Day 8 post op

So the redo Nissen Funduplication went MUCH better than anticipated. Unlike last time, I woke up with almost no pain. The Professor said that the surgery was complicated, but that he was happy with the result. They also did chest aspirations on the left and right side of my chest, which is not something I've heard about before. It sounds like they stuck a thick needle into the chest cavity to release the CO2 gas that they pump you up with for the laproscopic surgery. The Prof said that when they pulled my stomach down from underneath the lungs, a lot of gas goes into the chest cavity and it would have cause extreme pain. Excuse my non-medical explanation! The one on the left side left quite a massive bruise! The Anesthetist was FULL of compliments about my lungs though!! He said they sounded brilliant when he saw me before the op. Afterwards he said I was the healthiest CF patient he's ever seen (probably the only post transplant one too to be fair), and he also said my lungs were the best of all the patients on the theatre list that day... I was the easiest patient!

I came out of theatre between 7 and 8pm on the Wednesday evening, after a long day of waiting. The Thursday was BUSY... I had to go for a barium swallow test to see if I'm allowed to start my liquid diet. I had physio, saw the dietitian. was allowed to start the liquid diet, and had to go for "wound education" on how to look after the incisions at home. I was also given a follow up appointment date for 8 May, where I will be getting a post-op scope. The whole systems sort of functions like a machine! Discharge was on Friday, about 36 hours after the op! The most painful part was trying to get a drip into my crappy veins :-(

I now have 23 "hole" scars on my torso... 7 from first transplant, 5 from first Nissen, 6 from second transplant and now another 5. This is excluding the big scars from transplant and ECMO, or little scars from central lines. I do feel a bit like a voodoo doll with the crazy Achilles scar plus these 5 fresh ones though!

Yesterday was my nephew Adriaan's birthday!!! He's 2 years old now! I've been able to spend some good time with him and the rest of the family this past weekend! Annelie (my mom's sister) was also here this weekend, so it was great seeing her too.

Apart from being hungry all the time, that's the only news for now. Let's hope this surgery was a success... and no more surgeries anytime soon! I've had ENOUGH!