surgery coming soon

Hebert

Welcome to Healing Well.

Boy have you come to the right place!

1) Should be fine as long as you don't have any severe scarring. I I had 4 abdominal surgeries before they did my last redo as an open and that was because I had just recovered from a torn esophagus surgery and he expected a lot of scarring.

2) Usually takes 1.5 to 2.5 hours.

3) Some surgeons do this as a same day surgery and some keep us a couple days. IT all depends on how you are doing after wards with drinking and pain control. Don't rush if you need a day ir so.

4) With a desk type job some have gone back in a week or 2, but again it really depends on how well you are doing with pain and eating and such.

There really alot of things to list about things with the surgery. If you can look at the resources page and look at the many recovery journals we have on the forum you will get a lot of answers. If you have any questions afterwards please ask, we are here to help.

A couple things though. This surgery can have a long recovery that has setbacks. Things like how soon the swelling goes down to how well you stay hydrated and how many calories you get in play a part.

Remember this is major surgery and you will be worn out for a while. Lots of people only go back to work part time for a week or so until they get a little more energy.

Walking is very good after surgery. Expect shoulder pain and a sore throat after surgery. Walking and time help this. Also ice and heat help with the swollen and painful areas.

When you eat, chew everything very well. To a liquid if possible. No soft bread or solid meats for several weeks, but toast and ground meat is okay. Also no straws or carbonation for a couple months or so. When the wrap is swollen gas can be an issue. Some people get good results with gasX, but some of it will have to go out the back door.

You also may feel like you are refluxing again either right away or a couple months into recovery. This is usually from either the wrap being swollen or irritated when you start to advance you diet. This is normal, but annoying and most doctors either don't know about this or won't tell us.

Take care,
Bill

My surgery took 3 hours--since I am old the surgeon probably had to hack through years of rust and barnacles. I had an additional 2-3 hours in the recovery room. I spent two days in the hospital at my request. My wife has moderate Alzheimer's and she really couldn't help me much or remember the Doctor's instructions. If you are interested, I posted a large reply today to an earlier post about my general observations of the whole process and the sucess of my own HH repair and NF. That post was: Nissan Fundoplication Questions--Would Love to Hear as Many Answers as Possible!

This was my first ever operation and in fact it was the first time I ever was in the hospital over nitght. I was likewise nervous right up to several days before the operation. I got myself in the best possible physical shape in the months prior to surgery and about a week before the date, I asked them for a tranquilizer--they gave me one valium to be taken the morning of surgery. I also had everybody and his brother praying for me at my church.

As I explained in that earlier post I had really studied this thing. Somehow, during the last few days leading up to the scheduled date I decided that I had done my homework and prepared as much as possible. So I turned the whole thing over to the Surgeon and God. I still have the valium they gave me because I didn't need it. I hope that you are able to relax and let the surgeon do his thing and that your recovery turns out as well as mine. God Bless