If I may, please allow me to share my story to date.... as I'm a nervous wreck at the moment. 1 more sleep and it's all gonna happen. No turning back. Ouch!
I was OK, before I started talking to a friend last week, who's recently had his gallbladder removed. All went well for his procedure and he said that he's even watched a video of his procedure on YouTube before his op. I then, somehow, remembered this on Sunday night, and started Googling. Bad move?
I have now seen a few fundoplication videos, which has cascaded into reading online forum posts. Oh nooooooo.....
That's when I started panicking inside. Shouldn't have done it, people around me have said.
Damage has been done and to counter it, instead of looking for post-op issues, I started looking for success stories, as I definitely need to calm myself down -- big time.
It has helped in a way and the success stories threads have been really helpful. Thanks, guys!
I also called my GI and he's assured me that it'll be fine and that the surgeon [whom he recommended] performing the procedure is very good and experienced.
He's also reiterated that based on the issues that I've had in the last couple of years [gastritis (2x), oesophagitis, severe reflux, chest pains] and tests that I've gone through [endoscopy, manometry and 24-hr pH monitoring] that this is the way to go.
Although my manometry result was normal and that the endoscopy didn't reveal much except for the gastritis and esophagitis [which were very painful, BTW] that he saw in August of this year, the 24-hr pH monitoring has shown a DeMeester score of 215.3 [not a typo -- very high indeed] and a total reflux time of > 53% [yes, I had reflux for 12 hours]. The bulk of that total reflux time was when I was asleep where, according to him, my esophagus was literally bathed in acid. Imagine how I'd feel each morning if I didn't have any med the night before, even with the help of a wedge pillow [that I've had for at least a year and a half now].
Although Nexium in the morning and Tazac before sleeping have helped in getting rid of the pain, his advise is to have the fundoplication surgery so as to eliminate the reliance on the meds. He did say that better off for me to be off meds while I'm still "young" [well, 45 is indeed still young
] and that I will have plenty of time for a few maintenance meds later on in life [as most, if not all, of us will go through]. So, for now, he said to talk to the surgeon about
the fundoplication surgery as an option.
Having endured much pain in the esophagus, stomach lining and chest areas on and off in the past 2 and so years [also affected my teeth], including spitting blood if I've eaten something my body has now rejected [chocolate], I went for his recommendation.
I found the surgeon to be very calm and confident when I was talking to him, and hoping that he'll be the same during the procedure.
Well, my GI has recommended him quite highly and my research on him has returned very positive results.
Surgeon had a look at the test results and he said he knows my GI quite well and that if he's recommended fundoplication, knowing how thorough my GI is, then there really isn't much to discuss apart from myself being prepared to undergo the procedure.
Of course I still asked the usual questions [even any fatality incident -- where luckily is zilch to date! Whew!
] and so, the op has now been booked.
Only thing that my GI did warn me against is losing too much weight. I'm 5'9" and slim [74 kgs / 162 lbs] and never been overweight [gaining weight has always been a problem of mine]. I guess I've never been a huge eater and used to smaller meals and I look after myself by going to the gym twice a week and playing basketball on weekends. Hence, one of the struggles, post-op, is going to be weight.
Being of Asian background, where rice is our staple food, looks like congee will be a regular meal for the next few weeks, post-op.
Nothing fat-free for the next few weeks, or up until I can go back to normal eating, so as not to lose too much weight.
Probably protein shakes as well to go with that so that protein, carbs and calories are taken care of.
I think that I've seen some posts re multivitamins [even chewables] are a no-no for the first week or 2?
I guess I've seen quite a few posts re food and drink suggestions that my mind's spinning at the moment as to which ones to try. I guess I'll find out more post-op.
Darn, really nervous. But it is time to tackle this issue now before it causes more problems.
God bless