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Mild pancreatitis after surgery?

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Posted 12/23/2011 5:38 PM (GMT 0)
My Drs office called me today. Said that my blood tests show mild pancreatitis. Could explain the back pain. I have to have it checked again next Wednesday. If course now I'm worried! Has anyone else experienced this after surgery?
Posted 12/23/2011 7:19 PM (GMT 0)
NAL,

I am sorry to hear you have something to worry about as it would be nice to have the holiday without new worries.  If your Dr.  told you your pancreatitis is mild then I would believe him and follow up on Wednesday.  If sx should get worse call you Dr. or visit the ER.

Now a big breath and believe you will be OK.

Gentle Hugs,

Kitt

Posted 12/23/2011 8:44 PM (GMT 0)
It just seems to be one thing after another.  I also had a suture site above my belly button lose a scab and its still draining.  Its gross.  Im keeping a lose bandaid over it like they suggested.

The eating comes and goes.  Ill feel real hungry, take a couple bites and be full.  This just stinks.  I wish i would have never done this procedure.

Nancy

Posted 12/23/2011 8:56 PM (GMT 0)
Nal-

I had an incision do that a few times. Not very pleasant knowing it drains. The feeding tube I had drained for the entire month and a half I had it.

I don't know exactly how far you are into your recovery, but it does take quite some time. When you get full quickly try to eat frequently.

I am assuming you had bad reflux and that is why you had the surgery. Try to remember that the outcome is what you are striving for. Once you get past the rough times it is worth the trip. I sometimes can't remember what the early days of healing were like until I read of someone else going through it and get a "Ahhah" moment that brings it all back to me. Hang in there and lean on us if you need to, we have big shoulders here.

Take care,
Bill
Posted 12/23/2011 10:45 PM (GMT 0)
Thanks bill. The mild pancreatitis and back pain are the most concerning. The back pain just isn't going away either
Posted 12/23/2011 10:52 PM (GMT 0)
Is the back pain in your shoulder as well? If so it can be from the nerves being irritated from surgery and usually goes away with time. Sometimes walking can help this also. I had horrible pain in my left shoulder and side of my neck with both lap nissens I had. The last one this year was done open and was easiest for me to recover from. Sounds silly, but I had less pain with the open nissen than the others.

Take care,
Bill
Posted 12/23/2011 11:10 PM (GMT 0)
Mine is in the left shoulder but mostly in the middle of my back between the shoulder blades
Posted 12/26/2011 11:20 AM (GMT 0)
Nancy.

How are you doing?  I have not heard from you. Can you eat anything?

Jean   from Manchester NH

Posted 12/26/2011 5:57 PM (GMT 0)
Hello. I can still eat small amnts of food. Mushy and soft. Rt now my worst symptoms are chest pain and pressure when I eat and some loose stools. Still not happy with the outcome of this surgery

How are you? Can you eat?
Posted 12/26/2011 8:18 PM (GMT 0)
Hello Nancy

I just tried small amount of mac and cheese whipped up and some small amount

of baby prunes.  I am waiting to see if this get held up. Christmas eve  I whipped some

chicken real smooth and some cranberry and both got stuck for hours and hours.

I have back pain but most of all , I keep losing weight and cannot afford to do this.

I lost a lot before the operation and now more.  I am not happy with this either but

with a 1/3 of my stomach in my diaphram not sure what else to do.

I can drink just about anything, and eat a little but not much.    What foods are you eating

give me an idea so I can try them.

maybe it the pressure when I eat and I am calling it hung up..Not sure. 

Thanks for replying back  Jean

Posted 12/26/2011 9:06 PM (GMT 0)
Hi Jean,

It is very likely that you're right..."hung up" could actually be a very tired wrap.  If it was actually hung up, you wouldn't be able to take in liquids after eating, and it sounds like you can.  Have you tried sipping tea or room temp water after eating? 

If you can recover from this surgery without losing weight you'll be the only one.  It's expected that post-Nissen patients will lose weight. The more often you eat and drink the protein drinks as supplement, the less you will lose.  Once you've had a chance to heal your stomach will accept more food at a sitting, and you'll begin to gain weight back.

Hang in there!

Denise

Posted 12/26/2011 9:34 PM (GMT 0)
Hello Denise,

I have lost 8 lbs already from the operation, But my problem is I was so sick

before the operation that in a very short time I lost 25 or 30 lbs... So I was down

so much before the operation and now continuing to lose of course has me worried.

I will try to eat as often as possible but the foods are so limited and the amount is so

small each time.  I am drinking the supplement protein drinks  .. but there are only so

many hours in the day and not enought time to slowly eat and slowly drink and let it go

through slowly .

I can drink water nothing else when i feel this  Hung up feeling.

Thanks for your reply, Jean

Posted 12/26/2011 9:40 PM (GMT 0)
A good way to keep up with nutrition is Ensure. I drank those continuously during early recovery. Lived off of them. Lots of flavors, and 250-350 calories each. Weight loss is unavoidable... I lost 22 pounds in 4 weeks. I am 5 weeks out now and can eat mostly anything except tough bread and some meats, so I'm just now leveling out on my weight.

Tony
Posted 12/26/2011 10:55 PM (GMT 0)
Have you tried gluten fee pasta mashed up? They are a little easier to digest for me. I also do instant hot rice cereal in the morning ( the rice is already ground up). I'm sick to death of ensure. Bleh. Lol. But it does help. You could try blending it with bananas or yogurt or even a little bit of protein powder.

Anyone else having trouble digesting? I fill up fast and it takes a lot for me to get the food through my stomach. In always bloated.
Posted 12/27/2011 1:32 AM (GMT 0)
I recommend the gluten free because. 1. I hVe a gluten intolerance issue. 2. Gluten free can break down easier in your system which may help with digestion while you heal. Also, I can't really have dairy either. So I do almond milk in my cereals , foods etc. it adds a nice flavor and may be easier for you to digest too while you heal. Just some thoughts
Posted 12/27/2011 2:21 AM (GMT 0)
Hello Tony and Nancy

Thanks very much for info. I am taking insur and I will take more. I have no problem

getting it down.  But it is not enough ..for sure.  I tried mac and cheese today not

a whole lot but it went down..Then for supper I tried mashed pototoes whipped up

and carrots from a pot roast but the juice from the meat made sick. I think there was just

too much of it mixed in with the potatoes and carrots.

Thanks again ...Jean

Posted 12/27/2011 3:01 AM (GMT 0)
Nancy  how are you doing?

 I try to think of what to eat but not doing to well .  I never in my whole life ever thought this would happen to me. But we must some how hang in there.

I just have to think of foods to eat .  IF any one out there has any advice of what they ate

in the first few weeks post op please let us know.

I have the egg nog and can make that ... puddings etc but looking for anything else.

I tried the potatoes and veg in a pot roast but did not work for me this time. It went down

but made me sick.  I did this at 6pm and it took 3 hours to feel a little better.

So if anyone out there has a food that went down easy please let us know.


Thanks very much Jean  from Manchester NH  

Posted 12/27/2011 3:24 AM (GMT 0)
Hi Jean,

Everyone is different.  What works well for one doesn't work well for another.  It's really a trial and error experience.  Do you have nausea medication on hand?  You really should, just in case your stomach decides to rebel.

The main thing you need to remember with food is to make sure that it is chewed thoroughly if it's not a liquid.  Anything that can be blended or chewed to a liquid can be tried to see if it goes down okay. 

Whenever my stomach was giving me trouble, egg custard was my food of choice.  It's very smooth and filled with nutrition.  Cream soups are another choice.  If you just eat the broth/liquid part of the soup and any very soft potato or veggies you should do fine.  Some people put the soup in a blender and blend it all to a liquid.  I know sweet foods get old after you've been on them for a long time. 

Keep trying things, and in between don't stop drinking the liquid supplemental nutrition.

Best wishes,

Denise

Posted 12/27/2011 4:46 AM (GMT 0)
In the first few weeks I ate the following things:

Week 1: Beef broth, lots and lots of Ensure, Cream of Chicken soup.

Week 2: Moved to pureed foods. We went to Whole Foods who has a great selection of pre-made soups, bought a bunch of them and used a hand blender to puree them to near liquid. This REALLY helped with giving me a variety. I stayed away from soups with beans or broccoli due to bloating. Butternut squash, tortilla, tomato basil, potato soup. Blended everything. Texture sometimes a little weird, but it sure tasted good. Also kept drinking ensures between meals.

Week 3: about mid week of week 3 I started trying mashed potatoes. Had to use a ton of butter and make them soft to get them to go down. Overcooked pasta with sauce. Scrambled runny eggs with cheese. Still lots of soup.

Week 4: Week 4 is when my diet has made the most improvement. I've been challenging myself with a new food everyday. I am very stubborn. I know I've tried things I shouldn't have, and sometimes things do get stuck a bit, but more often than usual it goes down surprisingly fine. Lots of pasta. French fries. Soft meats like chicken nuggets. Tamales. As long as there is a sauce or something I can dip a dry food in, it goes down pretty well. Little bites still.

Week 5: Just started today. Had first non toasted bread, but it was pretty soft on a tuna sandwich. Still a small victory! Celebrate those small victories!

Just hang in there. It gets SO much better. I am very thankful for the surgery. I wish I had it sooner. My life was on a terrible downward spiral before the surgery due to my extreme GERD that medicine couldn't touch. I finally now feel like I can start looking forward to the future and not dwell on the present. At Christmas, my family commented on just how healthy and happy I seem. Sure, I'm still recovering, I still get some pains here and there and have a few bad days, but they are increasingly few and far between. Hang in there, before you know it you'll be enjoying the benefits.
Posted 12/27/2011 8:27 AM (GMT 0)
Thanks for the help.  I am trying but not doing very well at all. Another set back yesterday with the vegetables  from the pot roast.  I have to do something soon or there will be nothing left of me.    Jean
Posted 12/27/2011 1:56 PM (GMT 0)
Hello

How did you make the runny scamble eggs and cheese ..What kind of cheese

I am trying and I want to do this, but so far no luck.   I think the mac and cheese a small

amount  1/8 cup or less went down yesterday.  I want to get over this but for some

reason I just cannot. Bowecho, you are so far ahead of me.  22 days post op and I am

still on liquids  and they go down.  But even whipped potatoes stuck ... I am not sure

what I am doing wrong.   Other than not sleeping I have very little pain, just the pain

of not eating and losing too much weight.

Help  THanks Jean

Posted 12/27/2011 4:16 PM (GMT 0)
I don't think you are doing anything wrong at all. Everyone recovers differently. When I was still having pretty bad pain during week two (he originally told me the pain goes away after 1 week) he told me not to worry, he has seen a big range in recovery times with his patients. Everyone heals at a different pace.

I cooked the scrambled eggs on fairly low heat. Takes longer to cook, but you have more time to pull it off the heat when the eggs are at the consistency you want. I pulled them off heat as soon as there wasn't any liquid egg left, but kind of an egg slime (word might sound unappealing, but it still tasted good!). I then sprinkled shredded american or swiss cheese over it for some extra flavor. Tiny bites and it slid down pretty well with water or juice.

Tony
Posted 12/27/2011 4:34 PM (GMT 0)
Hello bowecho

Thanks for the reply.  I will try it

Jean

Posted 12/27/2011 6:09 PM (GMT 0)
Hello Nancy and Starry

How are you doing. I have not heard from you. How is the food going

down.  I am ok on liquids but just have not mastered much  else.

I tried some runny eggs and got a few bites in and no hang up.

Hope to hear from you.

Jean from Manchester

Posted 12/27/2011 6:31 PM (GMT 0)
Hi, Jean!

I am doing really well as far as eating goes. I made an artichoke lasagna for Christmas Eve and had no problem eating it (small amounts, chewed well). I feel kind of guilty because it's much easier to eat than what I'd expected. I've eaten saltine crackers with jelly. The crunch was nice and saltines dissolve easily. Had scrambled eggs mixed with cream cheese this morning. Ate the top off of pizza last night but avoided the dough.

I do still have a lot of pain. Do you? I had about a 4" hole repaired in my diaphragm where my stomach had herniated through. I think that's what's hurting. I can't lay on either side or stomach. Just my back. When I sleep on my back, even when I'm propped up, wheezing from asthma wakes me up.

I am so sorry you are having such a hard time with food. I know it will pass but I feel bad that you are so frustrated and hungry. I hope it gets better soon and that you can sleep too.

Starry
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