opnwhl4 (Bill's) Post-op Nissen Redo - 3rd time around - 8/23/2011

Geez Bill! Nothing like giving the drs and nurses a run huh? Glad to hear you're home and recovering! Hopefully this will be it for you. Frog legs?!? I've never had them nor do I care to but do they really taste like chicken? Lol

Hi Bill,

 

Glad to hear you're home and healing.  It's good to hear that you're managing better with eating and you're remembering to chew, chew, chew!

Behave yourself, get lots of rest, no taking cars apart, and get yourself healed!

You know we're all here for you!

Heal well!

Denise

 Your home and doing well...............yipee !  I will keep my canoe ready to head down river and bring you another catfish should you get really hungery.  We grow them bigger here in MN.  (Giggle !)

Proud of you and praying for all to continue to go well.

Gentle Hugs,

Kitt

Bill,

3 weeks have gone by already...........wow.  Looks like you are up to your same old tricks, playing with lawn motors and outdoor toys.  Glad your internet is back up and you can keep us in the loop on how you are progressing.

Do rest when your body is tired as you have been through a lot these past few years and it takes time to heal as you know.

Sending you lots of MN hugs.

Kitt

Kitt- thanks for the hugs from up north. hope you are feeling better. I am actually glad to hear you back off a couple forums for moderator. Glad you stayed with us though. I had wondered for a while if a couple were counter productive for you since you have such a big heart and place everyone a head of yourself. The wife and I have been dealing with some type of stomach bug the last couple days. Stomach feels like its flip flopping. Mine started firt so I just blew it off as recovery and something I ate, but the next day she it too. You know I am beginning to think GERD is contagious, Michelle has had horrible chest pains for a while now and I finally got her to go see the dr. they did a complete heart work up and all is well, so now I am going to get her into the GI doc. She worries about me so I'm afraid she has an ulcer

Joy- I love squirrel, deer , bear, moose, elk, raccoon, possum, dove, all kinds of game birds, except duck....to greasy for me. Along with about any fish I can catch too. I make a great brunswick stew using squirrel and dove, It has all kinds of veggies and the meat with lots of taters and then a rue(sp) to thicken it up. It cooks about 8 hours. It's like chili....the more you reheat it the better it gets. The meat is cook low and s;ow after browning it and it just falls apart like pulled pork on it;s own. I can send you the recipe if you want, you can use chicken or turkey as a substitute if you want.

My surgery up date is that the incision doesn't hurt at all now, just itches. But the muscles on each side get sore really easily. Even a long car ride makes them hurt. Definitely can tell they were cut apart. Doesn't hurt near;y as bad as the 2 chest surgeries I've had. It's much easier to get up and out of bed too. I was thinking it would be the opposite going into this.
Everyone who has given me support through this I greatly appreciate it. You will never know how much you have helped me and what it has meant to me. Thank you so much!

Take care,
Bill

BILL

It is so good to hear that you are up and about, but, I cannot believe that you tell all of us that we need to take it easy and then 3 weeks out and you are working on cars and the yard.. just don't over do... we need you here.

I am home after a 13 day vacation and I miss my family already.. my granddaughter and great granddaughter are going into the 3's.. they are both so precious.. my grand sons are taller than I am (I am 5'6") and I feel like a shrimp.. my son, daughter-in-law and daughter are wonderful people.. and I had a grand time with them all.

I am sorry I neglected you all..

You would love it here where I live Bill, I live within 2 miles of the best crappie and bass lake in the state of Florida.. it is awesome..

I am glad to be back and catching up with you all.. Take care and

Reach for the sunshine.. Rainbows will follow

Sandi ;-)

Hi all-
Well I made it through 8 hours of watching softball today. Since I was driving I didn't take any pain meds with or before. Wow my stomach muscles are screaming at me. I was good and just sat in my chair and watched. Very hard to do though. Good thing Michelle was there to make sure I didn't do any thing crazy. My daughter was subbing for a different team in the 18u bracket. She had a great day and even got a save pitching in relief the first game and went error less in the middle infield for the other 2 games.

Just took my percocet about ten minutes ago and am relaxing in the recliner, I am done for the day. Oh, I did find out I can eat soft pretzels and roast beef sandwich. Daring at 3.5 weeks, but I was hungry. It was quite chilly in the wind at 6:30 this morning. Forgot how much colder it feels when you aren't warming up a team, LOL!

Started to have some pretty intense pain at times where he took loose the gastric feeding tube site. especially when laying on my left side from a sitting position or rolling over from my left side. The feeding tube was just left of mid line of my belly. I will ask him about this when I see him on Wednesday.

It will be 4 weeks come Wednesday, but if things don't get netter pain wise very quickly I don't believe I could lift more than 10 to 20 lbs yet. He did tell me when I saw him last that things won't be the same as my past 2 nissens do to all the scar tissue and damage done by the stent, along with being an open procedure. Seems everytime I have had this surgery it takes a bit longer for the pain to subside.

Got lucky today that nausea didn't rear it's ugly head, I ran off and forgot my anti nausea meds.

Take care,
Bill

Gina-
I had the 5 small incisions the first 2 times, but after the torn esophagus repair and feeding tube scarring he had to do it open to take down all the scar tissue and also the parts of the wrap weren't exactly were they should have been since it kind of "blew up" from the esophagus stent I had for a month. I have an 8 inch scar on my belly and it went through the old incision above my belly button from the past nissens. He wasn't sure if he could get away with this size incision or would have to go around my belly button and a couple inches below it. Got lucky or he really is as good as I believe he is.

Been dealing with nausea today for some reason. Got to refill my script for anti nausea meds since I only have one left. I was surprised too I was able to eat some of the things I have. with my past ones I couldn't this soon, but I have had lots of practice on eating techniques. LOL! I really enjoyed the roast beef sandwich. Waited until the juices had soaked into the bun some and just took small bites and chewed really well. With my past nissens I could eat toast pretty easy, but this time it gives me troubles.

I am gonna have to go get some benedryll for home. the percocet is making me itch as the other pain meds did. Unfortunately my stomach muscles get so sore percocet is the only thing to get it to stop. I tried my hydrocodone and tylenol to, but they don't do anything for the pain.

Hope everyone had a good weekend.

Take care,
Bill

Hi Bill,

Glad to hear you're doing so well. It finally got below 100 degrees in Oklahoma so I've been out and about some here and there. Mostly visiting friends and family, some shopping and church a few times.

Good to see you!
Rita

Hey Bill,

 

What am I going to do with you? You'd better run all those jobs past your doctors and see which ones are allowed!  Start calling in favors for help with the other ones.  Could you call in some strong teenagers to do some of the work with your supervision?  Use your imagination, my friend.

Take care of that fragile body of yours.  I know you know how to do all those things, but try not to be a superhero.  Spreading gravel on your driveway is definitely a job you could get kids to do.  I'm sure there are others as well.   See if anyone wants to learn how to do whatever project needs to be done, and offer training experiences! 

I know Michelle would rather see things go undone than see you back in the hospital.

I'm glad your healing is going well, but hold up that wild worker side of you so you can get comfortable and get rid of some of that pain.  Pain is a sign that you're overdoing it.  Heed its warning! (Shaking finger )

Take care of yourself.  You're a precious person, Bill.  You deserve health.  Do your part!

(((Gentle hugs)))

Denise

Hi Bill and good morning from Oklahoma ~

Wow! I agree with Denise - you need a young hired hand or two. Since hubby retired about 3 years ago we've taken to hiring out some of the superfluous stuff like hanging ceiling fans/electrical and some of the plumbing stuff that he would have done. Not because he can't or doesn't want to do them but because he and we both have other things we'd rather do.

Maybe in your case that similar scenario could apply to you in that you might have other things you'd rather do besides work so hard you set your recovery backwards. That's one thing I can guarantee I haven't done; work so hard as to impede recovering from surgery. lol

I've been so very blessed that my husband is retired and and has been able and more than willing to just take over everything I had always done before about a year ago. And that's pretty much when he did have to take over due to not only my reflux but also due to the fact that I had another surgery in August of 2010. He's a keeper.

I'm not on HW as much as I was prior to surgery nor in the first few weeks after. I do come on but I forget to log off and I imagine I appear like I'm lurking in the hallways but I also forget to log off Facebook and I'm not there very much anymore either.

I know how proud and happy you must be with the progress you're making and it sounds as if you have a ton of fans, friends and followers on HW who are proud of you as well.

So happy to hear you are doing well.
Rita

Good to hear you're doing better and have the all-clear from your surgeon. Just take it easy and use your common sense and I bet you'll be fine.

I'm still dealing with water brash and am going back on my PPI to see if it will help. The good thing is I've been being really patient and in doing so have been able to separate some of the pre and post-surgical symptoms.

My surgeon was really helpful in that area as well and I'm happy to say he was very proud of me and how I've handled everything post-op. So maybe I'm not as impatient as I thought. He said procedures like this one (NF) get much more difficult the older we get and I'll be 65 in a few weeks.

Water brash is actually much more common than I was aware of even after learning what it was from my surgeon and the fact that I have it. It's not easy to deal with because not everyone responds to the same treatment.

What's bad about it is that it impacts your sleep so much especially at night as the liquids build up overnight first in your mouth and then in your esophagus. You end up being awakened suddenly from a choking/gagging/coughing bout and by then your throat, tongue, sinuses and esophagus are burning due to the fermentation of the contents of your esophagus.

It's not pleasant but at least we know what it is now and at this point in my recovery it doesn't appear to be acid or bile reflux. That can be one of the causes of it but the surgeon doesn't want to go back down to look at this point and I really don't want him to either.

Time will tell for me, Bill, but I bet you're back out camping in the lovely fall weather really soon.

Great news!
Rita