My Nissen Journey- Surgery Friday August 9th 2013

How long did it take for you to be able to eat soft warm chocolate chip cookies?

I ate a salad and it was so good the other day.
It was a salad from Bravo, an italian restaurant and it had some darker greens like arugula in it along with spiced pecans and apples and some sundried tomato. I ate around the romaine since romaine and iceberg seem to bother me more than anything. Did not seem to bother me much.
I also had two glasses of pino grigio at dinner last night and it did not bother me either.

I did catch myself drinking from a straw while eating out earlier and after talking about it with my boyfriend he told me that I would complain about my stomach whenever I would drink from straws, so I am cutting those out again and continuing to stay away from beer and fizzy stuff because I don't think i am ready for that.

I got another torridol shot from the neuro. That is just an anti-inflammatory and it seemed to make a difference in some of my rib incision pain that is lingering around. I think the sinus infection, falling, and general over exertion aggravated my surgical site and I am trying to take er easy until I am better. I still dont feel like it is anything I need to address with the surgeon, and honestly the pain is kind of under where my bra rubs, so I think that is just aggravating it even more. Maybe I will switch over to sports bras again for a bit. Ah the joys of being a woman.

Today is the worst I have felt in awhile.
I woke up with a watery gross feeling in my stomach and esophagus. I thought it might have been just because I needed to eat, so I had some eggs and coffee and took a xantac.
I got to work and felt like I was going to throw up. Luckily I have zofran disolvables with me at all times so I grabbed some cool water and took 8mg Zofran.
I might have some gross bug so I think i am going to keep taking the Zofran today even though I don't care for its side effects. I left all my phenergan at home, but I thik the Zofran works better and faster, its also not a pill.

So, I have like, 9 days left in my 20s. Ill be 30 on the 10th and it will also mark my four month Nissen anniversary. Even though I kind of feel like crap and am still in the healing stages I would totally do it all over again. I was regurgitating everything pre-surgery and I would never want to go back to that and the lung problems and the sore throats and the throwing up all the time.

I still have a little pain in my rib area. I am not sure if its because I had an exceptionally large internal incision, or I am really sensitive there or how I am moving, but it stings and aches sometimes still.

I am really hoping that my nausea does not get worse. I am most terrified of throwing up. That is my biggest fear....ruining my wrap and having to have this all done over again. I think we all who have had the nissen fear that, that our wraps will stop working, or break or fail and we will have to go back to living the way we did before, or have to go through the healing process from surgery all over again. Its scary to have your body so permanently changed, even though its for our benefit. It is hard to find comfort from that anxiety sometimes.

Thank you!
I really try in my posts to be realistic about the recovery, but still express how much the surgery has helped me. If that is able to help anyone else get through it, then I can feel good about sticking around here and trying to give back.

The zofran really worked for me. I just got a bout of the sneezes, I think I might just be getting sick again, which will suck! I just had a sinus infection! I usually stay sick from October to December though. I work with a lot of women who have small children in an office with poor ventilation and air flow. We just spread the sickness around and stay that way most of the season.

Thanks Denise! You are too sweet.
I always take for granted how great my lungs feel after the surgery. I guess I always thought it was allergies or something. nope, reflux! I plan on taking it EASY this weekend.
I hope you have a great one.

I'm taking an herb to boost immunity. It's called Astragalus. It gets excellent reviews. I'm hoping it helps.

That's a drag you you have had bouts of illness more than once since your surgery. I have my anti-nausea meds handy, but so far have not had a need. It's been close, but deep breathing has helped me past the nausea.

Please let me know when you can drink beer, again!

Thank you Kitt :)

Laurie- I hate taking the zofran. I hate having to take it, It works so well but man I am constipated for days even taking laxatives and senna and all that stuff.
I didnt get full blown sick though. Just enough to make me feel a little under the weather.

My left side rib is still nagging at me. I am almost wondering if I am sleeping on it funny or something. It just feels like a pulled or torn muscle. It could be how I am sitting too at the computer and my desk. If it keeps up any longer I might actually have to give it some serious attention or call the surgeon. It just kind of hurts though, not enough to alarm me or even take anything for it.

Oh yeah, I totally forgot to mention this, but I just got my hair done and was talking to my friend who does it and we were talking about how thin my hair seemed.
She showed me an article the owner of the salon sent out about how bariatric surgeries, and surgery in general can cause hair loss.
I already have thin fragile hair and I can really tell that surgery took its toll on my hair. Did anyone else experience this?

Almost feel like I am ready for beer. Had an interesting night drinking white wine for an early birthday dinner. Felt that stomach squeeze like I needed to burp and actually did. The most burp since surgery. A nice reflux free burp too. I didn't know I was capable of this. Pretty cool! It didn't even freak me out. Maybe because I was drinking wine too but it didn't feel abnormal at all.

I looked in the mirror the other day and was wondering if I was seeing some thinning of my hair towards the front. I'm not sure if its too early for these kinds of things to happen after a surgery, but I really did notice it.

I appreciate your posts, I thought your situation was most similar to mine, so I thought your experiences would be the most relevant to what I might experience. Please don't stop posting in your nissen journal! Also, thank you for your support after my surgery. I really appreciate it a lot.. You were one of the people that made me feel better about having the surgery, and boy am I glad I did it! The recovery part sucks though. I think its worth it. It's a totally different experience not having any feeling of acid in the back of my throat. That's wonderful.

I can burp pretty easily, hopefully that's not a bad sign. Or maybe I should just feel lucky? From what I've been reading on everyone's posts, I don't think anyone really knows. Its the same concern you have, not knowing how well it was done, and how long it will last. We can't control it at all other than taking good care of our selves and making good choices about how we eat.

Post Edited (Diaas2) : 11/4/2013 5:52:01 AM (GMT-7)

Alright, The pain in my rib is enough to make me want to call my surgeon. I can not tell if it is my stomach, diaphram, muscle or whatever. The swelling is down a bit since I have been sleeping in the recliner and not moving around much.

I will update after I hear from the surgeon.

The nurse returned my call. She said that my surgeon thinks that my sinus infection and the coughing and sneezing and stuff just gave me a bad case of inflammation, which I am really prone too anyway.
I am to start taking my ibuprofen again round the clock and call back if it has not subsided in a week.

Good enough I guess :) I will continue to update like always

That's good!