lirri

I live in Tualatin. Going on 1 year and a month post op. Had my surgery at OHSU.

I ran into massive anxiety 6 months ago and was put on a ton of meds. I was so over-stimulated the entire world hurt to experience. Sights, sounds, smells, food, interactions all were too much for me and finally led me to get help. I'm now coming out of it. I found that I didn't really know how to experience the world with my changing body. It gets better and talk therapy is great.

I'm going through the same thing right now. Had my surgery in May 2013 and the world feels like it's hitting me all at once and I feel really exposed. I'm working with my doc through it because I was asked to either get better or leave my job. Out on FMLA right now for the next few weeks while we figure out meds and me coming to grips with things. I agree that this is a new chapter of our lives and we really are struggling to figure out who we are and how we react to the world. I hope you start feeling on the mend soon.

Added a new profile pic because the photo galleries are down. We had to get head shots at my new job for the company website. This isn't the headshot, just me at my desk after they put on makeup, which I never wear. Love the job and love the energy I get from things falling nicely into place. I was awarded the "Spirit" award at work during the month of September for the bike commute challenge at work. I have a 20 mile ride one-way into work each day and I hadn't been on a bike in 20 years! They gave it to me because I embodied the spirit of the challenge and inspired others to ride. What an honor!

I started having this happen about the two month mark and thought it was normal and was something I was doing wrong. I mentioned it in passing at my 2 month checkup and as a precaution, my surgeon ordered an upper GI. I could pass liquids fine, but I couldn't pass the barium pill which was 12 mm in diameter. It turned out I had a stricture -- a totally normal part of the healing process which I wasn't too worried about. It took two EDG's to inflate the area so it would stay and my anastomosis had closed to 3 mm. I'm glad I brought it up and stopped blaming myself for the fact that I was eating wrong - taking too big of bites, not chewing food enough, or eating the wrong foods. Since then I've had no issues and am very happy that we got it taken care of. Good luck to you!

I started back to work on July 1st. I made myself a promise that after I had my surgery I would start looking for a new job. The day I got back to work was so stressful that I went home at lunch and started working on my resume and applied for something someone sent me on Twitter. Today I got a response from that letter asking for an interview on Wednesday. We'll see how it goes. My feelings on moving jobs right now are so mixed. I've been unhappy at this job since the beginning. A previous co-worker and I started working for this place after our last company was bought out. He was smart enough to leave last year. So I'm excited about the prospect of moving to a better team. I'm not worried about finding another job, the software market in Portland is robust and there are lots of opportunities. At the same time I'm worried about switching to a new job right after surgery and having to worry about complications. I've hit my out of pocket maximum for the year and so anything else that happens this year will be covered without me paying anything. I now have to figure out if that is worth it to me. The way I look at it is that if nothing else, the interview will be good practice for me. And who knows? It might turn out better than expected. Since the weather finally warmed up I've been out on the river a couple times in the past two weeks. Which always gets me in a good mood. I feel so right, so -- normal when I'm in the sun. I haven't been back out since a 26 year old drowned on the river this past Friday. Such a sad story. She went swimming without a life vest in an area with signs that specifically warn against swimming due to the current and underbank. It's sort of bummed me out in going back there. We have a big float happening this weekend that we've been planning with a bunch of friends for a month now, hopefully it'll be warm. I went in for my 6-week followup four days ago now. It turns out it's not normal to vomit your food back up after you eat. I thought that it was something I'm doing wrong like taking too big of bites or not chewing enough. I attributed it to something I was doing wrong and resigned myself to yogurt and protein shakes for the time being. I made mention to it during my dietician appointment and she told me to keep trying soft foods every once in a while and to tell the surgeon. So I saw him next and let him know. He thought it was probably nothing but better to find out. They scheduled me for an upper GI that day and the radiologist (also an M.D.) said I have a stricture that is less than 6 mm wide. I didn't realize how small that was until I got home and looked at a tape measure. I tried calling the Dr's office the afternoon of the upper GI to see if there's anything I need to worry about over the weekend. I had so many questions. Will it close up? What if I can't keep liquids down? How soon can we get me in to get a scope done? Four days later and multiple messages left with the surgical team and not a single answer yet. When I talked with the team the day I had it done, they confirmed they already had the test results. Now I'm just waiting for someone to call me and answer my questions. I called the office back this morning and they fought with me about why I needed someone to call me when I already had an appointment set up for this Friday. I had to repeatedly explain that the appointment was made before I had the test done and before we knew I had a stricture. I had questions. I wanted, no I needed answers. I want a reassurance that things are going to be ok. And I'm not getting that. I need to be able to tell my boss that even though I just took 6 weeks off, I may need another day here and there until the stricture is dilated and stays that way. Right now I have nothing I can tell him other than there's a complication and when I know more, he'll be one of the first to know. So I'm a bit frustrated. On Sunday night I started having pain with liquids. I know it's coming from the stricture but I've decided not to go to the ER until it gets to the point where I can't keep liquids down. Until then I get to sit and wait for the office to actually get back to me. I'm pretty blase when i talk about the stricture to people because of all the complications, I think a stricture is benign enough that things will go well. As I'm writing this though, I'm starting to have some other type of pain in the area where the stricture is. An achy sort of pain that isn't going away and is progressively getting worse. My fear is getting an ulcer. I guess all I can do is hurry up and wait. It'll all be ok in the end. I just have little patience when I feel I'm not being given the attention I think I deserve.

Absolutely fabulous! Congrats

Glad to hear you were finally able to get the EGD. Hopefully you've found some relief now.

Glad to hear that they are finally doing something about it. I just had my stricture dilated this morning and have a follow-up EDG in two weeks to see progress. Clear liquid diet for two days. Annoyed but at least I may be out of the woods for now.

Hiya! I'm looking for a buddy in the Portland, OR metro area. I'm wanting to start doing my couch to 5k running plan, but I'm just not into doing it alone. And it's always nice to have someone to talk to that's been through the same thing. Send me a message if you are interested.

I live in tualatin and had surgery on may 24th. Would love to meet up with ou guys!

Good for you! Congratulations on the progress, you deserve it and look fabulous!

Looking fabulous! Congratulations!

It'll get better. I felt pretty icky at a week out and that first two weeks HATED having to drink my Protein shakes and Water. I couldn't figure out how I was going to get it all in. Then every day got better. Best wishes on a speedy recovery.

I know how you feel! I have been craving salad since I got home from the hospital. At 3 months out they said I can go to my final stage of food and have crunchy things like salads and veggies. Right now I'd kill to just have anything but protein shakes and water. This stricture is really taking the fun out of this.

I know how you feel. I am waiting for the Dr's office to call me back as well. I had an upper GI done on Friday and the MD doing the procedure confirmed that I have a stricture. I called after I got home from the test and the office said that they already had the test results and that someone would call me. Called again this morning and same story of having someone call me. it's gotten progressively worse. i started feeling on Sunday night that liquids were getting stuck as well so I'm sipping everything and hoping the liquid will go through the opening. I hope they get back to you soon and you get scheduled. I'm so frustrated that they couldn't just give me a call back to review test results and discuss next steps. I'm worried that if I stop being able to hold down liquids that I'm going to have to go to the ER.

What a horrible thing to do to someone! I was just out shopping two weeks ago for my daughter before she left for her dad's for the summer. I felt the same way since I was looking at size 9/10 and large shirts. I can't stand it when people are so insensitive.

Congratulations! You look terrific!

I don't know but I'll be thinking about you and hope things go well for you. I just found out today after an upper GI that I also have a stricture and I'm worried about it closing. They say my opening is about 6mm wide right now. Waiting for a call back from the doc to tell me what the next steps are. My question with these strictures is how they stretch things to make sure they stay open. I'm worried that the scar tissue will just return to its normal size after being dilated or that more scar tissue will grow back. My body has a bad case of growing lots of scar tissue after trauma. .