My Post NF Experience Day 6 and Later

I feel really good today! The pain is tolerable, I took no pain meds yesterday so Im hoping that means thats over! Yea! I am eating a half a cup or so of soft foods about 5 times a day. Plus drinking as much water as I can. I have energy. I am only have reflux about once a day, most of the time my mouth and tongue are not burning! I am so happy about that.
The only bad thing that I am working to let go of is one of the nurses at VIRGINIA Mason in Seattle. She was so nasty and condescending to me. I finally told her to stop talking to me in such a rude way. She treated me like some confused little old lady, she even asked mw what day it is, and threatened me several times with a bed alarm. The nurse tech would tell me to get up and walk then the nurse would come in and threaten me! I wanted to tell her that I have a Masters degree and work full time and am actually quite capable. I just feel so annoyed. She eventually apologized. Just because i am 65 that doesnt make me confused!

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Post Edited By Moderator (dencha) : 5/13/2013 5:47:22 AM (GMT-6)

Hi gtnbtr,

Glad to hear you're doing well!  That nurse sounds horrible.  Linda is right...many of the nursing staff in the hospital aren't familiar with the do's and don'ts of Nissen recovery. If it's bothering you, why not call the hospital and report your experience.  Hospitals are very competitive for patients now, and a poor experience with a nurse reflects badly on the entire hospital.  You might be able to help another Nissen patient by setting that nurse straight.

Be sure to compliment the nursing staff that were helpful and kind to you.  That's what I'd do...give them a call and get it off your chest.  If you call, they're sure to know that many other people have felt the same way, but not bothered to make the call.  You're doing the hospital a favor.

Just my opinion!

Happy healing!

Denise

I am Post NF 8.5 weeks and (post) your age group--73. I had reason to believe that the entire staff except for the surgeon was totally ignorant of the NF requirements. In fact, one of the reasons that I joined this group was serious misgivings about the entire procedure. My procedure was done in a military hospital. Two weeks prior to surgery I had to do the pre-admission check-in. All of the personnel were very nice and polite but they seemed to have never heard about Nissen Fundoplication. At the surgical clinic the nurse went through the paperwork and directed me to the various offices where I had the check in or sign papers. She couldn't answer one of my basic questions about whether a bowel prep was necessary prior to surgery. At every office it seemed that they thought i was checking in for minor surgery.
When I actually got to the the admissions office where they did an interview and a minor physical, the admissions anesthesiologist had never heard of the operation nor had the admissions nurse. I knew the surgeon was very experienced but if there were any post surgical problems, who would be there to deal with them? And afterwards if it was necesaary to go to the emergency room would anybody who had any knowledge of NF. So I really considered canceling my surgery. In fact, I went to the surgeon and asked him if he could just repair the Hiatal Hernia and cancel the NF part. He said no but assured me that everything would be well.
Surgery did go perfectly but as soon as I woke up in my room afterward I knew that nurses didn't know what had been done--minor things like an iced drink with a straw, cold fruit juice, etc. I knew that I had to supervise my care based upon the knowledge I gained here in HealingWell and my FaceBook support groups. All the staff was very cooperative and caring, but their system they had was based upon standard, institutionalized guidelines and not for an "exotic" type operation. I am very happy with the results. I am recovering far faster than I expected but I went into the hospital with a fatalistic mindset.

Hope the gas gets better for you......Thanks for the reply