Tips & Tricks For Surviving A Nissen Fundoplication

StorminNorman:

I think you need to relax, and let your body heal. If you're experiencing pain with whole foods, give your wrap a break and eat something that's easier to swallow and eat multiple small meals during the day. You need to make sure that you are chewing your foods to a liquid and eating more slowly. I didn't eat steak or chicken for quite a while after my surgery. It's also quite common to feel like something is stuck, that happens to almost everyone post-surgery and it gets better with time. The NF is an operation that takes a long time to recover from, you don't feel back to normal in a months time. As an FYI, I'm 15 months post-surgery and my surgeon just last week did a follow-up EGD to see how my wrap was holding up and I was not having any problems. At this point, you shouldn't feel the need to have additional testing on the wrap. You might benefit from reading other people's recovery journals on this forum, and you will find that your symptoms are similar to what a lot of people have experienced.

Sharon

Thank you so much for this. My surgery is in 2 days. I find the fact they would offer you 7 up with a straw wired because my surgeon told me that I should never have carbonated drinks or use a straw. Something to do with introducing extra air.

Thank you. It's actually a "clear liquid diet" when I'm in the hospital. Now I know broth is a possibility, I better make sure it is gluten free(I'm gluten intolerant)

That food guide for after surgery contradicts itself in the vegetable section, it has tomatoes in both the good and bad column :/ I'm assuming the best option would be to avoid tomatoes given what they do to with reflux.

-bump-

Hi Spohie!

Glad to hear your fundoplication has gone well!

It is not surprising to me that you were given poor diet advice. It has been my experience (not only my own personal, but what others have said on this forum) that the diet advice given by the hospital hasn't been the best.

No blended meat! I used a lot of yogurt and protein powder. I added protein powder to almost everything I ate for the first couple of weeks. It blends well into milkshakes and smoothies, and I even added it to very thin oatmeal. I also blended creamy tofu into milkshakes, smoothies, mashed potatoes, pureed veggies as well. I found it helped make me full and kept me satisfied for a longer period of time. You can sprinkle protein powder into almost anything and you don't really notice the flavor.

Best of luck in your continued recovery...please feel free to ask any questions you might have!

Hi, All, especially Tony, who I hope will be able to help me {as he seems to thoroughly know his stuff!}. Here's a bit of backstory;
I had my wrap done on March 10th this year- that's three and a half months ago. The first 5 weeks went really well, and I congratulated myself on my good luck. Toward the 6th week I began to experience stomach pains and
heartburn, so when my 6-week review came up with my surgeon I put these problems to him. He thought I was maybe stacking stuff up on top of the wrap. I took things more carefully and, sure enough, a couple of days later I was fine again. We made an appointment for a further review 6 weeks later. 5 weeks later my wife and I went off for a walking holiday in the west country of England. One afternoon I overdid lunch. The next day I was hit by really bad diarrhea, which lasted into the afternoon, when a couple of does of Immodium brought it under control. And since then I've gone steadily downhill. No idea whether as a result of the diarrhea or if that was a coincidental first symptom of something else. I attended my next review a week later, with further stomach pain and heartburn. My doc thought there was no real issue, but arranged a barium swallow for the next week just to satisfy us both that the wrap was still intact and in good order. So I went along and had the x-rays done the following Tuesday. The radiologist thought the wrap looked OK. So I waited while my surgeon went on holiday and for him to get back to me with his thoughts on the results. Today I've had his letter of confirmation that the wrap looks perfect. In the period between the barium swallow and receipt of his letter I've experienced the worst heartburn I've had since I don't know when. A few days on 80mg per day of Esomeprazole have brought it more or less back under control {more or less, it's still moderately uncomfortable...}. So what's going on here? If the wrap is perfect isn't it reasonable to expect not to be refluxing pretty badly? Any thoughts anyone may have would be very much welcomed. I'm seeing my doc again in a couple of weeks' time to discuss things, but that's half a lifetime away...

Thanks very much, Tony. It's almost uncanny that what you have written accords so closely with the advice given to me both verbally and in written form by my surgeon. And if that sounds like mistrust in my doc I'm giving the wrong impression. He did such a great job that I had virtually no post-op pain and my initial recovery was so good that it had, clearly, led me to a false expectation that things would always continue in that 100 positive direction. Such over confidence surely borders on hubris! The reason I'm so grateful for your words is that you've been there and he hasn't. As we both know, this condition and this procedure - taken from patient to patient - varies so widely in its expression and personal experience that a one-size-fits-all piece of advice is as rare as it is valuable. And your own words can only confirm to me that - apart from my own - I've been in pretty good hands. Your advice is sound, so it's back to soft foods only for me for a good while. Let's give my oesophagus a decent rest! Thanks once again, I'm incredibly grateful. No on with the day!

Itf56- I too bought a test sachet of huel. Tried it, gagged down about three sips and the rest went down the sink. Couldn't stand it. Have you tried it yet? Stuff is nasty.
I've gotten better with the protein intake. Started logging everything on myfitnesspal and that's helped me keep an eye on protein. Cottage cheese is quite a good source and I'm now able to eat quorn mince so that's helping.

Hello, I am new to this site. Great resource as my surgeon gave me very little instructions except a paper handout. the handout has you advance your diet every 3 days. I found this very confusing since many web sites went as far out as 2 weeks clear liquids. I am now day 9 and have had clear liquids and this am tried very thin cream of wheat which went well. My only concern is that 2 days post op I was burping and concerned that wrap had slipped. I went to the ER and they did an upper GI and reassured me everything was ok. I have continued to burp but I also am a gulper when I drink and wonder if this contributes to this. The on call surgeon shared with me that I wasn't burping as this was from the stomach but just regurgitation from "the wisp" where liquids were pooling. Has anyone else ever had this concern and been a "gulper"? Also has anyone else experienced that hight protein clear liquids such as Isopure are hard to digest and is that normal? Any thoughts would be appreciated.