First Surgery TIF Hiatus hernia

Hi Everyone,

 I am so happy I found this forum as I was calling my surgeons office every day with questions. Yes I found ouT from them Bletching after eating is normal.I am post op day 7. I have had 2 episodes after eating too much a sour taste in mouth followed by pain at Tif surgical site.I have been crushing my Prilosec and Zantac dissolving it in water by drinking it. Reading other threads here I found out the swelling and pain will be at the worst at 14 days. So I have that to look forward to next monday. Has any one drank Aloe Vera Juice finding this helpful? I did before my surgery as I could not eat solid food. Once I drank 2 oz of Aloe Vera Juice the burning lessen and I could eat. Should I continue to drink this after surgery?Are there Any good tips to ease the heart burn pain? I have been pureeding all my foods in a blender. Sticking to chicken soups. Veggies carrots, spinach , sweet potatoe, my favorite. I walk taking frequent sips of water when I am having a painful attack till it eases up. My surgery was Hiatus hernia and TIF. I had my Gall Bladder tested , it turned out ok so I didnot have to have that out. Thank you for any well needed advice.

Post op day 8 :
Today I started out with a wonderful bowl of pureed Oat meal, Grape juice and pureed egg toast mixture I made up a few days ago when I was missing toast and eggs.

Yesterday I cooked a tasty Butternut soup recipe. Since I made so much, I froze a bunch of it in one quart freezer bags for individual servings I will be able to take to work when I go back at the end of this month.

Then after breakfast I turned up my CD player up lifting music and started walking steps for the whole CD 45 minutes. The nurse in the hospital told me to get up and walk out in the hall 4 times while I was there for me to able to discharged. So I went for it and continued this walking program when I got home. I have a German Short hair that I live with so for the past 10 years I have been on a 7 day walking program with him( Rocky). Rocky is my exercise inspiration that has kept me in good shape. I will not be able to walk Rocky on least till I am 14 days post op. Yes I have him trained very well on leash, but he could see something that triggers him to pull on. My Husband has been taking care of Rocky's walks for now.
Now to rest for a while , continue to work on mu cable knit grey gloves I am knitting for my Daughter -in -Law for Xmas.

Have a Great Day fellow GERD Troopers
Anne (-:

A year ago after a big meal I was sitting in an EZ chair in our living room. I felt gush gush in my lower stomach with a sour acid taste leaving my lower sternum just burning. I went to my pharmacist told him my symptoms and he recommended Prilosec OTC for 2 weeks. Then a few weeks the gush gush happened again. I went to my Doctor and she told me I had Acid Reflux and to start taking Zantac twice a day. Symptoms calmed for a while but started back up again. When I woke up my whole sternum area burned. Went back to the Doctor and she told me to raise the head of my bed on 6 inch blocks. Take Prilosec 40 mg twice a day along with Zantac twice a day. This helped some. I was living on just apple sauce and yogert as solid food just burned going down. After doing some research I learned about Aloe Vera juice .started drinking that twice a day and could not believe how better I felt. I started eating real food again. My burning lessened and I was able to cut down on my meds. Our local Hospital held a seminar for GERD suffers to learn about the TIF operation to help control this disease. After attending that seminar I said ,I am going for that surgery , I have nothing to lose'. After the pre testings I learned I had a hiatal hernia bulging up keeping my valve from completely closing.So I had constant acid leaking into my esophagus causing esophagitus. My surgeon and I decided the TIF with the Hiatal hernia repair the best option. No heart burn today after eating smaller more frequent meals. I am feeling a lot better

First day driving the car. I mailed something at the post office. Visited my Nursing Home where I work as a nurse to catch up on some mandatory meeting paper information.( still not back to work yet. )Then stopped at the knitting shop sat and talked with my knitting instructor. No I won't be going to knitting class this week. I am doing OK on my home knitting projects of gloves, finished a green and gold slouchy (Go Green Bay Packers) hat. Yes I live in the Land of the Green and Gold Packer Nation!!! Scarf and chocolate knitted dog. I did OK on my little drive, no motion sickness , no reflux in car. Felt a little weak but able to walk and move in and out of car, Walk up and down side walks. Every person who met me on the street and in places told me they have reflux and is on Prilosec too. They were all so interested in hearing about my TIF part of the surgery. Not one of them envy my having to be on a full liquid pureed diet for the next 30 days. I hope to be on ground diet by Thanks giving. Was nice to get out of house and yard to see small part of world for first time. Wonderful to be back home!! Now for a little rest in my EZ chair.

Post op day 11: I advanced my diet too soon with wrong foods aggravating my surgical site causing more pain. I am back to base one on full liquids. I plan to just drink health shakes 2 ounces every 2 hours along with grape juice and of course water.I will do my little walks around the house every 2 hours too. Live and learn. a bump in the road. I am not going to try any advance new food until I see my surgeon on Oct 25th.

I baked a pumpkin pie with spices , did not put it in my blender to liquid consistency. Also I advance to Italian tomato blended with spices. Then I had a few bites of puff corn pop corn flavor. All tasted great going down , but shortly experienced surgical site burning and pain. So it I am newly learning reading this forum it is good for me to keep a food diary to not repeat these foods so early post op from my surgery. Yes I packaged the pumpkin pie, put it in the freezer till Thanks Giving. Lesson well learned I am starting to feel better now that I am back on full liquids. I made my first Banana Smoothie and it goes down nice and taste great.

Anne-

You did exactly what was needed after a bad day with food. Taking a step backwards to let things calm down. Good job!
If you like pudding you could get some different flavors and have them while still unset. More of a liquid and might help to give you a variety of flavors for a snack.

The heating pad has been a huge help for me with my stomach surgeries. Sometimes I used ice as well.

Take care,
Bill

Post op day 14!! I feel good this morning, but had a tough in the middle of night waking up with sharp abdomen gas shooting pains. As I walked the pain radiated up both my right and left shoulder and neck. I did not panic as I have found this is normal from what I have read on this forum. I started walking alternating by sitting on the toilet to let gas and stool to come out. I also took some Pepto-bismol pink stuff for Nausea , heartburn, indigestion, upset stomach and diarrhea. After about hour of this walking and toileting, the pain was gone I felt relief and went back to bed. I had been eating more the past few days as I have felt good. But I have not been eating my yogurt as much so I will go back to eating a little yogurt at each meal. I feel good now no diarrhea. My digestive system is moving well. My TIF surgical area feels great with no pain or burning. I am very happy so far my digestive system is active and moving. My discharge instructions says ." Do Not push,pull or strain for up to 2 weeks after your surgery." This includes vacuuming , shoveling, sweeping ect. Does this mean today I can vacuum my living room and sweep my kitchen?? I hope to have a great day without over doing. I am happy our Green Bay Packers won their game this week. It always makes the start of the week brighter.
Anne

Good morning GERDIE TROOPERS! Post op day 15 for me and I feel great. Just a minor level 1 of surgical site pain felt. I slept very well thur the night with no pains of gas. So being back on my 4 table spoons of yogurt with each meal is working for me. I am going out to do a little shopping, spend some time with my knitting teacher in her shop to help me out on the my first knitted dog (chocolate Lab) I am working on. In 2 days, this Thursday I will be meeting with my surgeon for my first post op visit. He will tell me my return Date back to my job. My return to my job will be light duty if I go back sooner than latter. It will depend if my job will accept me back on light duty. We will see. I am going to make a list of questions for my surgeon to ask when I see him thursday to ask.
Well have a great Day GERDIE TROOPERS.!!
Anne

Post Op Day 17: I went to for my post op visit with my surgeon. He was very happy and surprised on how well I was doing. He was surprised I did not cheat on the diet by eating a slice of pizza minus the crust and that I did not have any left quad abdominal pain secondary surgical instruments. I told him I have not had any abdominal other than some at the abdominal prong sites the first week. Right now I am feeling pretty good. The good news he advanced my diet to soft ground food that dissolves some what in my mouth.I told him my biggest fear is getting food stuck in my TIF. He said soft food would not get stuck at this point. I guess that is every ones worry after having this kind of surgery about food getting stuck. I feel so bad when I read the threads of those who do get food stuck leading them to run to the ER for help. My answers to my questions: I can now discontinue all my anti reflux meds. NO more Prilosec OTC or Zantac. I cannot do exercise band or balley ball exercises till after 6 weeks post op. I cannot do the compressions in my CPR class. I can just be an observer on Monday which I will do. I do not have to renew my card this year as I did last year and the cards are good for 2 years with American Heart. So that will be Ok. The day I can return to work on with no restrictions is Nov 19th. Scrambled eggs mixed with applesauce went down great.First food I did not put through the blender. Now off for a later walk with my Rocky. Have a great day Gerdie Trooper
Anne(:

Good after noon GERDIE TROOPERS!! A lazy sleep in do nothing morning for me which is alright. My Hubby took Rocky on a hunters field trip so I am without him today. I borrowed one of my neighbors dogs to walk with me this late morning. Dreamer, a saluki small 7 year old was my partner. She does good with me on leash as I do walk her when my neighbor good friend goes away. My first 24 hour with no PPI or other antiacid medications went good. I tried to eat a soft bread sandwich (not the crust) wth my chicken spread topped with swiss cheese. Chewed properly before swallowing and everything went down fine, I am using my trusty Blender to chop solid meat into shreads, mix it with Mayo. I cut up a few pickles to stick in the blender with the meat to provide extra flavor. Today I went to the supermarket and picked up a small package of pre cut up stew meat cut up in 2cm cubes, not big chunks.
Also picked up a package of organic grown carrots. Now I have a nice beef stew ,Potatoes, carrots and beef brewing in my slow cooker which will be great for tomorrow. I will make sure I will chew each bite of stew 25 times before swallowing. I always have a saucer of applesauce along with saucer of yogurt so I can use those two to further aid the stew meat to slide down. If you are eating something that you think is too chunky on your plate you can always mix a clump of applesauce on top of food to soften it up before you take a bit. Apple sauce mixed with anything else does not taste that bad. In most cases I found it improves the taste. Well now to go and pick up out my costume to so I can dress up tomorrow to pass out treats to our trick or treaters, I just love passing out treat to the kids. It is such fun. Have a great Saturday. Our Green Bay Packers play at home tomorrow at noon. I hope they can win another game. Have fun with your Trick or Treaters and enjoy their costumes.
Anne

Post op day 21 for me. Slept in as I stayed up latter working on my Knitted chocolate Lab. First I want to offer survival prayers streaming your way on the East Coast of the USA as Tropical Storm Sandy crosses over during the next 24 hours. I hope you do not suffer too much damage to your homes. Even inland as far as Pittsburgh ,PA will be experiencing 60 mile an hour winds with heavy rain tonight. I heard on a weather report 2 days ago that the Appalachian mountains could end up with over 50 inches of snow from Tropical Storm Sandy.
I am still doing good. I know I am still in the early healing stages and to continue to expect up and down days. I do feel a little sore in surgical site area today as I challenged different foods. example:Sausage some halloween candy bars with nuts.
Have a good Day.
Anne

Hi Anne,
I'm glad you are doing so well! Can I ask what your symptoms were before surgery?