Nissen Revision

Shawn here again, going to do a quick post on Thursday's nissen fundoplication procedure. The surgeon who performed the operation was actually a stranger to us, not a part of the Rosemurgy/Ross round up of rock star residents, and despite the extreme cynicism and distrust of the entire medical industry that I have developed over the last two years, I like him. Unlike the original Rosemurgy team at TGH, who would do nothing but test- we need a bravo ph test, we need a barium swallow test, we need a CT scan, we need another bravo ph test- and after all these shiny new experimental tests that lead to more tests, and all the waiting and waiting for the results of the tests, and after all the pain and agony of this brand new one-incision laparoscopic surgical procedure, and all the inevitable check up (learning experience) visits in the hospital room (class room) by bright eyed, bushy tailed (complete fucking asshole) GI residents (kids), they still didn't do the thing RIGHT.  When we first met this different doctor at the consultation for the surgery, we came in, he asked a bunch of questions, said "Okay, let's do this- come back next week" and now here we are.  Done. 

On the day of the surgery, the doctor came out about 11:45am and told us that he tried to go in with the scope and couldn't even find a plane where the wrap was attached because of all the scar tissue, and ended up having to take the whole thing apart by hand and start over, doing a 270 wrap instead of the full 360. "This was a hard one," he said.  Yeah. What else is new. .He also fixed her "2nd bellybutton" scar from the peg tube, and overall we are under the impression that the procedure went well, despite him having to resort to "plan B," which involved open surgery instead of laparoscopic. The closing statement is that the wrap is very loose, and she should have no problem getting food down now.  We'll see.  They let her have a fentanyl patch yesterday and that seems to be helping more than anything else, but as of right now the pain is still terrible. The thing about Tanya though, is that she's Tanya, and even though the torturous pain is obvious on her face, she's getting up and walking and talking, and her doctors are hoping to get her out of there by Monday.  I'll do my best to keep posting the progress- in the meantime, if anyone wants to visit her, the room number is A822.