My Nissen Wrap

Hi everyone! Three weeks ago I had my Nissen full wrap. I have had reflux for about 30 years, and the last several years have had a chronic cough that docs attributed to reflux/esophageal reflux as well as a postnasal drip issue. I have a history of Barrett's, first discovered about 8 years ago, and also of stomach ulcers and a sliding hiatal hernia. I've been on lots of meds, and was up to two Nexiums a day with no relief. Sleeping for the last several years has been a nightmare, having to make a 'mountain' of pillows each night to keep from choking/gagging (which has been hell on my back, since I couldn't sleep on my back-sleep apnea). I had never heard of this procedure until my allergy/asthma doc mentioned it. My biggest fear going in to surgery was having to cough and not being able to, since I've been coughing up phlegm almost daily for months and gagging when I couldn't cough hard. I did have to cough pretty hard about 3 days after surgery and was afraid I might have undone my stitches inside, but they seem to have held. Here's how my recovery has been so far. Coming out of surgery I was rather surprised to discover I did not have a catheter. Needless to say, pumping an IV in for two days in the hospital I got plenty of exercise as I had to pee just about every hour. The pain wasn't too bad. I had a total knee replacement in March, so compared to that, not so bad! I had help for about 3 days at home, then my husband had to go back to work. I stayed home and mostly drank liquids. My surgeon said he didn't care what I consumed, as long as it was pureed. Mostly I have been drinking protein drinks and eating pudding. I really wasn't too hungry. I was worried at first because it felt like I had heartburn (aack!) but I think now it was just all the air they pump in. The air - my goodness! I have never tooted so much in my life! Of my five incisions, the two farthest out on the sides healed pretty quickly. My lower ones, in the abdomen, have been 'unhappy', partly I think because of clothing rubbing on them. Bandages just irritated my skin, so they have been a little slow to heal. Also, the abdominal incisions still hurt quite a bit because the muscle is still healing inside. At my two-week checkup the doc said all looked well, and I could start trying to eat some solids. I read a lot of posts on this prior, so I knew some of the difficulties with beginning to eat again. I do eat soups, and have been able to eat a half a piece of bread, but not a lot yet. If I take too big a bite, or worse yet too big a gulp of a drink, it feels like a knife in my stomach. I am sure this is because of the swelling and tightness. Here's the best news - I have been able to lower the pillow 'mountain' and at times have slept almost flat! Yay! My surgeon said to continue Nexium for a while, but the truth is I've forgotten several times and didn't notice a problem. I am hoping that I will be able to do yoga again (bending over always brought up food, so no downward dog). Even gardening was difficult since any bending always seemed to bring up something. I've also noticed a lot less nausea after the first week (meds did cause some). It still feels like I have a way to go, but so far I have been very happy with this surgery. I wish I had heard of this sooner

Nissen fundoplication
GERD
Hiatal hernia
Barrett's esophagus

Eating slowly is right! Yesterday it took me three hours to eat one package of Cream of Wheat! I've eaten a few other more solid foods, but very very little, and chew, chew chew. Reading a number of these posts on here really helped prepare me. It seems, though, that the time period for people to start eating 'regular' food really varies. I can't seem to determine what would be an average time before I can expect to be eating normally again.