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Nissen 2 pre-op appt

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Posted 5/12/2010 8:40 PM (GMT 0)
Michelle-
great to hear all went well. Welcome to the Wrapped twice club! Hopefully you, I, and any other rewrappers don't need a third one. Now you be sure to stay hydrated and eat some very small meals. Please be safe and don't over do it!

Take care,
Bill
Posted 5/12/2010 8:43 PM (GMT 0)
I hope you removed the strips easy. Ouch!
I'm glad they glued me.

Joy
Posted 5/12/2010 8:48 PM (GMT 0)
Joy-
They used the steri strips for my gallbladder and first nissen, but used the glue on my redo nissen. That is SO much better to have the glue.

Take care,
Bill
Posted 5/12/2010 10:31 PM (GMT 0)
I just cut the strips shorter as they fall off but I'm not sure why they put band aids over some of them. I tried to get one of the band aids off in the shower but couldn't do it. lol So I guess I'll wait until those fall off too. I go back next Wed. So far today just some pudding, broth, coffee, and a few of my daughter fruit puff things for crunch. She gets mad when I eat them. Hehe. He said to still take my aciphex and I've had no problem taking it. No problems swallowing anything. In a way I was kind of hoping to have trouble so I know it's tight enough this time.
Posted 5/13/2010 1:15 AM (GMT 0)
Get you some jello or protein drink for protein.
Be happy you're not tight..... Less complications.
I didn't feel tight unless I overate.

Joy
Posted 5/13/2010 1:17 AM (GMT 0)
I just eat a few spoons at a time so I don't think I'm over eating but I get pretty nauseous after I eat. I have Zofran just in care. I'm not sure if it's from the pain, stomach swelling or what. Can't wait until that symptom is gone!
Posted 5/13/2010 1:20 AM (GMT 0)
You're just adjusting. Take the Zofran and be patient. I felt a little nausea the first couple of days.

Joy
Posted 5/16/2010 2:38 AM (GMT 0)
Doing pretty good this time around. My stomach muscles are only achy when I really squeeze them or bend the wrong way. Last time I couldn't walk straight up for a week. I'm still a little rumbly from the gas and shoulders are still a little achy. I feel so empty with this soft food diet. Mashed potatoes, pudding, and scrambled eggs just isn't cutting it. LOL My throat and stomach were really burning last night for an hour. I'm not sure if it was reflux or what it was. I still get pretty nauseous, only have a few Zofran left. Still taking Achipex twice a day. I think I'll ask for karafate at my post-op next week. The only real discomfort I have is going from sitting to laying or laying to sitting. They sure pump ya full of the gas. I had really really bad stomach cramps earlier, I think my intestines is still waking up. Had a pretty bad headache the last few days but I guess that's normal with the anesthesia. Other than that, I think things are going good. I believe by now last time I was having symptoms.
Posted 5/16/2010 3:05 PM (GMT 0)
Michelle
If your intestines are still slow you may be in for constipation. If so, take the prescribed senna syrup (should have been Rx'd) or if they didn't bother to give you anything, try a tsp of Benefiber in your coffee. Straining is really bad right now. You don't want to mess up the inside stitching.

For intestinal gas, stop eating mashed potatoes! They and bread are big gas producers. Your gut bacteria love the starches and sugars. Rice doesn't cause gas!!! Get some Cream of Rice cereal. Yeah, I don't like the taste much either, but it gives you energy without all the gas bloating.
Posted 5/16/2010 6:19 PM (GMT 0)
Try grits. They are filling.

I do remember having a ton of gas. It'll get better. ;)

Joy
Posted 5/17/2010 12:54 AM (GMT 0)
I have this feeling that saliva or something is just sitting in the back of my throat and it gives me the feeling to clear my throat. When I do, a little comes up and I swallow but I still have that feeling. I think I might have over eaten since I feel really full and bloated but not sure if that's what it's from since I had the feeling before I ate. It's like some of the liquids I'm drinking is getting hung up. All I had was a quarter of a yogurt. Anyone else have that?

ETA: It feels like if I lean forward I'm going to vomit or it's going to come out of my nose.
Posted 5/17/2010 1:55 AM (GMT 0)
You could have a little food sitting in your esophagus because of the swelling.
Try not to bend over right now. If you have to pick something up use a grabber or squat straight down to get it.

Joy
Posted 5/21/2010 7:09 PM (GMT 0)
Post op appt when good. I seen his assistant instead of the surgeon but I go back in two weeks. She said the incisions look good. She took the steri strips off...ouch!!! 4 of the incisions are scars and 2 are still healing. She said they had to do 6 incisions this time because of the scar tissue instead of 5 like last time. They must have used the glue this time because I don't have any stitches. Last time I had staples. I told her what was going on with the food/liquid getting stuck and a few other things and she said it was all normal from the swelling. She gave me the go ahead to eat whatever but I'm still leary on a few things. I just need to avoid over eating.
Posted 5/30/2010 2:07 AM (GMT 0)
It's almost 3 weeks out and I'm getting reflux again!! I was doing so good too. I know I know, I'm still early in the healing but after a failed run the first time, this just gave my hopes up. It gets really bad at night, bad enough that it still wakes me up. I'm still taking Aciphex twice a day and started Zoloft for anxiety. I'm still horribly nauseated all day every day. At first I thought it was something I ate so I went back to the bland diet with no change. I'm really hoping this starts to decrease or i don't know what I'm going to do.

I guess they did use stitches because in my middle incision, I have two ends that are sticking out that look like fishing line. They look like plastic and I'm guessing they are from the inside. I tried pulling on them a little to see if they would come off but they didn't. My outside incisions are all healed and scarred. I don't want my skin to heal around those two ends. Anyone else have that?
Posted 5/31/2010 3:15 AM (GMT 0)
Try not to overreact, Michelle. At three weeks, anything is possible. You've got lots of internal swelling and your wrap can be skewed because the swelling could be greater on one side. I know how frustrating it is, and how easy it is to jump to the conclusion that your wrap has failed again. We've been there and have shared the same fears and frustrations.

Try to relax and give yourself time to heal. We're all here for you. Take care and let your body lead you towards healing and recovery.
Take care,
Denise
Posted 5/31/2010 2:28 PM (GMT 0)
babygirl,
I remember someone mentioning the threads poking out.
They said they sterilize a pair of scissors and snipped the part sticking out and it went back in.

Joy
Posted 5/31/2010 11:49 PM (GMT 0)
Michelle-
I had the sutures sticking out both times. No big deal. If they bother you just snip them with finger nail clippers. If they don't bug you much just wait a week or so and they will be gone. They used under skin sutures and sometimes they don't clip them short enough to stay under the skin. Actually had this 3 times. 2 for Nissen and once for gallbladder removal.

Take care,
Bill
Posted 6/1/2010 3:35 AM (GMT 0)
The sutures don't bother me, just bug me that they are there. LOL They don't look very dissolvable to me.

I know anything is possible. I wasn't expecting all of my symptoms to disappear overnight but I wasn't expecting to have these horrible episodes. I'm not sure what they are from since they only happen at night. It doesn't matter what I eat or drink. I was up until 3:30am sitting in the bathroom with the last attack. I hope these stop soon.
Posted 6/1/2010 1:30 PM (GMT 0)
Get your doctor to perscribe you some dissolvable compazine tablets. They gave some to my mom the other day when she couldn't stop throwing up from her procrit shot. They put it under her tongue, it dissolved, and she felt better.

Joy
Posted 6/1/2010 4:23 PM (GMT 0)
Those are Zofran, right? I have them and they don't help. I'm starting to think it's a combination of reflux and anxiety attacks. I've been taking Zoloft for a week but I don't think it's kicked in yet.
Posted 6/1/2010 6:55 PM (GMT 0)
If you have stitches coming up you need to be careful to keep everything you use sterilized and your skin cleaned with antiseptic and cover with band-aid. You don't want germs from nail clippers to get pulled back into your body! Bleach undiluted will clean tools in a couple of seconds.

The stitches are supposed to dissolve inside, but lots of them migrate to the surface. If they can be pulled out slowly with no pain it's ok to do so. If they pull back in after being cut off it's fine as long as they are clean.

If you had steri strips you didn't have glue. The skin heals best without glue or anything else. It's pretty standard to use just "dissolvable" sutures internally and then there is no need for anything but a few steristrips to hold the skin together until it heals itself. They should not be pulled off! They will fall off in shower after a couple of weeks - no pain, no risk of opening incision!

It takes at least a couple of weeks, probably a month for swelling to go down enough to know if you are going to have reflux. athey probably tole you there are no guarantees.
Posted 6/1/2010 7:00 PM (GMT 0)
No, these are different according to the ER doc.

Joy
Posted 6/1/2010 9:48 PM (GMT 0)
Alcie, the surgeon's assistance took the steri strips off at my 2 week appt. They were pretty stuck on, none of them were starting to peel but 4 out of 6 incisions were almost completely healed already. I'm just going to leave them and ask about it Friday. Oh but he did make a guarantee with the first surgery. He said it will for sure work and he hasn't had a patient that it hasn't. I think he's overly confident and I'm not sure I like that.

Thanks Joy! I'll ask about that. I'd rather deal with burning than nausea any day!
Posted 6/8/2010 12:10 AM (GMT 0)
I had an appt with my surgeon last week. I told him that I don't feel any different and he looked baffled. He suggested that we wait and see what happens. I then said something about maybe it's not even reflux, what if it's something that is mimicing the symptoms of reflux. He said that is a big possibility and I made another appt for a gall bladder ultrasound and HIDA scan. I had the ultrasound this morning. The tech was training another girl and while they were doing the scan the tech said something about my gall bladder duct being twisted. No stones though. After she said that I had hope that that is maybe what is causing all of this. Well about two hours ago I got a call from the surgeon's office and she said my results came back normal. It felt like someone knocked the air out of me. I'm going to call them tomorrow and see if there's anything in the report about the twist. Other than that I go for my HIDA scan on Thursday.

I hate to whine about this but nobody I know has any idea what this is like. It's to the point where I'm on depression and anxiety meds. I can still barely eat, my weight has leveled off between 102 and 105. I have no energy to do anything, so many things are suffering the effects from this including my kids. Mommy isn't like the old mommy anymore they tell me. It's sad. If the HIDA scan comes back normal, I'm not sure what I'm going to do and neither does the surgeon. I don't know where to turn after this.
Posted 6/25/2010 4:42 AM (GMT 0)
Just a quick update. Gall bladder is normal yet again. Nothing has changed if not gotten worse. The surgeon wants to do yet another EGD on July 7th. No clue what he's looking for that wasn't there on the last two but ok. Still taking meds twice, sometimes three times a day. I'm at wits end with this. I don't know what else to do. I feel awful if I eat, no matter what I eat/drink or if I starve. I don't usually eat because at least I know the nausea is from not eating and nothing will come back up. Ugh. I just want my life back! shakehead
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