My Esophagectomy Post-op update...

[Guest guest]

hey everyone,

I just wanted to put my 2 cents on my current state of health from my

esophagectomy 2 1/2 months ago....

So far so good...to a degree....my swallowing is alot better, but i

have to sip a little water to push down difficult solid food, unless i

eat the smallest morsal of food and chew it very very well...then it

will go down w/out water. Soups, mushy stuff grits or pudding, and

cereals go down very well. I guess my esophagus is truly dead in

regards to no parastaltic and dysphagia. Before it used to take

gargantuan amounts of water just to push cereal down or even

pudding..sheesh..

Most importantly my chronic GERD and heartburns are almost

non-existent...after 2 hellar myotomies and 1 dor fundoplication...my

heartburns and acid-reflux is no more...well, i get a small heartburn,

but Dr. Patti from UCSF cut the nerves that tell the brain to secrete

acid from the lining of my stomach...so my acid isn't as acidic as it

was before. Also my esophagitis was also making my LES area swollen

and red and made it difficult to swallow even water.

Has anyone in this group have your fonduplication fail as bad as mine

did that you'd have chronic, painful acid-reflux and heartburn almost

every day or have one that is almost several hours in a day?

I wish i could've gotten a smaller, evasive surgery, but getting

another hellar myotomy and/or fonduplication would be pointless,

according to all my doctors, because i was in a catch-22 where if they

do another hellar myotomy then i would get more chronic acid reflux

and if i get a fonduplication and make the stomach wrap tighter...then

my swallowing would be more difficult. So my esophagectomy is the

only option i had left according to my doctors.

Also i just found out that my esophagus was twisting a little

according to my barium swallow, so its good that i got this surgery.

Now i got some post-op/recovery symptoms...mostly shortness of breath,

hypoglycemia, and i get dizzy spells...

To those who got a transthoracic esophagectomy: did you get

dizzy/vertigo spells during the next 2-3 months after surgery?

But other than that i'm just keeping busy, but not over exerting

myself...i'm taking classes part-time to finish my post bachelors

degree and i'm trying to exercise a little, but not trying to exhaust

myself to the point of fainting....

I get a little down cuz i'm not doing the things that i wanna do like

start working again or going out with my friends, but i'm realizing

the fact that my health comes first above anything else...both mind

and body. I mean i'm only 26 years old, and everyone says i got my

whole life ahead of me.

I'll end here...i'm alright for the most part and slowly trying to get

my life back in order without the symptoms of this debilitating and

rare esophageal disorder we all call achalasia...

So if any of you facing this surgery...let me know i can give you any

info and life experience to offer any of you.

from San Francisco