Hello! And an Update


I want to thank each of you who have left me comments of well wishes, prayers, and offers to help me.  Healing has been about all I've had energy to deal with and have not been able to get back and reply.  Hopefully over the next few days I can do this.

I've had several people ask me how I'm doing in my recovery. I wanted to give you a little more of the details and an update.

This honestly has been one of the hardest things I've ever had to walk through. Recovery has been long and difficult. It has left me feeling exhausted most of the time. However I do seem to be turning a corner now and that has been so nice.

It has been 6 weeks now since my surgery. My main surgery, the one for my hiatal hernia (Nissan w/Fundoplication is the official name of it) has healed very well. I'm thrilled with the results of this. I don't have any more heartburn or acid reflux and no longer need to take any medications for this. I sleep better then I have in years due to not getting woke up countless times during the night because of the heartburn or acid reflux. I don't regret having this surgery.

I do regret the way it ended. After the surgery had been completed they sent a scope down my throat to make sure my esophagus was open and ended up ripping a 4 inch gash in my esophagus. This resulted in 6 days in ICU, intubation, chest tube, and much more. Thankfully I was heavily sedated as the few times I did come conscious were pretty horrific. Afterwards it left me barely able to walk (you loose body strength the longer you are not using your muscles. My nurses told me it can be 50% of your body strength after just 5 days) and completely unable to drink or eat anything by mouth. They put a stomach feeding tube in me and for the first 4 weeks that was my sole source of getting food, water and medications.

After I got home I still needed a lot of care. My wonderful, loving husband was my caretaker. He took 4 weeks off of work to be able to help me with the feedings, medications and regaining strength. I had weekly visits with a physical therapist, occupational therapist, speech pathologist and nurse, as well as follow up visits with various doctors.

As of now I'm down to just the speech pathologist and nurse. I'm up and doing more and my strength has slowly started coming back. I'm able to take care of myself and do a few basic simple household chores. Just being able to do those things is huge from where I started.

My main issue now is my throat continuing to heal and regaining the complete ability to swallow. Swallowing is something we take for granted but I've had to basically relearn how to do this and force my muscles to do what they should naturally do. I'm at the point I can eat and swallow softer type foods such as eggs, ground beef, cooked veggies, soft cooked chicken and so forth. I usually need to have water to help it all go down smoothly. I've made enough progress in my eating and drinking that the doctor was able to remove my feeding on Tuesday. It's still a lot of work for me to swallow and eat. It takes a lot of concentration. And I still have little to no appetite. I've lost 15 pounds in the process and while weight loss is not something I mind, there is a good way to lose and not so good way. For now I try and concentrate of foods that are the most calorie and nutritionally dense and I'm eating more then I was a week ago and the weight loss has slowed down.

Today was probably the first day I felt like I had the energy to sit down and write a post. I'm praying that each day and each week that goes by my strength will continue to improve and my throat will continue to heal. I look forward to my life going back to normal again.



Comments

  1. Sending many healing thoughts to you, I am glad you are gaining strength, with being such an active woman it has to be hard to be the one having to be kept down, I pray you have continued strength & healing ~ Shannon in Spokane

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    1. Thank you Shannon.. it has been a challenge

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  2. been worrying about you, so glad you've turned a corner and feeling better

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  3. Glad to hear you are on the mend, been thinking about you through this whole trial; prayers for a swift and full recovery for you continue :) Hugs to you too!

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    1. I'm very appreciative of the prayers ❤❤

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  4. I too have been worried about you, so thankful you are a little bit better, every day will get better, soon you will be active again. My prayers go out for you every night.With Love.

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    1. That's my hope and desire... Day by day getting more active. Thank you for the prayers and love ❤

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  5. Oh bless your heart Crystal. That all sounds just awful! Praying for your continued good progess. Hugs

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    1. It has been tough.. thank you for the prayers ❤

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  6. I have also been worried.. so sorry you are going thru this. Glad to finally hear you are feeling stronger.. Praying for you.

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  7. Debbie Hite (Sissy)March 2, 2018 at 6:09 PM

    Dear sweet girl, I love you so much. I'm thankful for the improvement, but I know it's terribly hard for you. I pray for your complete healing and comfort. Please let people take care of you and wait on you. I want you well. Me and God and lots of other people love you so much.💕

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    1. Love you sister ❤❤ thank you for the prayers and love ❤

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  8. Oh my precious friend I had no idea! So glad you’re on the mend- what a monstrous thing to go through. Praying for your continued healing!!

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    1. It's been a challenge.. thank you for your prayers Dalyn ❤

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  9. Continued prayers <3

    Lisa

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  10. Praying for you now dear. I agree, it was monstrous!

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  11. Hi Crystal, what an awful thing to have happen! I’ll be praying for your recovery. I had a Toupet Fundopication a few years ago and it was life changing, so I understand how wonderful it feels to no longer have reflux. I also work with a surgeon who performs these operations, I am surprised they did a gastroscopy after it, it’s not common practise to do that in my experience. Thinking of you. Ness from Australia

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    1. That is interesting Ness .. my Dr said it was common as they need to make sure the stomach wrap is not to tight.. I'm not sure.. but I would have been much happier if they had not done it.. thank you for the prayers ❤

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  12. Dear Crystal,
    Thanks so much for the update. I was beginning to worry. I had read your previous post, so I knew you were having a difficult recovery. I have been praying for you and will continue to do so. I'm glad you have turned a corner.
    God Bless,
    Kim

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    1. Thank you for the prayers Kim. I am grateful for them ❤

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  13. I have to say, you are an amazing witness. After all that, you could be very angry at your doctor, but never once have you complained in anger about the mistake. Bless you, and prayers for strength and feeling better very soon.

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    1. I guess my energy has been needed to recover.. and moving forward.. 🙂 I appreciate your prayers so much ❤ ❤ thank you

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  14. Thank you for the update. I check the blog every few days to see if you've posted. So glad you are on the mend and able to eat and do a few things around the house. Hugs to you.

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  15. Thank you for the update! Was very concerned when I kept checking your blog and nothing new would be on there. Prayers for continued healing and strength!

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  16. Thank you for the update. I am so glad you are healing and hopefully your health will be restored very soon. I pray that God wraps His loving arms around you and gives you peace, strength, and that He heals your body very quickly. God bless you. Mickey from PA

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  17. Hi Crystal inbox sorry you have been through so much - I had no idea. I have not read your blog for a long time now as your updates don't seem to be coming through my email account.
    May you continue to recover and heal quickly.
    Blessings
    Page

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