Nissen Fundoplication - My Story - Pre and Post-Operative Narrative

Sounds good Matt!

Does liquid include puree? You can puree must about anything by taking a small bite and chewing it long enough. All the surgeons are different with their recommendations.

I don't know if people that had poor motility are required to stay on liquid longer than those that don't. I went home from the hospital eating mashed potatoes and anything I could chew to liquid.

Days Seven and Eight

Just a quick update because I was out of town for a couple of days.

I appear to be on the road to recovery and I'm pleased with how quickly my body appears to be healing from my wrap.

My wife told me that the surgeon informed her that he had performed a 'loose wrap' on me.

One of my worst symptoms from the LPR was constant throat clearing - I would say that over 95% of the mucus that I was dealing with before has been eliminated. I am no longer constantly clearing my throat which, for me, tells me that the wrap must be doing what it was designed to do - prevent acid, bile, and other gastric contents from making their way to my throat and further upwards into my sinuses.

I had a sore throat for about four days but that has subsided considerably.

While I was out-of-town with my family, I actually ate some popcorn (I know that it is a big 'no-no'). I must have chewed every mouthful about 20-30 times until it was complete mush and I had no problems swallowing or keeping it down

So, I got brave and decided to 'progress' onto scrambled eggs and a mashed sweet potato. Big mistake - while it went down great, I had a tremendous amount of bloating and gas and had to lay down for an hour. Gas-X has been my friend since the surgery - I have so much flatulence that it is embarrasing - I hope that this settles down before I return to work on 11.4.13.

I am also burping quite a bit which surprises me. This has helped to reduce the amount of bloating that I believe many people still experience after a Nissen Fundoplication.

One of the 'downsides' of anesthesia is constipation which is something that I was totally unprepared for. The nurses kept putting medicine in my IV for constipation and I even had one suppository while I was there and I thought it was really dumb to be offering this to me - little did I know!

I've been adding ground flax seed to my yogurt, taking stool softeners, and I even added something called 'diatomaceous earth' to my yogurt yesterday to help 'get things moving'.

My voice is not strong right now which I believe frustrates my wife somewhat - the LPR really irritated my vocal cords and throat to such an extent that I have avoided talking whenever possible. Hopefully, my voice will improve over time. Not having all of that mucous in my throat is a good start, though.

I am not taking any medications right such as pain killers or PPI's. In fact, I stopped taking PPI's several months ago after I learned that my LES was completely incompetent. My primary care physician told me that there was no 'discernable' pressure reading from my LES. It basically just stayed 'flopped open'.

I have been craving baked potatoes, so I believe that I am going to incorporate these into my diet this week being very careful to chew everything very carefully.

My 85 year old aunt told me that most people don't chew their food properly. She is a major health food person and she is in excellent health for someone her age. She encouraged me not to drink water or other liquids with my meals because that inhibited the activation of food enzymes in the mouth and in the stomach. Her advice mirror what I have read about people who have had the NF procedure - drinking lots of fluids with your meals can cause your stomach to expand which is not a good thing for your wrap.


All in all, I am very happy that I had this procedure and I am so glad that I found this website. Frankly, I had read so many 'horror' stories that I was quite apprehensive until I came across this site and read about others who had had positive experiences.

I do believe that I am on the road to recovery....

Matt

Day 12

My recovery continues to go very well. No pain to speak of and I have been going out for walks and even cleaned the house today.

Last night, I decided to cook some salmon for dinner and cut it into small pieces. BIG mistake: the first couple of bites went down fine, but not the next two. I ended up choking on my food and had severe pain in my back.

So, I went back to a mixture of liquid/soft foods for the rest of this week. I guess I became too confident and pushed things too much.

I go back to work next week and have an appointment to see my surgeon then, too.

Bowel movements have completely returned to normal and I don't have a lot of gas. I am burping on a regular basis which I see as a good thing.

Things are going well.

Matt

You sound good!
We have to remind ourselves to put down the fork, chew thoroughly, wait for it to go down, then on to the next bite. It's so easy to forget, especially when something tastes so good, or we forget because we get distracted.

I burp fine, too. But, I have a lot of excess gas that I'm not liking, but no choice in the matter.

Yeah, the gas isnt fun, but its better than the reflux/regurgitation before surgery. I think that is something the majority of us agree on. I think most people find it gets better as time goes on as well.

I get that gurgling too. sometimes I think mine is just air trapped way down in my esophagus and sometimes, when my stomach is empty I think it vents a bit, but its always just a tiny pop pop of air, nothing big.
its not a bad thing to be able to burp a bit. the surgery takes us back to normal amounts of reflux and being able to burp helps with the bloats, which are the worst. blah!

You get some weird uneven swelling during your stage in healing as well and sometimes that can allow stuff to come up, or get stuck and not go down all the way. Lots of weird things happen in the first few months. :) Hang in there.
I was depressed I did not lose any weight when I had my surgery, but I had lost so much in the month or so before it from being so sick I guess I did not have anything left to lose.

You should be pretty well off by thanksgiving! there are a lot of Tgiving foods that are easy on the stomach and wrap, just watch how much you eat!

Hey Matt,
I went to my Ent yesterday and he looked at my vocal chords. It was the first time in a year and a half he said they were not red. I'm sure yours are the same. My voice is still weak. He told me that is because of the sinus infection I got. He said my chords were swollen but not red. That's a plus. He said our immune system is weakened and our bodies are used to making mucas. He gave me a steroid and it's helped a lot. Today I felt much better. You might ask about that. I have gotten a few things stuck, I think it's normal at this point. I have a little stomach burning time to time but that's about all. Glad your
Recovery is going well. As my doctor told me the other day... Patience will pay off in the end with recovery.

I'm glad things are going well!
It's so hard to eat out, especially with friends. It is so easy to get distracted and forget about our new way of eating: small bites, chew, chew, chew - pause for it to go down, and repeat