Hello Everyone,
I've had a few people contact me off-list recently about
their experiences with the Nissen Fundoplication procedure and how I managed to survive and live-to-tell about
it. I thought I would post those here as well for those getting ready to have the surgery. I welcome comments and thoughts, if you care to share them.
1. Do prepare well in advance.
2. Do your research and have a good understanding of the journey you are about
to embark on. This is major thoracic surgery and should not be construed as anything other than major surgery. If your surgeon is trying to convince you otherwise, find a new surgeon.
3. Your surgery will last between 3-5 hours. Expect to be intubated and to have a urinary catheter placed.
4. You will feel crappy and be in pain after surgery. There's no other way to put it. Ask your surgeon, in advance, about
Patient Controlled Analgesia (PCA) while you're in the hospital (see point 1 above). If it's available, take it.
5. Plan on staying at least one night in the hospital.
6. Your belly will be filled with carbon dioxide during surgery. Sometimes, this causes pain in the shoulders and neck after surgery. Getting up and walking will help eliminate that gas pain, as well as the swelling in your belly. Start off with short walks, and increase as you can tolerate.
7. You will be on a liquid diet in the hospital. They will give you a Sprite/7-UP and a straw. Politely decline it. They have no idea what you've been through, so just put it aside and drink the broth and eat the jello.
8. Stay hydrated. Oddly, to eliminate swelling and pain, you need to drink. The more you make your kidneys and heart work, the faster you'll eliminate the excess fluid in your body.
9. You must eat! I know, you just had surgery on your stomach/esophagus. Regardless, you have to eat to have the appropriate nutrition to allow your body to heal. If you don't eat, your healing will be delayed.
10. When you eat, you must eat the right things. You will NOT be able to eat a steak or chew on a loaf of bread out of surgery. Please don't try. One of the biggest causes of delayed healing and problems you'll see on this forum is because people advanced their diets too quickly. Soft food that doesn't require a lot of chewing should be the go-to for the first several weeks post-surgery. Consider yourself warned.
11. You will have both good and bad days. Accept that fact and you'll be much better off than the person thinking they're going to be back to 100% a week after having their digestive anatomy realigned.
12. Have a pillow handy at all times. You never know when a sneeze or cough will strike. Having a pillow to squeeze against your belly when this happens will significantly reduce that pain.
13. Sleeping on your right side will be easier than your left side for the first week or so.
14. See #1.
15. Ask your surgeon for all your post-surgery medicines to be in liquid form. There's nothing worse than the feeling of a pill getting stuck in your throat when you're in pain. If he/she says they aren't available, they're lying.
16. You will likely not be able to burp after having this procedure done. This will cause you to have uncomfortable bloating at times. At this point gas only has one way out. And it will happen a lot. If you're lucky, it won't be noisy. As you re-learn to eat (yes, you will have to), you won't be as bloated. You might even get the ability to let out a small burp a year or so down the line.
17. Above all, relax and give yourself time to heal and recover. Don't rush it or you'll be in more pain than you need to be.
And finally,
18. See #1
I hope this has been helpful! Feel free to add any of your own tips & tricks in the comments!!
Be well and take care,
-TonyG-
Added breaks for easier reading 
Post Edited By Moderator (dencha) : 3/5/2015 8:30:57 PM (GMT-7)