Sunday, February 10, 2013

Back to Work - Surgery + 3 weeks

Back to work...and an 18 mile Mt. Bike ride.  All is well physically at this point and eating continues to be a joy.  I have been surprised by how much better I feel in general, more energy and I had not realized how I constantly had that low blood sugar feeling before my surgery.  Mostly fruits and vegetables is what I eat and it is wonderful although I do miss the foie gras, cheese and chocolate mousse diet I was following in France.  I have found that I need to chew my bites a few more times than normal to make for easy swallowing, especially bread and meat.  There have been about 5 times in the last 3 weeks when food has hesitated at the bottom of my esophagus before going into my stomach.  I have to remember that I have a permanent swallowing disorder and that the surgery simply helped with the symptoms and did not cure me.  Swallowing is easy and I feel normal again.  No signs of heartburn only occasional burping which is new to me,  I assume since my LES was clamped shut before no air could possibly escape.  Not enough burping to be inappropriate or awkward only very small amounts many times throughout the day, definitely more than normal but not something that affects my day in any way.

I have gained 7 lbs. since my surgery 3 weeks ago.  Now topping the scales at a whopping 145 lbs.

Riquewihr, France.  We saw a few stuffed foxes here and there around Alsace.



A teacher Kelly worked with (Kelly and I went to school with her son and she lives just around the corner from us) at Griffin Creek Elementary who retired a number of years ago was just diagnosed with Achalasia (affects 1 in 100,000 people) and had an appointment with a local surgeon when we found out and turned her on to Dr. Swanstrom.  She has an appointment to see him later in February and I am so happy for her to have the opportunity / privilege  to be under his care.  Yesterday I discovered a video conference on Youtube in which my Dream Team Dr.'s Swanstrom and Perretta were leading a discussion on the POEM surgery that was being attended by surgeons from John's Hopkins University, Mt. Sinai Hospital, Dalhousie medical school, Cleveland clinic and a few others.  These Dr.'s are the ones teaching the other Dr.'s around the world.  I still can't believe how fortunate I was to have such a fantastic opportunity.



Sunrise in Trincomoli Channel B.C. Canada, July 2012
We rode our bikes last weekend and I felt much better than on my first ride.  Normal but not conditioned.

1 comment:

  1. scott you okay, you took the weight then? here we expect spring winter is long ...

    ReplyDelete