3 days post TIF surgery

Hello All,
Just want to share my experience because i used this forum alot prior to my surgery
and the decision to undergo surgery.

I went with a dr in the bay area, CA. he's one of two in Northern CA that does TIF.
I went in on Tuesday morning and was discharge from the hospital the next day.
The procedure was about 1:30 or less. I was able to release gas via small burps and the other side =).
but i have to admit, burps thru your mouth, you do get this stomach spasm that occurs.

i am on full liquid diet, and my doctor said i should be able to eat soft food after a week of liquid and then resume normal diet, but again he said listen to your body.

he prescribe liquid vicodin for pain and sucralfate. i have been taking sucralfate as directed, but have not touch my liquid painkiller simply because i havent felt any pain. i am able to walk around alot, sometime its tiring, but then again, i just had surgery, so maybe i should ease up.

overall i am doing good. will keep updating this post.

nellie
is your dr, dr. wetter?

Hi joedirt25,
Our surgeon is Dr. Starpoli at Lennox Hill Hospital inNYC. I am glad to know about the carafate..is it the liquid? Metamucil or Miralax stirred into liquids works pretty well after surgery for the constipation. Continue to be well!Thanks for the info.

just had my follow up visit with my surgeon this morning.
He said i can now go on a soft food diet for 2 weeks and then solid food after that.
everything is great. he said just chew well with mouth close so not to gulp in too much air and he showed me a picture of my LES prior to surgery and told me how he fixed it.

i didnt ask him that question, maybe down the road i will =)
i think it all depends on how you eat and stuff.
i remember before, i wouldnt chew my food much and gulp food down with a quickness.
i was always the first to finish my food, and i ate alot too.
going forward, im going to take my time, chew well, and not go overboard everything.
my dr did say occassionally i will get heart burn from binge eating or spicy food or what not but dont be afraid, just normal reflux like anyone without GERD gets as well.
take zantac or tums and relax.

hi andy
so far so good with the TIF surgery.
before the surgery, the dr had a long discussion with me about the percentage of TIF working vs. lapo nissen wrap.
to rewind, i had chronic burping and heartburn, i truly felt that my GERD contributed to my panic attacks which developed to panic disorder and anxiety. of course, my psycharisty(sp) said it can be that and or its in my DNA. i know my father is anxious from time to time, but never has he had a full blown panic attack out of the blue like i did. because if i recall prior to having that panic attack, i was burping alot during my drive home from work.


before the surgery, i took every single medicine out there, but none offered any relief. the only med that actually worked was h2 blocker zantac.
i was prescribe nexium, prevacid, priolsec, and dexilant 60mg and none worked. i went to 3 different Gastro Dr. and all couldnt believe that none of the PPI were working.

so back to my surgeon who did the TIF. after several tests, PH bravo, the noodle thru the nose test and endoscopy, he said my LES is not working properly. its not tight.
When i went to see him last week, he showed me a picture he took and said opening of my stomach and espoghus did not wrap around the endoscope like normal non GERD people and that was why i was having reflux and he tighten it up with the TIF procedure.

im really glad i took the plunge and went thru this procedure. i took this over the LINX because of the reported problems people were having with difficulty swallowing after 4 weeks.
my surgeon did warn me that i will have occassion heartburn non GERD people, its normal to have and dont be afraid. he also reminded me that TIF is a 70-80% solution to GERD and it will not bring me back to 100% cure.
i told him i can live with that percentage.

I think people who get TIF and think it will cure them 100% and return them back to the way they were before need to understand that nothing will ever get them back to 100%, but if they can live with TIF working at 70 or 80 percent then they will be happy like me.

JoeDirt -- it has been years so not sure you will even read this but I am hoping that you could provide an update to your TIF. I am having mine in 2 days time along with a laproscopic hiatal hernia repair.

Aggie five, how are you doing? It seems we had the same surgeries on the same day. Just wondering how your recovering? How is food going down? I have slowly added a little more solid foods but i feel like it wont go down. Curious on your experience.