Post-OP Log
Hour by hour and day by day log of heart burn operation
April, 2004

 

This is a log of what happened after my Laproscopic Neilson Funduplication operation.

I entered the hospital at noon on Sunday and was assigned a bed. I was there Sunday to do my pre-op stuff, blood samples, x-rays, and talk to my anesthesiologist. My operation was performed on Monday, around eleven a.m. It went well, with no complications. I remember being moved to my hospital bed, but sleep until seven p.m., when I woke. I had five punch holes on my chest and belly. They felt like a dull thud, but didn’t really hurt too much. The internal stuff, felt about the same as always. My first swallow of liquid was a swallow of apple juice, which caused me to burp when it hit my repaired les area, the part they repaired. It didn’t go down well. I spent a fairly restful night, just taking it easy.

In the morning, I tried to eat breakfast. I was taking small bits and getting some things down, until the beef broth smell hit me and I became nauseated, so I stopped eating.

I left the hospital at noon on Tuesday, the thirteenth of April 2004 for home. I remember trying to drink a swallow of water that day. The swallow put me in a can’t-burp mode. This is when the liquid hits the les area, it causes it to try to burp, but you can’t. It feels like a truck wants to get out, you need to burp so badly. You go to the sink with your hands on the counter, mouth open, and spit flowing out of your mouth. It feels like a truck needs to get out, but can’t. About the time you feel like you are going to your knees, it seems to implode on itself and stops. This would happen if I tried to eat or drink most anything this day. I realized I wasn’t going to be able to eat or drink for a while and better limit my physical activities to zero, until I could at least drink.

  So, on Wednesday, April 14th, 2004, I started a log of my attempts at eating and drinking. In all honesty, it should be noted that when I say smoke, I mean smoking marijuana. I smoked a lot more then what I logged. It killed the internal pain in the small intestine and the repaired les area when I tried to eat or drink. It seemed to kill eighty to ninety percent of the pain and sure helped me survive. I would generally eat a bite of, or a sip of something, get severe pain and have to smoke up a storm to relieve the pain.  The use of marijuana was recommended by some friends that were visiting. They had heard that it was good for settling down the stomach.

I also should note that I had fairly strong pain in both shoulders for at least a few days after the operation. I read some where that this is caused by the CO2 gas that they use to blow up ones belly during the operation.

Weds. April 14th

  8am- Up for the day. Took two Vicodin and had a smoke, showered, back to bed.

Noon- one more Vicodin and a smoke, half can of apricots and a bit of frozen apple sauce. Hard to eat, without the les spasm. Burp relief, ate total half apricot and one teaspoon of frozen applesauce. Walked around the yard, changing sprinklers and watering. Rode my bicycle about a mile down the road and back.

3pm-Eat half apricot, chewed well. It seemed to go down better then the last one at noon. My les gets a ball feeling, than if I burp or regurge, it will relieve it. This is from eating or drinking. Lying on my back seems to help relieve this. Smoke also seems to relieve this pressure, a lot.

3:45pm-Ate about three teaspoons of frozen applesauce. Went down fairly well, but spasmed a bit after. Burped, regurged bubble spit. Regurged must of the applesauce and spit it out. Things have settled down a bit.

4pm-Took one Vicodin and had a smoke. Hardy pain, like I need to burp badly.

4:20pm-Ate a few dried cherries, as les was feeling better. Pressure, burp, burp and les mostly ok feeling.

4:25pm-Ate a few jumbo raisins. Pressure, regurged several times and spit out to relieve lots of bubble spit.

4:44pm-Sevire want to burp problem. Lasted several minutes, almost put me on the floor.

4:49pm- Feel almost normal now.

5:50pm-Ate half an apricot. Went down well.

7:25pm-Tried some chicken noodle soup.

7:30pm-Several large burps after several spoons of soup.

7:35pm-Two more spoons of soup, too much pressure, until burping and regurgitating some soup.

7:50pm-More pressure. Heavy. Finally burped and relieved a bit.

8:05pm-Took one Vicodin with a bit of water, much pressure, until I burped.

11pm-Ate a half apricot, pressure, salivate, severe on the floor type pain, finally burped a few times.

  Thursday, April 15th  Blood pressure-138/70, 151/72, 151/66  Pulse 70,81,84

  1:30am-Took two Vicodin and had a smoke. Pressure salivate, severe on the floor type pain. Finally burped a few times to relieve.

8am-Woke up and took shower. Try no meds for a while. Everything feels ok, except for the pressure buildup after swallowing a little bit of anything. Passed some gas during the night. Burping some this morning.

12 noon-Still now pain meds, except smoke. Not eating for a while. Not having too much pressure problems, as I’m able to burp it out.

1pm-Drink about three small swallows of water. Causes pressure feeling.

1:05pm-Finally relieved with burps, the pressure from drinking the water.

4:30pm-Sucked on a butterscotch hard candy. Severe bloat. But finally relieved by tucking neck in tight and trying to burp. This seemed to help.

8:30pm-Try some chicken broth. Had five or six swallows with some small pieces of Swiss cheese. Ok for a while, then, bad bloat. Smoke seems to cure.

9:30pm-Need to eat or drink, one swallow at a time.

10:30pm-Ate a swallow at a time of vanilla ice cream. Seemed to help a little. Three or four swallows.

  Friday April 16th                               Wt: 197 pounds

  12:30am-It’s been a rough day. But better then the day before. I didn’t eat or drink much. About a total of eight oz. of water and chicken broth. I have severe bloat at times. My intestines seem full of gas. I am passing some of it. Bedtime.

8:30am-Wake up. Passed some gas last night. My intestines seem a little less bloated this morning. Still hard to eat or drink.

11:30am-Ate an inch of banana. Went down well.

11:35am-Some of the burp back. Try another inch of banana.

11:40am-That was a bad mistake. After hard to burp. But finally did.

11:50am-Burping problems after eating banana and a few small swallows of water.

2:15pm-Trying to eat one-quarter cup of chicken noodle soup.

2:20pm-Ok, I finished the soup, with some difficulty in burp back.

2:35pm-Suffering some. No burp problems from the soup.

4pm-Swallow two teaspoons of vanilla ice cream. Seems to make me cough.

4:05pm-Swallowed a swallow of water. Much pressure to burp. Finally burped, which helped some.

8:30pm-Try eat a half cup halved apricots

9:30pm-Ate only about one third cup of the apricots. Ate two teaspoons of ice cream.

10pm-That last stuff was too much. Much Burp stress!

  Sat. April 17th       Blood pressure 139/72   Pulse 71     Wt: 197 pounds

  1am-Had rough day. Drank about 12 oz. Of water, 10 oz. Of tea, one third cup apricots, four or five swallows of ice cream and two square inches of banana, one-quarter cup of chicken noodle soup. All this on Friday.

Five punctures have less pain today. A lot of lower stomach pain. Some shoulder pain. Gas and burping problems.

3am-Not sleeping well. Took two Vicodin. Terrible spasm at les. No burp. Smoke. Finally burp.

11am-Woke up. Feeling fairly well. Good sleep. Can roll over in sleep.

4pm- Took a Decussate

4:30pm-Had a small bowel movement/

4:45pm-Have both shoulders sore today. Have some low internal pain in the esophagus area. Had first smoke of the day. Helped the pain quite a bit.

5:30pm-Try to eat about a cup of chicken noodle soup.

6:15pm-Still working on the soup. It’s a chore.

6:30pm-Adding some noodles to the last one-quarter cup of soup broth, as they seem to go down the easiest.

7pm-I think I ate my cup of soup. I seem full and won’t eat the rest of the added noodles.

9:30pm-Ate one-quarter cup vanilla pudding. Went down easy. Less than five minutes. Good.

11pm-Jelly bellies seem to eat well and go down easily.

  Sunday April 18th  Blood pressure 138/81  Pulse 66       wt: 193 pounds

  I had a tired type day. However, I seem to be able to eat pudding and jelly beanies. I think my energy will pick up. I only used smoke, marijuana, for pain control today. No Vicodin. I was able to drink about 18 oz. of water today in small swallows. I’m afraid to just drink the water down, as it puts my les in a spasm easily. I ate about a cup of chicken noodle soup also. I can eat the noodles and chicken better than the broth, as the broth tends to spasm my les area and that’s not nice.

Overall through, I’d say there has been quite an improvement in things today. I feel I might make it yet. :o)

1:40am- I was just brave and swallowed one-quarter cup of water rather fast. It sure try’s to spasm the les area. I made it though, without too bad a spasm problem.

10am- I’m up. Ate a half a banana. Well, I ate half of it. Feels like there is something stuck in my throat.

12:30pm- Eating the banana wasn’t a good idea. I ate about half of it. My les is feeling slightly spasmed, and like, it’s not doing its proper motor function.

4pm- Ate 10 oz. Of vanilla pudding. It went down fairly well

4:30pm- Took a Decussate.

7:30pm- Ate another 10 oz. Of vanilla pudding.

8pm- Drank about one-eighth cup of water down. Lockup, meaning can’t burp badly!

9pm- Ate some noodle and broth soup. Was able to eat about one-quarter-cup noodle. Couldn’t do the broth. Too much les lockup.

11:30pm- Ate a slice of turkey lunchmeat with mayo. Went down fairly well, but had a bad case of the les spasm, bad case!

11:45pm- regurgitated some turkey. Hard on me!

  Monday April 19th     Blood pressure: 139/96  Pulse: 70       Wt: 192 lbs.

  12:20am- Regurgitated a bit more turkey.

12:45am- Bedtime. Mostly, a good day. Bloat seems to be the main problem. Hurts are hurting less as far as the five punctures. Les area isn’t as painful, so I can work the area better. How ever, the les area seems to get into some kind of spasm after eating or drinking. If I can relieve some of the gas pressure by burping, it does improve, at least for a bit. So, it seems to me, I’m bloated and the gas pressure on my sore les is causing me this problem.

**9am- Up, Drank about one quarter cup warm water in shower. Les spasm. Using two fingers to press on tongue causes burp, relieving pain.

10am- Ate ten oz. Chocolate pudding.

11am- Ate eight oz. Frozen fruit juice, frozen.

4pm- Ate eight oz. Vanilla pudding.

7:30pm- Ok finished it. Had some regurgitation, but most of it stayed down with help of burping.

  Tuesday April 20th       Blood Pressure: 150/92     Pulse: 71       Wt: 192 lbs.

  12:30am- Bedtime Ok, still improving. Five punctures are doing great. Everything looks perfect on all five. Starting to itch. Very little pain. Still have bloating problem. Can relieve with finger pressured on tongue. I made some improvement on my eating and drinking. It’s still difficult. About a one-quarter cup or less of anything fills me up.

You could also add about another sixteen oz. of the sugar enriched frozen fruit punch; I’ve been eating to the other items I listed today.

10am-Up. Ate ten oz. vanilla pudding

Saw the doctor, my surgeon. Recommended I use Gasx, eat some yogurt and get some protein from fish or chicken. Call her in a week.

5pm- Ate six oz. of blueberry yogurt. Took one Gasx after and a little water.

9:30pm- Eating a bit of soft beef. Brother brought over. Also starting a six oz. orange yogurt. Burping myself

10pm- Couldn’t eat most of the yogurt. Feel full.

10:45p- Add some tea, chamomile. Got it to go down with not too much trouble. Burped a bit.

11:30pm- Ate some more frozen fruit juice. Took a Gasx.

12:40am- Ate one large asparagus with mayo.

  Weds. April 21st          Blood Pressure 131/86       Pulse:73       Wt: 190 lbs.

  10am- Up

10:45am- Ate sixteen oz. orange yogurt and one Gasx. Some water and tea. Twelve oz., total.

2pm- Ate one Gasx

2:30pm- Ate a little chicken. Three small pieces. Need to burp.

4:15pm- Ate a few spoons of cottage cheese. Regurgitated a little of it.

10pm- Ate some yogurt. Ate one Gasx.

11:30pm- Bedtime.

  Thurs. April 22nd        Blood Pressure: 121/73       Pulse: 73        Wt: 190 lbs.

  9:30am- Up. Ate yogurt. One Docosate. One Gasx

11am- Had a small Bowel Movement

12noon- Ate a few bites chicken

2pm- Sipped eight oz. of hot Pepsi. Heated to remove bubbles

3:30pm- Ate a couple tablespoons of cottage cheese

4pm- Ate a Gasx.

4:05pm- regurgitated some spittle. Interesting, the Gasx was captured in a bubble mucus mass. Doesn’t seem to help much.

10pm- Finally had a good burp. Fells better when I can burp without pressing tongue.

**4:30pm- here’s what seems to be happening. The les area seems to be rejecting any substance that I eat or drink. It coats things with a clear mucus that seems to bubble. These bubbles seem to be causing gas.

5:10pm- took one Gasx pill. No chew type.

9pm- Ate some chicken pieces and Swiss cheese pieces. Tried not to chew up too much. Took one Gasx pill.

10pm- Les area has been bothering me, since I ate. Full pressure got me, ugh! I can burp free now.

11pm- Ate some avocado

12midnight- Drank eight oz. of heated water. Most stayed down. Some burped up. Finally, gagged and don’t feel too burpy at the moment. :O)

  Fri. April 23rd        Blood Pressure: 121/73        Pulse: 73            Wt: 188 lbs.

  12:20am- had a hard day trying to eat and drink. Caused a lot of burping pain and can’t burp type pain in the les area. The more I try to eat and drink, the more I seem to hurt in the les area. I’m using marijuana for some pain control. It helps, but isn’t perfect.

1:30am- drank two six oz. glasses of water. Hot, went down well. Drink more of this!

10am- Drank ten oz. water, hot. Went down without burp problem-Good.

11am- Ate six oz. yogurt with one Gasx pill.

12:30pm- Drank sight oz. hot water.

2pm- Drank eight oz. hot water.

4:30pm- Drank eight oz hot water.

8:30pm- ate a six oz. vanilla pudding. One Gasx.

11:30pm- Drank eight oz. cold water. Didn’t work. Heated water and was able to consume it, without creating burping sensation in les area.

2am- Ate fruit pop cycle and a little ice cream.

Today I tried to relax on trying to eat, to give my les area time to settle down. But, because I can now drink hot water, I tried to consume more of that. Now that I can drink hot water, my dehydration worry is over. This means that I can settle down and not push so hard to consume.

  Sat. April 24th    Blood Pressure: 125/74   Pulse: 79     Wt: 187 lbs.

  10:3;am- Up.

11am- drank half glass hot water and ate yogurt.

11:15am- Drank six oz. glass of hot water and one Gasx pill.

1:30pm- Drank six oz. hot water.

2pm- about an hour cutting grass with mower.

3:50pm- Drank six oz. hot water.

6pm- Drank six oz. hot water. Had to burp myself, but came out ok.

6:30pm- Ate six oz. of pudding

7:30pm- Ate two cooked shrimp. Some back pressure.

9:15pm- Ate another shrimp. Some Swiss cheese and chicken pieces

10:30pm- Bed

130am- Pop cycle Fruit, six oz. hot water.

  Sun April 25th

  9:30am- Up, ate a yogurt. Drank six oz. hot water.

11am- went kayaking for the day.

5pm- Drank six oz. hot water.

Had a chicken wing today. Caused much trouble. Seemed to bruise my les area.

7pm- Ate half fruit pop cycle.

8pm- took a Docusate. Drank three oz. hot water.

10:30pm- Ate frozen juice bar.

1am- Drank eight oz. hot water. Took two Aspirin and two Tylenol.

6am- Drank eight oz. hot water.

  Mon April 26th           Blood Pressure 131/82          Pulse 65        Wt: 184 lbs.

  10:30am- Drank eight oz. hot water and ate a yogurt.

3pm- Drank eight oz. hot water

3:15pm- Ate six oz. vanilla pudding

6:pm- Ate a boil prawn and one bite chicken

7pm- Drank eight oz. hot water

7:44pm- Ate a bite of chicken. One Gasx pill and some water. Tried to barf the water and a bit of chicken.

9pm0- Ate fruit pop cycle

11pm- Drank eight oz. hot water

2am- Drank eight oz. hot water

5am- Drank eight oz. hot water

  Tues. April 27th        Blood Pressure: 138/87      Pulse: 76      Wt: 184 lbs.

  9am- Drank eight oz. hot water

10am- Ate a yogurt

1pm- Drank eight oz hot water

1:15pm- Small bowel movement

2pm- Drank about six tablespoons of chicken broth, hot.

2:45pm- Ate a bite of chicken noodles

4:30pm- Ate a couple tablespoons of cottage cheese

6:30pm- Drank eight oz. hot water

7pm- Ate one tablespoon cottage cheese. Ate some more chicken noodle soup

8:30pm- Ate a couple tablespoons of noodles and chicken

10pm- Drank eight oz. hot water

10:20pm- Ate three prawns, boiled

11:30pm- Drank eight oz. hot water

1am- drank eight oz. Hot water

4:30am- Drank eight oz. hot water.

Today would have to be classed as a break day. I’m able to consume solids in small quantities without all the pain and kickback trying to burp. I’m still smoking a fair amount of marijuana for pain control in the digestive track.

  Weds. April 28th       Blood Pressure 130/84      Pulse: 84      Wt: 186 lbs.

  10am- Drank eight oz. cold water

10:30am- Drank a cup of coffee.

11am- Ate three boiled shrimp. Too fast. Some barf back.

11:15am- Ate a couple table spoons cottage cheese.

3pm- Drank about ten oz. vanilla milk shake. Eight oz. hot water. Stomach cramps. Tried to barf, feel better, had a smoke.

7pm- Ate half a frozen fruit bar.

8pm- Ate one cup chicken noodle soup. Went down well, with no problems

10:30pm- Ate half fresh orange. Not ready for that. Had a smoke.

3am- Drank eight oz. hot water.

Mostly a good day. Was able to consume a fair amount of chicken noodle soup without much problem. My stomach proper seems to reject other solids, if I feed it too fast of other solid things, like boiled prawns.

  Thurs. April 29th      Blood Pressure: 131/82     Pulse: 62     Wt: 184 lbs.

  10am- Up.

10:30am- Ate one scrambled egg. Went down fairly well. Ate it slow.

11am- Drank eight oz. hot water. One Gasx pill. Mowed some grass, about an hour.

12noon Drank eight oz. hot water

2pm- Ate one boiled prawn

2:30pm- Ate one cup chicken noodle soup

3pm- Start eating apricot halves

4:30pm- Drank eight oz. water

8pm- Ate one cup chicken noodle soup

12midnight- Finished the half can of apricots, which I started to eat at 3pm.

5:30am- Drank eight oz. hot water.

Good day. Showed quite a bit of improvement in getting things down. Ate about two cups of soup. The les area is a bit sore. Hot things go down better than cold things. It’s hard to drink cold water, more then a swallow, but I can drink hot water with little problem, about eight oz. at a time. It’s easy to eat the chicken and noodles in the soup. My energy level was a bit better today.

  Fri. April 30th      Blood Pressure: 131/72      Pulse: 67       Wt: 184 lbs.

  10am- Drank eight oz. hot water

10:30am- Ate a peach yogurt. Mowed grass for forty-five minutes.

11:30pm- Drank eight oz. hot water

1pm- Tried some poached fish. Went down, but caused intestinal turmoil. Three bites, having a smoke to relieve pain.

1:30pm- Drank eight oz. hot water.

2pm- Had a small bowel movement.

2:30pm- Ate half-cup chicken noodle soup with fish pieces added.

2:45pm- Ate fruit pop cycle

4:30pm- Ate an ice cream Klondike bar. OK

7:30pm- Ate the rest of the chicken noodle soup with fish pieces added. Good ay to get the fish to go down without much trouble. Total, two cups soup today. I think I’m starting to feel internal gurgles that I think is gas passing out of the stomach proper.

My les area is heeling and becoming less sensitive. This means it can handle gas pressure better, without causing the need to burp sensation. This means I don’t have to burp as much and more gas is emptying out of the stomach proper.

  Sat. May 1st           Wt: 187 lbs.

  9am- Drank eight oz. hot water.

10:20am- Drank eight oz. hot water.

10:45am- scrambled two eggs with a slice of cheese and a cup of coffee, one Gasx pill.

2:30pm- Ate one pop cycle juice bar.

3:30pm- Ate one Klondike ice cream bar.

6pm- Ate a few tablespoon tuna. Drank eight oz. hot water.

8pm- Ate two cups chicken noodle soup

11:30am- Ate one slice Monterey Jack cheese.

Les area continues to heal. More gas felt moving downward.

  Sun May 2nd      Wt: 287 lbs.

  11:30am- Tried to eat two eggs scrambled with two slices of cheese. Ate too fast. Caused barf back. Drank cup coffee. Slow down.  Most of the eggs and cheese stayed down with some effort.

1:30pm- Ate pop cycle

4:30pm- Ate a few tablespoons of cottage cheese. Caused some barf backpressure. Drank eight oz. hot water

5pm- Ate pop cycle

7pm- Ate one and a half cups macaroni and cheese. Went down well.

8pm- Small bowel movement

9pm- Constipated, bloated cramps in lower intestines. Took one Docusate

10:10pm- Large Bowel movement. Ended in soft blowout. That flushed my system out.

  Mon. May 3rd       BP: 127/63     Pulse: 62       Wt: 187 lbs.

11am- Ate chicken noodle soup, fortified with more noodles about one cup.

12noon- Ate vanilla pudding

3pm- drank eight oz. hot orange juice, one small breakfast sausage, pork

Drank eight oz. hot orange juice.

5:30pm- Ate small pork sausage.

6pm- ate peaches in Jell-O

Doing fairly well to day. I can drink cold water, with just a little backpressure burp action. Mat products are starting to go down, but they seem to bruise the les area a bit, still.

  Tues. May 4th        BP: 139/85     Pulse: 78      Wt: 187 lbs.

  9:30am- First normal bowel movement today.

10am- Drank eight oz. hot water

3pm- Ate one cup minestrone soup

4:30pm- Drank eight oz. hot water.

6:30pm- Ate a few tablespoons of tuna.

7:30pm- Ate eight oz. apricot halves.

8pm- took a PPI, as I’m feeling a bit sore in the les area and I want to see if it settles my small intestinal area?

8:45pm- Ate two slices jack cheese

230am- Drank eight oz. hot water.

  Weds. May 5th      BP: 139/77      Pulse: 68       Wt: 188 lbs.

  10:30am- One cup minestrone soup

3:3pm- One strawberry milk shake

5pm- took a PPI

6:30pm- Ate three tablespoons tuna. Causes tightness in the les area, burp pressure. Frank four oz. hot water to relieve.

8pm- Ate two small breakfast pork sausages. Regurgitated a bit. Chased with four oz. hot water.

9pm- Bowel movement

9:30 Ate half Avocado

12midmight: Drank eight oz. hot water.

The les area is still improving. As it gets better, I don’t have to burp as much, forcing more gas downward. It’s still unpleasant to eat meats and drink room temp water. These things are improving everyday. Even though I’m not burping as much, I still have to burp a lot, to relieve gas pressure on the les area. I’m trying to burp less to give my original systems time to heal. I’m sure burping is not good for my sore throat.

  Thursday May 6th             Wt: 187 lbs.

  11am- eight oz. hot water

11:30am- Two cups chicken noodle soup

1pm- eight oz. orange juice hot

1:30pm- small bowel movement

3pm- ate fruit snack bar

6:30pm- took a PPI, just in case.

7:30pm- two cups French onion soup with two small breakfast sausages.

8pm- one slice jack cheese

9pm- eight oz. hot water

1:30am- eight oz hot water

  Les area is sore, as in a sore throat. Similar to what it was before the operation.

Les area is also still sensitive from the operation, causing burp back-pressure, when eating or drinking certain items, like room temp water and meats.

Still improving.

  Friday May 7th      BP: 139/73           Pulse: 63               Wt: 188 lbs.

12noon- ate peach yogurt

3:30pm- ate six oz. ice cream

5pm- two cups clam chowder with tatters. One Gasx pill. One PPI pill.

6:30pm- ate one slice jack cheese

7pm- ate three large asparagus with mayo.

7:30pm- ate ice cream bar.

9pm- ate half cup Mac/cheese

10pm- drank one cup coffee, sorta tasteless

2am- drank eight oz water.

I’ve tried to take it easy on my les area today. I tried to eat soft things as not to irritate it, as yesterday, it was quite sore. This seems to have helped.

  Saturday May 8th     Wt: 188 lbs.

  Today, I’m changing to just giving a report.

  My les area continues to improve, as far as soreness. As the soreness gets better, food and drink goes through the les area with less difficulty. I feel this difficulty should pass within a few days. Also, as the soreness goes out, less gas seems to be generated. Still can’t drink tap water without difficulty. I’m having less small intestinal pain. Very little at this point. I was able to eat about a cup of deer meat cooked in a sort of stew/broth.

  Sunday May 9th   Wt: 188 lbs.

  Today, I thought I was a lot better and could eat. But the pork spare rib caused a set back and seems to have irritated my les area. Seems to have bruised or scratched my les area. So my les hurts like it did a few days ago. I did eat some other things before the spare rib that seemed to go down without a problem. Mixed nuts, crackers, brie cheese, beans.

  Monday May 10th     Wt: 187 lbs.

  Today, I ate mostly soups and ice cream. My les area is a bit sore today, I think from eating the spare rib, yesterday. Have I mentioned that my energy seems low?

  Tuesday May 11th    

  Tried some boiled chicken pieces. They don’t go down well. Causes much gas.

  Thursday May 13th       Wt: 185 lbs.

  Sunday May 16th     Wt: 185 lbs.

  It’s been five weeks since the operation. I’m able to drink a half glass of water, not hot, with just a little after shock. Not quite normal yet. I’m able to eat more things without problems, but am still not all the way back to normal yet. I’m not making as much gas as I used to, when eating and drinking. My les area is still sore, but improving daily.

  Monday May 17th

  Ate my first burger, fries and strawberry shake today. The fries went down fairly well. The shake also went down fairly well, with one or two regurgitations of bubbly mucus strawberry shake. The double whopper with cheese, three-quarter of it went down with a lot less trouble than I figured. I did get some gas from it, but the les area seems to be less sensitive, so I didn’t get the bad, can’t burp kickback. I finished the other one quarter, a bit later.

I was surprised to find that I could eat these things with as little difficulty as I did. Maybe, in a few days, I’ll be able to eat these things and enjoy them too. I noted that this burger, fries and shake did not cause the normal regurgitations after eating them, as they usually did, before the operation.

  Sunday May 23rd    End of sixth week

  I’m still having problems with gas, when I swallow things. It seems my les area is still sensitive. It’s not as bad as it was, but I need to eat or drink things slowly.

I can drink non-hot water, but it always causes a need to burp/can’t burp.

The gas I’m talking about is the gas that is created when food or drink goes through the les area. It’s what causes bloating.

May 30th    End of week seven

  About the same as week six. Maybe a slight improvement.

  June 6th       End of week eight

  There has been some improvement this past week, but as I eat more things, there has been some set back. Eating scratchy foods, like popcorn, caused my les area to become more sensitive, which gives me the can’t-burp feeling that makes it unpleasant to eat. Otherwise, things are slowly improving.

June 13th    End of week nine     Wt: 183 lbs.

This week was a good one. Some things seem to be changing. I’m able to eat and drink most things without or very little can’t-burp. My les isn’t as sensitive as it was. I’m still making quite a bit of gas, but the less sensitive les area is tolerating it better, so I’m able I direct more gas downward, instead on upward.

I’ve been burping quite a bit to relieve the pressure on the les area. I know this is counter productive, burping, and will try to reduce it, as things are getting better. Most of the original soreness in the les area is gone, but the cold or mucus, in the les is still with me. Eating scratchy foods right now seem to aggravate the les area a bit, so it is still a bit tender. I note a big change this week in the can’t-burp problem. It’s only slight right now, so rarely nave to force a burp, by pressure on my tongue. Mostly when I can feel it coming on, it now clears on it’s own. This is also because the les area can handle more gas pressure as it heals.

  June 20th      End of week ten

  Things are better. I’m eating more, with less can’t-burp problems.

At this time, I will define the can’t-burp problem, as I now know it. As I eat or drink some things, my les area goes into a mode that makes one feel like they have to burp, but can’t. It’s hard to eat or drink in this mode, until the can’t-burp feeling is cleared. I can usually clear this by pressing on my tongue with my fingers. This creates an air burp or regurgitation of some food. I’ve also noticed that when this happens, the spit in my throat gets very thick, more like mucus. When this can’t-burp thing happens, it may take five or six tongue press burps to clear it, so I can continue eating. Again, these tongue pressed burps are either gas or regurgitated food. I spit out a fair amount of mucus spit in the process of clearing.

I still have the original cold in my throat feeling, which I has before my operation. I’m still making more gas that normal, which causes me to burp a lot, which I’m trying to cut back on. I feel my les area is still too sensitive. Part of the problem seems to be eating scratchy foods, seems to aggravate it.

  June 27th   End of week eleven

  I noted this week, that spittle bubbles are back in the spit in my mouth. Before, my spit was semi-clear with just a few bubbles. It’s been this way, likely since this problem started about three years ago. Now, my spit is real bubbly, and whitish in appearance. I haven’t seen it this way in a along time. I hope this indicates I’m heeling and the mucus forming in my throat will eventually disappear.

The, can’t-burp thing, when eating or drinking, continues to improve, but is still sometimes a problem. I note that a good deal of mucus seems to form in my throat when this happens. I usually bring this up and spit it out.

  Sept. 17th     About six months after the operation    Wt: 200 lbs.

  I still get the can’t-burp thing sometimes when eating. I note that scratchy type foods can cause this to become more sensitive. Toast, deep-fried foods, bacon, crispy things or seeded things are what I’d call scratchy. They can make my les area sensitive which makes me more prone to can’t-burp problem.

I believe this problem is very slowly healing.

Heartburn is almost totally gone. I can eat most anything, although, carbonated beverages can sometimes cause the can’t-burp problem. Drinking water, which was one of the hardest things to get down has become much easier to do, almost back to normal.

The sore in my throat that I had before the operation is gone. The cold like thing, mucus from the esophagus, I still have.

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