Days 10 - 16, what am I to expect?

You've probably already looked, but my early post-Nissen journal (in resources) has some info about how I felt during the stage you're asking about.  I carry Zofran (tiny meltable under tongue tablets) and Compazine suppositories with me at all times.  The nausea will subside as you heal.

Good luck!

Denise

You can relax.  Just go with the flow, my friend.  Day 14 or so is peak swelling.  After that point the swelling begins to go down.  Once the swelling has subsided your wrap will do a better job of letting you swallow.  You'll also have fewer quirky problems.

Still, the swelling doesn't go down instantly, and your healing will take time.  Be sure to have anti nausea drugs on hand.  At this stage in your healing you won't want to vomit, as it could do damage to your wrap.  Once healing is complete, some (like Joy and me) find that they can vomit.  Still, it's better not to, so even now we carry antinausea drugs.

I don't see any reason for changing your medicine routine.  If you have questions about medication, your doctor is the one to ask.  I would caution the use of them at the same time as narcotic pain meds...I'm sure your doctor or pharmacist can guide you with med issues.

You will heal outside much more quickly than inside.  Sometimes it's hard to remember how much healing there is to do on the inside once our outsides are totally healed.  Your wrap will take 6 months to do most of the healing, and the remainder will take a year.  I found that I continued to fine-tune the healing and GI adjustment to its new configuration well into the second year.

Once your healing is down you will gradually be able to increase the amount and types of foods you eat.  I don't know what your doctor suggested regarding eating, but mine set me free to use my own good judgement.  His only requirement was that I eat only foods that could be chewed to a liquid, and stay away from bread, sandwiches, and steak.  Actually I found well-toasted bread can be easily chewed to a liquid.  Crispy things are easier to chew to a liquid than soft foods most of the time.  No raw veggies or hard fruits.  You'll figure it out.  I always kept a paper napkin handy to discreetly deposit things that didn't chew properly.

If you can surrender to your recovery and just follow it where it takes you, you'll have a much easier recovery.  You can't rush things.  Just go with the flow!

Happy healing, Darryl!

Denise

That lump you're feeling is your healing wrap and hernia repair.  You'll definitely have a sore wrap after swallowing (even water) all day for a while.

The reason you can't eat much is that your stomach interprets swelling as fullness.  Once the swelling goes down, you'll gradually be able to eat more.

There are going to be some funny feelings that last a long time.  Hopefully if you know that they're normal you can convince yourself that they're not something to worry about.  Remember, it takes 6 months for the majority of the healing to happen, and a full year for the rest.  I have found that in my experience I continued to improve into the second year. 

The burping is great.  I used to worry that if I could burp then it meant that the wrap was so loose that acid could get through.  My surgeon's partner said that air can get out without letting acid escape.  Burping keeps you from getting the bloating problems that you read about. 

You'll only know about vomiting if it sneaks up on you before you can treat it with anti-nausea pills.  That's what happened to me.  I was feeling sick, but not nauseous.   Suddenly out of nowhere, I threw up!  I took anti nausea meds immediately and took them every four hours until I got better.  You will probably be able to vomit, but try not to.

Relax, take a walk, read a book.  It's going to take time for this healing to occur.  Your outsides will heal up pronto, but your insides take a lot longer!

Have a lekker day, Darryl!

Denise