scheduled for a Nissan & Im scared.

My email is

Please post your email in your profile as this forum is open to the public and to protect your privacy only members can red your profile.

I am so sorry you are frightened and I understand, you have a right to be but remember to try to stay out of the anticipatory anxiety circuit.

Bless you
Kitt

Post Edited By Moderator (stkitt) : 3/10/2009 1:18:20 PM (GMT-6)

now , i work in an office .I have my own however,i wudnt want to blow them out the waters with the booku farting. lol. Ive had esph stricture where i needed dilation.i almost choked to death (in my mind) several times. I ran 4 water now im wondering will the water help slide it down or does it get stuck.becuz if it gets sturck its gonna be a wraps rap!! I will have a seizure. I have seizures and if i start chokin an cannot relieve it i will definately scare myself in2 a seizure. Ive never ever ever had chest pains or heart burn.so i do not wanna start now.How much weight did ya lose. my email is [email protected]

Dear Bea, everyone is different and everyone's recovery is different. Some people can burp, other may not; however I don't think anyone has said that they can carry on a conversation speaking solely in burps..I think you may want to count that one out.

Some people have been out of the hospital the next day, some longer; it depends on many factors and there is no hard and fast rule. It seems that the younger you are, the smoother and shorter your recovery may be. Everyone has post-surgical swelling; for some it comes and goes quickly, others seem to take longer. There may be times when food doesn't want to go down and you end up yacking it up like a hairball. There's no need to work yourself up into having a seizure over it, it's just your body getting rid of something the fastest way it can. A good analogy is when you try to put coins into a coin sleeve and one of them goes down sideways; the rest of them can't fall into place because of the sideways one. You have to empty out the sleeve and start again; the same with the food, you have to get rid of the food that doesn't want to go down and start again.

Some people have tremendous heartburn and chest pain, others not so much. My symptoms were more atypical; I had heartburn, but my biggest problem was pulmonary. Fortunately the surgery has taken care of this problem and has stopped any further damage.

The fear of surgery is very common and natural. Most people lose weight, I lost 10 pounds afterwards. Most people do not have the ability to vomit after the surgery and the burping thing may be a habit that you have to break yourself of. There are different types of burping, the type that occurs naturally with gas escaping from your stomach, and the type that you can create by swallowing air. You will be able to continue burping the second way, by swallowing air and forcing it back up, but I've been told that it could cause damage and should be avoided.

Almost everyone has shoulder pain after the surgery, this is caused by the gas that is used to expand your abdomen; walking and gas-x have helped people the most with this as well as a really good heating pad. As far as whether you will have ailments or symptoms after the surgery is not something that anyone can tell you.

I wish you luck!
Janice

I had the surgery the end of December 2008. I also had a hiatal hernia the doc said he could put his whole fist through. No wonder I was miserable. Anyway after procedure I had slight pain on top of my shoulders when I would take a deep breath, other than that I was great. They made me stay overnight which in my case I don't think was necessary. Went home the next day, and the following day I went back to work. I would have liked to have taken off, but my husband was down with a bad back and couldn't walk, so I didn't have much of a choice. Sitting mostly job. You HAVE to learn to EAT SLOW. This is my biggest problem. I am a nurse and own a daycare, so I am constantly rushed. I had to learn to also drink lots of water while I eat to help the food go down. Singing in church really wore me out in the beginning. I ride road and mountain bikes. Two weeks after procedure I got on my road bike and did about 8 miles. The next week I got on my mountain bike and rode 12 miles. By 4 weeks I was back to normal on both bikes. Almost three months later I am doing BETTER than I was doing a month before the surgery. I do unfortunately have to avoid items that will cause gas because it literally makes me miserable. My bowels are not the same either but I am hoping that will get better with time. As far as pretest, the tube down the nose (manometer) was horrible, but necessary. It was just scary because it was reminding me of food getting stuck in my throat (which was what made me finally go see the doctor). Anyway, overall I am very happy I had the procedure, life is much more enjoyable now. And as a bonus I lost 10lbs.

beareilly,
Take some time to read the journal/posts I have written for various stages of the recovery. You don't have to be afraid at all. I was, and it kept me from having the surgery for a long time. The recovery is not bad at all. Yes, you have to be patient with the eating issue, but it will be worth it if it makes you healthier. I'm eating more variety at Week 3 that I'd ever hoped.

For the first time in years, my asthma is under control. I have had to use a nebulizer for a year straight..spending a half hour twice a day, coughing up junk. Now my lungs are clear, and I'm breathing easy. (I'm overcoming a lung infection, but it's getting better finally--it's not affecting my asthma, though.)

This surgery is very easy to recover from. It's laproscopic, which makes the incisions/surgical piece, a piece of cake.

Yes, the one port at the left rib is painful at first. (For me, even more, because of the coughing.) That was healed by week 2. I just used ice for pain after the first day home. The shoulder pain responds well to walking. The more you walk, the less it hurts. It was never really terrible pain for me--I know some have more trouble with it. I got up right away at the hospital and walked--even during the night, I walked regularly. It made a big difference.

So don't worry. If you need the surgery, go for it. All those horror stories you read online should NOT deter you. They are overblown. It is important that you get an excellent and experienced surgeon. That is the most important key.
Good luck with your tests and decisions!