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Diane Detmer
Website designed, published and maintained by Diane Detmer
Contact Webmaster: dinki@charter.net
To Wrap or Not to Wrap
Dianne Farrell
Dianne Farrell
My name is Dianne Farrell. I am 44 years old and have Cystic Fibrosis. I had my lung transplant on August 23, 2005 and it was very successful. About a month after that the Transplant team at Duke talked to me about having the “stomach wrap” surgery, formally known as a Nissen fundoplication. I was not particularly thrilled with the idea of having to go through yet another surgical procedure given the fact that I had just been through the transplant. I also was not so convinced that it was for me. But let’s back up a bit.
As we all know, part of the transplant evaluation process includes the esophageal manometry test. This test determines how well the muscles in your esophagus work. I already knew that I had acid reflux but this test told the doctors that over the years, despite medication, the acid had damaged my esophageal muscles. Esophageal motility was very poor. Now I couldn’t feel this. I took Nexium everyday and never had a problem with swallowing or indigestion. The Nexium kept the acid reflux under control, although sometimes I had to supplement it with Tums. However the doctors were concerned that after my transplant I might aspirate stomach contents/acids into my lungs without knowing it. Therefore, to protect my new lungs they recommended I have the stomach wrap. Since I felt I was doing fine with the Nexium, it was a tough sell. However, after research (just Google Nissen fundoplication) and talking with the transplant doctors as well as Dr. Marroquin, the GI surgeon, I decided to go ahead with it.
My surgery was scheduled for the end of October. I was lucky that Dr. Marroquin, who was wonderful, was able to do it laparascopically. Because of this I was only in the hospital a couple of days. I had minimal discomfort from the small incisions. Tip: Wear loose, comfortable clothes. It took me a while before I could button jeans again.
The Recovery: This was the hard part. It is very important to follow the diet that Dr. Marroquin gives you. At first you will have almost all liquids. Then you graduate into pureed foods. Swallowing all of my medication was very hard in the beginning. You just have to do one pill at a time. Being creative was the key to getting through the diet. My favorite thing was pureed scrambled eggs with cheese. Just cook them up on the stove and then puree in a blender with a drop of milk to help it along. Looks like baby food but it was good. As time went on I was able to eat more foods. Sometimes I would have lots of pain as it would seem that the food would get “stuck” before going all the way down. This is common. Water will not help it go down so you just have to wait for it to pass. Again over time this gets better, but I have to say that sometimes this still happens to me. I’ve noticed that certain foods give me more trouble than others. Do I stay away from those foods? No. I just deal with it. Small price to pay for protecting my new lungs. Plus, I like to eat!
I don’t regret for one minute my decision to have the stomach wrap. I have not had any acid reflux. I still take acid control medication but just for precaution because the transplant meds can cause extra stomach acid. I look at the procedure as an investment to protect my new lungs. So far, so good
As we all know, part of the transplant evaluation process includes the esophageal manometry test. This test determines how well the muscles in your esophagus work. I already knew that I had acid reflux but this test told the doctors that over the years, despite medication, the acid had damaged my esophageal muscles. Esophageal motility was very poor. Now I couldn’t feel this. I took Nexium everyday and never had a problem with swallowing or indigestion. The Nexium kept the acid reflux under control, although sometimes I had to supplement it with Tums. However the doctors were concerned that after my transplant I might aspirate stomach contents/acids into my lungs without knowing it. Therefore, to protect my new lungs they recommended I have the stomach wrap. Since I felt I was doing fine with the Nexium, it was a tough sell. However, after research (just Google Nissen fundoplication) and talking with the transplant doctors as well as Dr. Marroquin, the GI surgeon, I decided to go ahead with it.
My surgery was scheduled for the end of October. I was lucky that Dr. Marroquin, who was wonderful, was able to do it laparascopically. Because of this I was only in the hospital a couple of days. I had minimal discomfort from the small incisions. Tip: Wear loose, comfortable clothes. It took me a while before I could button jeans again.
The Recovery: This was the hard part. It is very important to follow the diet that Dr. Marroquin gives you. At first you will have almost all liquids. Then you graduate into pureed foods. Swallowing all of my medication was very hard in the beginning. You just have to do one pill at a time. Being creative was the key to getting through the diet. My favorite thing was pureed scrambled eggs with cheese. Just cook them up on the stove and then puree in a blender with a drop of milk to help it along. Looks like baby food but it was good. As time went on I was able to eat more foods. Sometimes I would have lots of pain as it would seem that the food would get “stuck” before going all the way down. This is common. Water will not help it go down so you just have to wait for it to pass. Again over time this gets better, but I have to say that sometimes this still happens to me. I’ve noticed that certain foods give me more trouble than others. Do I stay away from those foods? No. I just deal with it. Small price to pay for protecting my new lungs. Plus, I like to eat!
I don’t regret for one minute my decision to have the stomach wrap. I have not had any acid reflux. I still take acid control medication but just for precaution because the transplant meds can cause extra stomach acid. I look at the procedure as an investment to protect my new lungs. So far, so good