nissen surgery...griffdawg's Part 1 of 2 CLOSED

My doctor said I should be able to return to work after a week, but I'm taking two and a half. I'm a first grade teacher so I don't have to do any heavy lifting. The heaviest lifting I do is a book. The meals will be tricky, though. I'm not sure how to deal with the small meals and work, too.
If I need more time, I'll take it. I have 45 sick days built up. My job is not worth my health.
I'm not very worried about the surgery. I just want it to hurry up and get here so I can stop taking so much PPI and H2 blockers which interfers with my thyroid medication.

Joy

joy:  yeah im only on a ppi of 20 mg and antacids because i cant handle anymore ppi's, the side effects keep sending me to the er... and the more ppi (more than 20mg), i pass out and am in soo much pain...  i work retail so i plan on at least 3 weeks off! at least...

how u feeling? excited? you goin to take a lot of sick time off?

griff  

I will, Janice. I will take it one day at a time. My plans are to take atleast two and a half weeks after my EsophyX procedure. However, if I need longer I'll take it. I won't know until that day gets here how much time I will need. I heard the EsophyX is not as traumatic on the system as the Nissen and the healing time is shorter. According to the doctor's nurse her daughter was back at school after a week and eating normal after a month.


Joy

Griff and Joy,

As far as feeling well, unless there is a lot of swelling, you should feel pretty good in a week, even better the next. According to how good the surgeon is and how bad the throat is burned now.

Griff, absolutely no lifting for "6 to 8 weeks" of anything heavier than 10 lbs, 5 the first 2 weeks. So make plans now for your books... no way can you carry a days worth of books at a time.

If you do the lifing, you will tear everything out and you will be worse off than you are now. You will need to get a suitcase on rollers for your books, you cannot carry them around.

I cannot stress enough that lifting things will cause the wrap to tear and could cause all sorts of complications.

If you cannot take PPI's you have to really watch what you eat until surgery. Only eat bland foods. Small amounts and often.
Give the esophogus time to heal a little before surgery. It will make recovery quicker. As your mom would say.... you are a big boy now.

If you only eat Full liquid diet for the first 2 weeks you will be great. But boys and girls I am telling you that if you eat more than 1/2 - 3/4 a cup of anything the first 2 weeks you will pay. You think the pain is bad now, it is nothing compared to the pain you get for the gas build up. It is in your stomach, shoulder and back and is awful. But if you eat small liquid meals every couple of hours or if you want every hour you could have 1/2 cup you will heal quickly.

Some energy back in a week if you do your walking. I am old enough to be you grandmother, was 62 when I had my surgery on Thursday, home Friday and was back at work on Monday (office - no lifting). But I did everything the dr said including walking and not eating any acid foods like tomato. When I went back to the Dr - 2 weeks after surgery he said I could eat what I wanted. I did wait 6 weeks before I had a diet coke... darn.

Mostly the attitude make the difference. Think you are feeling good and you do to a certain extent.

HOWEVER>>>>> NO LIFTING

Hope you have a better week guys.

Jayne

Griff,

Here is a full liquid diet.  Oatmeal helps keep the hunger away and it is quick and easy to make a small amount.  For this none of the stuff with spices in it though.  Also, mashed potatoes etc.  Most of the time after a few days you can eat baby food also, not junior but baby food.  MMMMM good

 Full liquid diet

A full or strained liquid diet consists of both clear and opaque liquid foods with a smooth consistency. It includes milk, milkshakes, ice cream, pudding, strained cream soups, fruit nectar with pulp, smooth cooked cereals such as oatmeal and cream of wheat, butter, and honey. In some cases, a full liquid diet may also include other foods that have been thinned and blended with liquids such as milk, meat or vegetable broth, or fruit or vegetable juice.

Jayne

jayne:
full baby food and oatmeal... well guess when i baby sit my niece she can share!:) ill have to remember that, since im making an early list on stuff on stock up on. my main problem is ive lost 30+ pounds in 5 months and continue and at 120 and 5'7, its not good for me to lose more. but my main problems is i feel so light headed lately and these darn palpitations that come out of no where... ah well i gotta remember to stay on the ball! thanks for the liquid diet advice, it helps big time!! how long were u on that?again jayne thanks for everything all the advice has continued to help me and will be a big asset especially coming from you!!:D

hey rafael: yeah majorly, which prob isnt helping my symptoms much at all lol. yeah ill prob be the same way but did u get it done out patient? what kind of palpitations did u have? situations?
my BIG issue is the stairs and having no energy because i have a long walk to my classes and a lot of stairs in the between like at least 5 flights to each class.... yeah i keep getting weird new issues and my doc keeps saying who knows if its related to my gerd or not. hopefully my doctor will help out big time!
thanks,
griffen

I had it at USC medical center and I spent one nite there. They sent me home the following evening.

I sufford form long heart beat the whole time I had silent GERD, untill the last year when it started burning and eroding my esophogus. It felt like my hole body pulsed as my heart "flopped". Like I mentioned before, My GERD was silent untill the last year before the surgery so before that it was treated as a heart condition. Which condition the doctors couldnt agree on...LOL! I was told I had Mitro Valve Prolapse and then that I didnt. I had a test done where they brought my heart rate to 180 BPM in 5 minutes then shot some radioactive stuff in my veins. That showed that I "might" have a lack of blood flow in my left valve. It was inconclusive byt they still wanted to do a catheder in to my heart, through an artery in my leg, to see what the problem was....now that was scary and I chose against it since leaning that it may cause more peoblems. Just 2 years ago I finally paid off the last $9k of co payments from all the tests that were done to my heart.

It wasnt untill a year ago that I got the burning and the pain related with teh GERD/Hernia and with it came the palpitations. It was the firts time I was able to put the 2 together. If I had burning or I ate something that didnt go well with my stomach I would get the palps. for weeks, even months non stop. Then they would just go away for weeks at at time months even. Not one. The last cardiologist I saw told me that my palps were benine because I have the heart of a race horse! He told me that the chances of me dying form the palps were the same as getting hit by lighting. So when I told my family doctor that the burning came with palps, he was the first in 10 years to say "it may be possible". No one had ever utterd those words to me in the medical profession. They all told me there was no medical reason for the 2 coinciding.

I can tell you know that for me, they went hand in hand. If you look at a diagram of the human body the esophogus sits behind the heart. The heart sits behind the lungs. Basicall right on top of one another as there isnt any seperation allowed in there. It would seem to me that if your stomach was forced in to your esophogus, like in my case with the sliding hiatal hernia, and the esophogus and stomach were to get severly inflamed, to the point that I lookd 6 months pregnant, it doesnt take a genious to accept that the increased pressure of bothe inflamed organs may bother the heart....but what do I know? Its not like the problem was inside of me or any thing!

As I heal form the nissen surgery and the inflimation in my chest goes down the palpitations have faded with it. This morning they felt like just a light flutter and I have not had 1 since 10:AM this morning. .... .... ....

I apologize for the long reply. This is a very frustrating topic for me and I want to have my experience heard by as many that may be suffering the same and are being told "its nothing" or "its all in your head" by their doctors.
Rafael

Griff and all,

Yes everyone is different.  The condition you are in when you have the surgery makes a difference as to when you can eat food.  My first visit back to the surgeon, may have been just a week after surgery I was allowed to eat anything but as all have said....  chew chew chew.

My swallow test showed that there is a weekness there and was told I would always have to chew things good.

Main thing, let your body tell you when you are pushing it.

Griff,  I would start eating lots of small meals a day now just less at a time.  That should help with the weight loss.

Jayne

I heard muscle milk is good.

Joy

Griff rest asured that you arent crazy. I have spoken to a few other people who say that their "heart issues" went away with this surgery. I'm pretty sure yours will too. I also spent my last year taking deep breaths and I know that "bubble in your chest feeling", too.

Griff, this surgery will change your life. It changed mine. Your issue sounds very similar to mine. It worked for me and i'm sure it will work just the same for you.

Stay positive!

Rafael

I'm enjoying my four day weekend at home

It was going to be three and the governor decided to make us take a unpaid day off to help the budget. I get two more of them over the next few months. They're threating to take more later.

I like the time off, but it sure puts a crimp in my budget. I only get paid for 190 days a year normally.
Enough venting, Joy.    

   
Enjoy your weekend folks!

Joy

Hey Griff,
When I first got back from surgery, I went with cream of wheat, rather than oatmeal, because it's a bit more processed and easier. I bought all kinds of things, like ensure and boost, etc, but ended up not needing any of them. Everyone's different, but I found I never needed liquid nourishment once I got home. I don't know how you like your eggs, but scrambled soft is very easy to handle.

We're in Ottawa, Canada for a wedding, and having a great time. After working all summer getting our house sold, it's nice to have a special get-away.

As far as soda goes, I haven't tried it. I'm not a fan, and I wouldn't want the extra gas. Beer on the other hand, I'm handling just fine. I've probably been enjoying a beer every so often since about 4 months. Even though it has bubbles, they're natural carbonation, and not as extreme as soda. I haven't had any hard liquor...some wine, though. Wine is a little harder on my stomach, but okay with food.

All I can say is any change I've needed to make are more than worth it with how it helped my lungs.
Have a great weekend, everyone!
Denise

This thread is closed.........please post in Part 2 of 2.

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Nissen...Griff's part 2

 

https://www.healingwell.com/community/default.aspx?f=45&m=1584019

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