Hi all.
There's been a change in plans...
Apparently my reflux is considerably worse than I realized - and worse than the docs realized! Because of this, Dr. Gray (last transplant doc I had to meet) was going to try and get me into the stomach wrap surgeon (Dr. Perez) within a couple of weeks so that my stomach wrap could get scheduled.
Then Dr. Gray spoke with Dr. Zaas and they ran into Dr. Perez in the hallway. They all spoke about my case and Dr. Perez said he would do the surgery this Thursday! Well....now I'm staying in they hospital and undergoing a couple more tests and meeting with the anesthesiologist and having the surgery on Thursday. Hopefully I will then be discharged on Saturday or Sunday if all goes well. This will be a really long hospital stay!
In layman's terms the stomach wrap takes a section of the stomach and wraps it around the esophagus to decrease the diameter of the esophageal opening into and out of the stomach. This keeps food and/or acid from refluxing back up into the esophagus and then into my brand new lungs. Reflux is one of the main causes of infection and then rejection in transplanted lungs. Duke is considering making this stomach wrap surgery a mandatory part of lung transplant.
Dr. Zaas really wasn't good with sending me home anyway because I am still struggling too much to breathe. He knows me and knows my baseline better than the other docs so he was able to see right away that my breathing wasn't where it should be. This time should allow me to heal, rest and exercise to get stronger.
I am planning on feeling much better when I go home but, from what I hear, that may not be the case. Apparently with the stomach wrap a patient feels cruddy (nauseous, etc.) for around 3 weeks and then they start feeling much better until there are no symptoms at all. At least I should be able to breathe better :-)
I'll keep you posted with other updates!
Love,
Lee, Wendy and Missy
I just had this procedure on June 30th at Hopkins in Baltimore. It's called a Nissen Fundoplication. You should count on a hospital stay of about 3 days. My stay lasted 9 days because I dealt with pneumonia right after the surgery. Your appetite will be on and off for a little while. With every person it is different. Remember to eat slow and pay attention to your body. It will let you know what to eat and what not to eat. Even now I still struggle with eating breads and sweets. It has helped my at home PFTs stabilize a bit. Best wishes for a successful surgery.
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