Question regarding post op

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pam716
pam716 Member Posts: 24
in Esophageal Cancer #1
My father was released from the hospital 7 days after surgery. Seemed to be doing well in the hospital. Last two night have been horrible for him. He is experiencing lots of spasms and has more pain than he seemed to have in the hospital. The pain thing is really our fault. He said he did not need the liquid Oxycodine that the Dr prescribed so we did not get it filled. I tried to get it filled yesterday and could not find a pharamacy that could fill it. Finally found one 1 hour away from home and was able to get it filled early this morning so I am hoping that we can get the pain thing under control. Has anyone experienced these spasms? Is there anything that we can do? We are going to also have a nurse come today to change the dressings and I will ask her but I thought possibly someone would have any idea of what could help. The food thing is also not going that great. Yesterday he felt like nothing was going down and was kind of stuck in his throat and he is experiencing reflux for the first time in his life. Is there anyway we can make him more comfortable or help him? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

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  • chemosmoker
    chemosmoker Member Posts: 501
    #2
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    NOT SURE WHY THIS IS UNANSWERED!!
    Pam,
    I have NO idea why no one has responded to this post for you.
    I cannot offer any useful advise but it will go to the top of the list when I reply.
    I sure hope you got the pain under control. I can think of NOTHING worse than not having my pain meds.

    Having not had surgery I have no idea what these spasms could be, but SO many on this board have had this same surgery. Maybe the post got missed. We are usually a lot better at responding to people asking for help! I am embarrassed seeing this unanswered post just now.

    Come on folks, someone help these people out!!

    Since a few days have passed, did the nurse come out and what have you found out since you posted this??

    Much love and prayers,
    Eric
  • NGC1514
    NGC1514 Member Posts: 46 Member
    #3
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    chemosmoker said:

    NOT SURE WHY THIS IS UNANSWERED!!
    Pam,
    I have NO idea why no one has responded to this post for you.
    I cannot offer any useful advise but it will go to the top of the list when I reply.
    I sure hope you got the pain under control. I can think of NOTHING worse than not having my pain meds.

    Having not had surgery I have no idea what these spasms could be, but SO many on this board have had this same surgery. Maybe the post got missed. We are usually a lot better at responding to people asking for help! I am embarrassed seeing this unanswered post just now.

    Come on folks, someone help these people out!!

    Since a few days have passed, did the nurse come out and what have you found out since you posted this??

    Much love and prayers,
    Eric

    It was a double post
    And has had several replies. The double posting with replies is further down the thread list.

    Eric in Atlanta
  • chemosmoker
    chemosmoker Member Posts: 501
    #4
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    NGC1514 said:

    It was a double post
    And has had several replies. The double posting with replies is further down the thread list.

    Eric in Atlanta

    Thanks!!
    Thanks, Eric. I was hoping that was the case and failed to look.
  • pam716
    pam716 Member Posts: 24
    #5
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    chemosmoker said:

    Thanks!!
    Thanks, Eric. I was hoping that was the case and failed to look.

    Thanks to both and yet another question
    I want to say thank you to both of you for looking out for fellow members and hope to some day make as valuable contribution to others on this site as you both do everyday. Unfortunately I am still very much in the learning phase about EC and have lots of questions and not many answers. Recovery post op is turning out to be more difficult than we ever imagined. My father has not slept more than a 1 hour stretch since his surgery. He was readmitted to the hospital yesterday and they drained a liter of fluid. He has heart disease and his feet are very swollen. In my opinion I feel he is more weak than he was a couple of days after surgery. I am hoping with the draining of the fluid he will be able to sleep a little better but that is not the only issue. He has also had problems with the feeds from the infusion pump. We have had to decrease the flow rate to 25 and now he is at 40. He has these spasms in his stomach and no one has been able to give us an answer about what they are. He told the home health care nurse that he finds them debilatating. Has anyone experienced something similiar? Has anyone used a rehabilitation center to regain strength after surgery? We are concerned about his recovery and level of strength because of the breathing, sleep, and feeding issues.
  • mruble
    mruble Member Posts: 174
    #6
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    pam716 said:

    Thanks to both and yet another question
    I want to say thank you to both of you for looking out for fellow members and hope to some day make as valuable contribution to others on this site as you both do everyday. Unfortunately I am still very much in the learning phase about EC and have lots of questions and not many answers. Recovery post op is turning out to be more difficult than we ever imagined. My father has not slept more than a 1 hour stretch since his surgery. He was readmitted to the hospital yesterday and they drained a liter of fluid. He has heart disease and his feet are very swollen. In my opinion I feel he is more weak than he was a couple of days after surgery. I am hoping with the draining of the fluid he will be able to sleep a little better but that is not the only issue. He has also had problems with the feeds from the infusion pump. We have had to decrease the flow rate to 25 and now he is at 40. He has these spasms in his stomach and no one has been able to give us an answer about what they are. He told the home health care nurse that he finds them debilatating. Has anyone experienced something similiar? Has anyone used a rehabilitation center to regain strength after surgery? We are concerned about his recovery and level of strength because of the breathing, sleep, and feeding issues.

    Gastroparesis?
    Hi Pam --

    Sorry to hear of your father's complications. You mentioned that he's having trouble eating - like nothing is going down. Has he had regular bowel movements since surgery? Narcotics can slow the digestive system down. The narcotics, coupled with the likelihood that the vagus nerve was cut, may be causing delayed emptying of the stomach. My husband has had issues with this and has been hospitalized a couple of times when it’s gotten unbearable for him. He takes Reglan before each meal to help and also has an antispasmodic he can take if it gets really bad. You’re father’s issue may be completely different but I thought I’d mention the possibility.

    Mary
    Stage IV caregiver
  • chemosmoker
    chemosmoker Member Posts: 501
    #7
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    pam716 said:

    Thanks to both and yet another question
    I want to say thank you to both of you for looking out for fellow members and hope to some day make as valuable contribution to others on this site as you both do everyday. Unfortunately I am still very much in the learning phase about EC and have lots of questions and not many answers. Recovery post op is turning out to be more difficult than we ever imagined. My father has not slept more than a 1 hour stretch since his surgery. He was readmitted to the hospital yesterday and they drained a liter of fluid. He has heart disease and his feet are very swollen. In my opinion I feel he is more weak than he was a couple of days after surgery. I am hoping with the draining of the fluid he will be able to sleep a little better but that is not the only issue. He has also had problems with the feeds from the infusion pump. We have had to decrease the flow rate to 25 and now he is at 40. He has these spasms in his stomach and no one has been able to give us an answer about what they are. He told the home health care nurse that he finds them debilatating. Has anyone experienced something similiar? Has anyone used a rehabilitation center to regain strength after surgery? We are concerned about his recovery and level of strength because of the breathing, sleep, and feeding issues.

    More answers at other double post too...
    Pam,

    Just so you see that pthers DID reposnd to the OTHER of this double post and you read those, too. Here is a link to it:

    http://csn.cancer.org/node/229199

    Best of luck!!

    Love,
    Eric

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