Gratitude for post surgery success

[Guest guest]

There are many many successes from surgery in this group - myself included.

There are definitely many of us lurking on the list who had successful surgery

and check in but don't post regularly. It has been 7 months since my surgery

and I eat almost completely normally without thinking about it. And I have

gained back all of the weight I lost (tried to keep off that last 5, but hey,

eating is one of life's pleasures that I truly appreciate now.) Once in awhile

I eat while talking and laughing, usually something that sort of sticks

together, and might have to stop and drink a bunch of water, slow down, and make

sure it goes down before continuing to eat. I think I only have regurgitated 2

or 3 times -- and that was mostly because I was starting to panic a little and

have a pretty decent gag response at this point. I eat steak, bread, tortilla

chips, popcorn, all the things that I was warned might be hard after surgery.

And most of the time I don't even really think about it. In fact, I sometimes

feel guilty that I eat without appreciating what a gift it is. I do remember

the fear, the exhaustion, the weight loss, the panic of needing to regurgitate

with other people around, the pain, and the dehydration. I am incredibly

thankful for the good information I found on this group and the amazing surgeon

and GI who treated and diagnosed me so quickly and with such care.

This group is so active that usually by the time I read a question that I might

respond to, several other people have already chimed in. But as a " survivor " , I

am still here. And I will probably always check in every so often. I do wish I

understood root cause, I do worry about " what will break next " , and have

considered various naturopathic or other remedies, but suspect my best bet is

lots of sleep, exercise, eating healthy food and stress reduction so I'm strong

enough to manage whatever life dishes out with some grace and perseverance.

I feel lucky to have found a surgeon who has done hundreds of Myotomies -- and

he happens to have an office behind my house (and i don't mean a few blocks

away, I mean literally I could throw a rock over the fence in my backyard and

hit his office window). Everything he told me went according to plan. And

(let's hope it remains true) everything seems relatively " normal " .

HM 7/5/2011 in San CA, first heard word " achalasia " on 6/14/2011, went from

minor intermittent pain to unable to swallow thick liquids in 6 weeks, lost 25

pounds.

After surgery, was swallowing liquids easily after 24 hour " leak test " with no

pain, followed liquid to soft food diet, was eating normally by 8 weeks,

regained most/all of weight by 6 months.

On Feb 17, 2012, at 7:31 AM, Kim wrote:

> Sandy is probably right about most people moving on after a successful

surgery. Had my myotomy in sept. was successful.