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Just had my Nissen

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GERD & Acid Reflux
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Posted 12/21/2017 12:49 PM (GMT 0)
Had surgery yesterday. Today is recovery day 1.
Already able to tolerate pudding so that's awesome.
Pain from the gas in my chest and the breathing tube are the worst part so far.
Should be going home this afternoon.
So far so good!!
Posted 12/21/2017 6:49 PM (GMT 0)
Good for you! Hope your recovery goes well.
Posted 12/21/2017 7:37 PM (GMT 0)
Getting discharged now. Just waiting on the scripts to come up from the pharmacy and I can get our of here.
I will be updating this thread with the whole story as I can
Posted 12/22/2017 10:20 AM (GMT 0)
Recovery day 2 started with a nice long shower. Obviously still taking the pain meds.
Ricola Honey/Lemon are my best friends for the sore throat.
Dinner last night was mashed potatoes (instant) and applesauce. All was well but I really need to learn to slow down a lot.

That's it for now.
Posted 12/22/2017 5:22 PM (GMT 0)
Welcome to the wrapped club. Sounds like your starting your recovery well.
-Mark
Posted 12/22/2017 6:56 PM (GMT 0)
MJZ:

Congratulations. But you are right, you really need to slow things down - it's a huge benefit in the long run.

Sharon
Posted 12/22/2017 7:38 PM (GMT 0)
So a couple additional points halfway through day 2...
Finally passed some gas, that was a huge relief even though I seem to be able to let out very small burps on occasion.
The little gurgle I get about 10 seconds after swallowing makes laugh.
Shoulder pain is dissipating rather quickly, likely due to lots of walking which I started as soon as I could get up after surgery.
The soreness in my throat from the breathing tube is easing up substantially thank goodness. Although the Ricola lozenges are wonderful.

I think that's it so far. I will check in again when I have something to share ;)
Posted 12/23/2017 2:53 PM (GMT 0)
Well, here comes the gas!
LOL. No movement yet but this morning I am having some serious bloating and passing it rather easily.

0 Pantaprazole since surgery and 0 reflux thus far!
I'll be trying something soft today. Probably fish.

Oh, I can't sleep more than 60-90 minutes at a time. I think I'm trying to switch position and the pain wakes me up. It's annoying! I need more sleep.
Posted 12/24/2017 4:16 PM (GMT 0)
4 days post-op.
I'm feeling far better than I thought I would at this point.
I finally slept through the night (kinda) Midnight-5am then was able to sleep again from 6am-8:30am.
Started on soft foods yesterday. Fish was great. Was nice to have real food for a change.
Learning to eat again, trying my best to be disciplined and always taking smaller bites than I'm used to. Chewing thoroughly and then pausing after the swallow. I've never been one to have patience with my meals so forcing myself to put down my fork after each bite is a challenge.
If things continue to progress nicely I plan on cutting off the narcos tomorrow and switching to Motrin.

Also considering some fresh squeezed orange juice for the first time in ages....
Posted 12/27/2017 7:35 PM (GMT 0)
Surgery was one week ago.
In some ways it's amazing to think it's been a full week and in other ways I'm struggling to believe it's only been a week!

I'm feeling much better now that I picked up some Colace. Things just hadn't started working in my bowels and it was extremely painful. So took my first Colace last night and this morning was a bit of a relief.
My stomach still isn't telling my brain when I'm hungry, so eating is a challenge. My brain will say 'hey, you haven't eaten in a while.. wanna get something in your tummy?" The challenge here is that my stomach also isn't giving me any hints when it's filling up.. so that's a challenge to manage.
And when I say "Eating" I mean mostly a full liquid diet mixed with the occasional soft foods.
This morning was 7 days with no PPI's and no symptoms... so I decided to take a chance and try some OJ! I bought a single serving size bottle of fresh squeeze and... my tummy rumbled a tiny bit but no pain. No reflux!! I'm incredibly happy about that! It's been over 20 years since I had OJ without any issues! I always had to decide if drinking a glass of OJ would be worth the pain. No more!!
Let's see.. what else. Oh, I've reduced my pain meds. Stopped the Oxy and continuing on with the Tramadol for another day or two. Will see how I feel in tomorrow morning but Friday is my limit for that. I have Motrin that I'm going to transition over to for any remaining pain management.
Incisions are healing.. a couple of them are still bruised but the rest are looking good.
I can let out little burps occasionally. When I feel the pressure in my chest I just lower my chin a little and then there is like a little double clutch in my throat and a very small burp will come up. It's not huge but it is definite relief of pressure.
Left shoulder pain when I take in too much liquid.. very typical from what I've read on here but I'm going to bring it up to my surgeon on the 9th when I see him for the post-op follow up.

I want to thank everyone here for all the encouragement and hope I have gotten from you all.

Next entry.. when I have something to share ;)
Posted 1/4/2018 12:25 PM (GMT 0)
15 days post-op:

Nothing major to report.
I went back to work on schedule this past Tuesday. No issues there.
Eating is a struggle. Not because of any issues with swallowing, it's just learning to slow down so much and trying to remember to take small bites. If I take a bite that is too big or don't wait long enough between bites there is some significant pain/discomfort and I really have to wait before resuming eating. I'll get it figured out eventually.
My first real 'meal' was Tuesday night. Prior to this I had had soft foods as snacks but never really wen't for a meal. I had a bowl of penne pasta with some small meatballs. It was wonderful to get something substantial in my system finally. I'm not ready to fully go to softs for every meal but it was great to know I'm getting there, even if slowly.

I guess the other bit of news through this is that I seem to be one of the lucky ones. I can actually burp when necessary and it doesn't hurt. So I don't really get any bloating or extreme gas because if I feel I need to let out a little burp I can.

15 days - 0 meds - 0 reflux symptoms.
I could not be happier.
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