I was first case of the day, which was great to get the surgery over as early as possible for me! It's a laparoscopic surgery. I had 5 holes in my abdomen. 4 probably had 5mm trocars, and one bigger, 12mm (probably). the surgeon and team inflate ones abdomen to make some room, then place the trocars, and the whole surgery is done through those holes! Pretty wild. It took the team about 1.5 hours to get everything done, and the Linx placed.
I was told that some tissue is trimmed around the diaphragm to see if there is any significant gap where the esophagus passes through the diaphragm, or any other anomalies can be seen, then the esophagus is sized, and the Linx is appropriately sized.
An overnight stay in the hospital is normal, I was eating soft foods and drinking soon after to ensure everything worked properly and get the ball rolling. The surgery left me with a good deal of pain, and I needed some pain relief through the night. It wasn't a terrible stay. My friends and Kelly hung out at different times, and the nurses took good care of me through the night.
The next morning the my doctor. (Dr. Garwood) came to check in on me and I was set to go. I was prescribed some codeine, ibuprofen, anti-nausea, and a laxative. They were all liquid. i ended up just using the ibuprofen.
The following week was full of a good bit of pain. I went back to work 4 days post surgery. Eating every two hours or so was probably the biggest challenge with food and drink aggravating my esophagus as it struggled to get things going properly. Two weeks in, I am a bit better off, have learned how to ease into eating and drinking. Once things are going well, I can actually drink and eat alost normally. There is still some pain and fatigue, but I am already riding my bike more and think the Linx is suppressing acid/bile reflux. Every day seems a bit better.
Chris
