Home from Surgery, 4th day

Well I had my Niss. Surgery on Wed. the 29th. Was realy scared but when I woke up I was happy. I had  a tube up my nose and alot of pain in my upper abdomen. I was pretty out of it for 2 days.

I got home last night and slept pretty well. I walk alot and am on soft foods. I only have eaten broth, pudding, applesauce and a small bite of scrambled eggs. I am able to burp and today I had my first gas. WOO Hoo. I have pretty bad pain in the upper left side where one of the staples are. I was told that I had a pretty big hernia and a classic 360 was done.

Other than having the nurses from hell here in Houston, I think I will be alright. I have almost no pain in my throat left. I can swallow and I refused to let them give me pills for pain. I insisted on the liquids....Why not if it comes that way!!!

The hardest thing for me is getting up from lying down position, it really hurts in my upper abdomen.

So now I am looking for ideas for soft foods.

I have soup,applesauce, pudding,grits( haven't tried yet though)

I think that mash pot and noodles would get stuck or not go down well. Any ideas.

Also I was wondering how long you waited before you smoked again. I know, I know it has been 4 days why don't I quit..Well I am trying but if I do have a need to try one then when do you think it would be safe?

I was not told to take any reflux medines at home but they were giving me nexium in hospital. I think they forgot to tell me. Also is it ok to take something for the gas bloat feelimg??

 

Surfergirl-
Glad to hear all went well. The left side rib incision usually is the most painful one. After having this done twice it still was the most painful one. As far as foods go, it is a trial and error. Please stay away from breads and pasta for a few weeks, but other than than if you can chew it to a liquid you should be fine. Oh, and stay away from solid meats for a while also. I didn't have any problems swallowing pills this time around. Even the Colestid that is HUGE went down 2 days after surgery.

Take care,
Bill

Try Boost drink high protein formula. If you are concerned about sugar they do a low sugar formula. Try V8 for your veggies. Baby food if you can tolarate it. My mother always makes potato soup when we have trouble keeping food down. Use mash tater powder and weaken it to real thin (thinner the better) with milk and butter. Add pepper to taste.

Wishing you well.

Joy

Ok Surfergirl, I am the bad one. Dont hang around me!! I SMOKED like an idiot!! It was good I cannot tell a lie however, it isnt good for us. Now, I wish i didnt. I was more into wanting a pepsi then a cigarette now I do both. UGH!!! I am glad your feelin good considering. It sounds to me like u will do fine. Denise and Bill said enuf for me. So I 2nd them. Shoulder pain is from the anesthesia, thats a given. I didnt require gas x although I bought everything Bill,Denise & Janice recommended.Good luck and welcome to the wrap club.

Bea

Denise, Bea, Joy, Bill and the others have more recent experience than I surfer girl and I have to agree with Rafael; just quit smoking. Smoking will slow the healing process down and that will impact your trip to Hawaii! It will also slow the nerve conduction impulses and conduction in your esophagus which impacts your swallowing..you can see where that will lead as well. If you can get through the couple of days/weeks, please try to continue. You'll be happy you did.

Some people (Bea!, Rick!) sailed through recovery and were able to eat almost anything; others had problems. Everyone is different, but the advice given to you by the others is right on target and you should follow it. I had to crush my meds and mix them in with the liquid motrin to get them down, so anything chewable or liquid is preferred. Gas-x was my best friend for quite some time!, even now ( a year later), I still have to use it).

I've been able to successfully treat the gas bloat with probiotics, you can easily get this into your system with yogurt like activia..

The best trick and it really works, is to sip/drink very warm to hot liquid(water works) before trying to eat; this seems to relax things and allows the food to go down. Make sure everything you eat is in tiny bites that you chew the dickens out of before you swallow and DO NOT be surprised if you start acking up food like a hairball at some time...it happens to everyone. It is scary, but if you can use the analogy of coin sleeve..youknow the kind where you put a bunch of pennies into the sleeve and one goes doe sideways...the rest can't get down. You end up having to take the pennies out and start again. The same thing will apply to food. At some point some food is not going to go down right and the rest of the food (could be water too) will pile on top of it and guess what...there's only one way out!! So if that happens, don't be afraid, realize what is happening and let it happen.

Stay with us, and good luck; we'll help you through this...but then you have to take us to Hawaii!
Janice