spaghetti bolognaise as long as I cut it up into very small pieces, like you do for a young child.

In terms of weight loss I've lost about 5lbs in 10 days but I have been sucking on small pieces of chocolate when I get starving.

One good thing is that whatever I eat I am on smaller child size portitions and sometimes don't feel the need to finish what I have.  Some of this is certainly due to the liver diet and in general I had cut down on my food quite a lot for several months before hand.

In sept 09 I weighed 242lbs, I'm now 200lbs so I've gone from ill-fitting trousers (pants) to one's that actually sit right, down two UK sizes from 40in to 36in. You can see the difference in my stomach, face and my legs have gone from solid swimmers to slim runners.

The consultant made it a condition I didn't go above the 242 mark and said he wanted me to loose at least 14lb before the op. Apparently the size of your liver can be a major factor in a laproscopic procedure having issues and ending up being open surgery.

If anyone is going to have a fundoplication done then I would strongly encourage them to loose as much weight as possible before hand. (Make sure you don't become underweight though) I've found it a struggle to support my own weight at times on my arms whilst getting up, when I struggle I use my stomach muscles which cause me real pain in the wounds. The last 10 days would have been so much harder if I had the extra weight. Getting someone to help me out of bed has also improve the recovery as I'm not putting the wounds under real pressure any longer.

In september I embarked on my own weight loss - liver cleansing diet. I'm not saying I didn't find it hard, impossible at times at work, where people are constantly eating biscuits and donuts around me.

My daily weekday diet was:

Breakfast: yoghurt & melon

Lunch: Homemade soup

Dinner: Caesear salad with chicken or fish (low cal souce)

I would have "normal" food at the weekend but control the portion size.

The soup was based on an Indian liver cleansing diet without the spices as they upset my stomach too much. Each sunday evening I would make a pot to last the week and keep it refridgerated:

Fry off: 6 large small diced Carrotts & 1 finely diced Red Onion

Add: 1 pint of chicken stock

Add: 1 large head of Broccilli, I cut up the stork part into small chunks

Add: 1 large bag of spinach and 1 bag of pre-sliced curly kale

Add: 1 small tin of tomato passata (less acidic that plain tomatoes)

Cook for about 40 minutes

I'm not a vegetable fan so I use to blend the soup into a creamy texture. It doesn't look the prettiest soup in the world, horrid colour but tastes far better than expected. Found it better to season while cooking as you tend to use less salt.

It worked very well for me but I guess you should check with your own doctor before embarking on anything like this. I know that dark green vegeatables aren't good for people on Warfin.

From 5th Sept - 19th Dec - My diet -  I lost 25lbs

From 20th Dec - 4th Jan - Liver diet - I lost 10lbs

My surgery was postponed by the hospital so I went back on my diet for a 10 days and back on the liver diet for 5 days. Only lost 2lb during this time.

The last 10 days has been 5lb.

So not only is my reflux problem potentially fixed but I'm much healthier as a result of the whole process. If I loose another 14lbs it will be the first time my bmi won't have been in the 'obese' or 'over weight' sections of the chart since I was 20, 18 long years. All the experts say that there is a critical weight for everyone in terms of reflux, once you exceed it then the reflux gets significantly worse.

I've always found it hard to motivate myself to loose weight, the fundoplication was the best possible reason I've ever had.

I'm back to work on monday, on reduced hours for the next couple of weeks. I don't get a follow up with the consultant for another 4.5 weeks. That's worse part of the UK NHS system, the long waiting times. On the upside I haven't had to pay for what would have been a very costly operation.

 

Stormie

Just been reading some of your other posts.

Main reason I got the Nissen done was due to my friend's opinion.

He had the same symptoms as me for years also and had the operation performed 5 years ago.

He's a rich banker type so he went private and got very good advice from two separate surgeons. Aftercare in the UK is excellent if you go private, mainly because you don't have to here, we have an NHS. His surgeon was there for him for as many questions as he wanted answered before and afterwards and gave him very good literature to read so he was as informed as you can get.

Despite that he had all the hassle you've been experiencing, he particularly suffered from bad bloating for several months. He found that being regular made a big difference and found cutting out fried food for breakfast and only ever eating a large bowl of cereal helped him a lot. He also said that you need to make time for the regular morning toilet visit. Sounds a bit daft at first but he found that he needed to set aside a regular time to eat it, always had to mugs of tea or coffee and went when his body first told him to rather than just finishing what he was doing at work.

It took him weeks before he could eat a normal meal with meat in it and to this today doesn't have anything like the appetite he use to have. We would regularly go out to the pub (bar) for the night and eat a bucket of KFC between us on the way home. Now he struggles to eat anything more than 2 bits of chicken.

If he goes out to a restaurant he only ever has a starter and main, he finds deserts are just too much and he feels very bloated and a bit sick if he eats too much. He has only ever vomited once and after that he has always been careful.

I think the hardest thing to get over with this type of thing is that you have to make sacrifices from now on.

5 years on though he doesn't regret having had it done. He said it beats bad reflux every day of the week.

I'm hoping I'll feel the same, which won't be hard as it had taken over my life. The thoughts of the maximum does of PPIs for the rest of my life was depressing. If I forgot to take my tablets in the morning I'd have to starve myself all day or the I'd be doubled up in pain after a sandwich.

 

Okay, I had a lesson today. The lesson was well learned.
I thought I could eat in the school cafeteria today. Nope!
I got a hot dog with cheese and ketchup, five tator tots, a pudding pop, and a 1/4 cup of apple betty. It was way too much! I started having spasms at 12:35 and they haven't stopped yet! Ouch! Ouch! OUCH!
The food went down great, but I put too much in.
Please, Please, Please, heed my warning! Don't eat more than 6 oz of food at a time. Even if you're starving.
I seem to have forgotten my stomach size for a moment. I'm gonna do my best not to forget again. I even took some Lortab to stop the spasms, it's taking too long for me.

Good night folks!
Joy

I'm better today, Stormie.
You can enjoy food again. You just have to limit yourself on the amount. It's like an eat what you like, but keep it small diet. I'm learning to "graze"... a nibble here...wait a little...nibble there.
I ate a cup of spaggetti with meat sauce for the first time today for supper. YUM! So far no pain or reflux.
Hang in there. Don't give up.

Joy

I had a Nissen done in 2004 after years of terrible acid reflux...I would eat handfuls of Tums like candy and tried every drug out there to combat the symptoms. My Gastro doctor sent me for all the tests and together, we decided that surgery would be the best alternative for me.

I met with a highly regarded surgeon, who has a special interest in Laparascopic procedures. He is the best in the city for doing the Nissen and he was very thorough in explaining the benefits and drawbacks. We set a date for surgery and before long, the date arrived.

Surgery was performed in the morning and I was kept in hospital for 2 days, due to some apnea issues in recovery. The first few days of "eating" were very difficult - even jello was hard to get down as everything was so swollen. The day after I came home was probably the worst day I experienced...in addition to some dysphasia (choking), I had intense nausea and diarrhea...probably unrelated to the surgery, but I was absolutely miserable. The nausea and stuff lasted for about a day, and then went away, and I had no more problems with it after that.

My husband bought an ice cream maker and I ate/drank a lot of smoothies and ice cream, along with mashed potatos, creamy mushed soups, etc. It took a few weeks before I could progress to real food (that required chewing) and I made sure to take very small bites and chew well. I learned quickly which foods would cause me to choke and which were easy to manage. After about 6 weeks, my diet was back to normal and the only food I have problems with to this day is anything "hamburger" like with meat and bread together...I have to have very tiny bites or I'll choke on it.

A month after my surgery, I was coming home from a day out with my hubby and started having intense chest pain, around the top incision that was made. I went to emergency, and was admitted. They found a large gas bubble trapped, and I had a naso-gastric tube inserted. It didn't make the pain go away, so the doctors scoped me to see if the Nissen was too tight. Everything looked fine and the pain finally went away after about 6 days. Unfortunately, it came back again within a week, and then presented itself almost continuously. The doctors did all sorts of tests, including one that showed I had gallstones, but the gallbladder was emptying properly, so basically, they sent me home with narcotic drugs to manage the pain, but no answers.

I ended up in hospital again about 6 months after the original surgery, again, with intense pain. The doctors were concerned that perhaps a nerve had been damaged during the surgery, so after more tests, etc. (and IV support for fluids as I was quite dehydrated), they tried me on Gabapentin, which helped immensely.

I stayed on the Gabapentin for quite some time along with Oxycontin and existed that way for a long time. It wasn't until 2007, when I had my gallbladder removed that the pain disappeared for good. My thought is that the gallbladder was definitely part of the problem all the time, but I don't doubt there was nerve damage as well.

All in all, I have never regretted having the surgery done. I'm one of the lucky ones in that I retained the ability to burp a little bit, and I can still drink carbonated beverages (although I choose not to anymore). I lost about 50lbs from the surgery that I really needed to (although I did gain a lot back afterwards over the course of 2 years and have now lost 25 of it in the last 3 months). I am pretty much able to eat or drink what I want, and I've never had a problem with acid reflux again.

I chose to wear a Medic alert type bracelet after the surgery, to advise I can no longer physically vomit, in case of an emergency where I can't speak for myself. If I had to choose this surgery again, I wouldn't hesitate...it was truly a lifesaver for me.

Do your research, talk to a second doctor if you feel you need to and be prepared to make some major changes in how you eat for a period of time. I saw this as a second chance for me, so I hope you see it that way as well if you make the decision for surgery.

Best of luck!

I ate out on Sunday! I got a turkey club and 5 onion rings. I ate 1/4 of it at lunch yesterday, 1/2 at dinner, and finished it off at lunch today.

It felt so good to eat out normal food, even though I had to split it up.

Maybe it is a spasm hurting you?

Joy