Tim

[Guest guest]

I had an -ectomy on Jan. 11th of this year and now, almost 1 year

later - I've gained much more than I've lost as far as quality of

life. The first and best thing is that I have NO MORE spasms!! I

still sometimes get that 'oh, I'd better be careful with too much

coffee (or whatever) I don't want spasms and then remember - woo hoo -

I don't get them anymore.

It is not easy and it will take a year - or close to it for FULL

recovery but by 3rd 4th month out, I was eating a good variety of

food - I just needed to eat all day long.

I'm at 11 months post-op on Thursday of this week and I still sleep

elevated, still take PPI's and I can't bend over right after eating

but I can eat EVERYTHING (except citrus) that I want. I'm even eating

better quantities now and i'm back to a very healthy 115 lbs. I drink

wine with dinner - or just for kicks - whenever I want. HUGE

improvements over the restriction I used to have.

I'm glad you found someone who's done over 500 surgeries - that makes

an enormous difference. Is your surgeon going to do it lap, open,

thorascopically? We've had a variety of methods here, let us know and

whom ever has had that method can chime in with some personal

experiences.

If you continue with the April schedule, by the end of summer next

year you should really start feeling better and by the holidays of

next year, you should be eating whatever you want - just a bit slower

than most and probably about 3/4 the amount of what you eat now.

Start some walking or exercising now if you can, you've got some time

to prepare and it will make you feel and heal better in the long run.

Any other questions, please don't hesitate to ask - having the

experience of the others here made the entire experience for me MUCH

better.

Be positive and realize that after April 16th - you will no longer

have achalasia!!

- in NC

achalasia free since Jan. 11th