barefootinablacksea

I believe that it's actually hunger. I'm exactly the same and it's not acid reflux or indigestion cause I take my medication for that and when I forget to sometimes, I get indigestion and it's a different sensation. I first noticed the feeling a little while after the surgery, when I'd wake up first thing in the morning especially. My doctor says the sensation is a little different for everyone - because the portion of the stomach that removed produces the hunger hormone ghrelin - for some it may be an emptiness for others it's a rumbling. Plus the hunger every two to three hours thing is the same thing for me and sometimes I worry that I won't lose much weight at all - but I know that in comparison to what I was eating before it's only a fraction.

Hey everyone! I was wondering if anyone out there who'd had a leak and therefore a collection of any size could give me some advice. Some of you may know that I had a collection about the size of a golf ball on my stomach which was drained to about half the size but because the collection is so far up it was difficult to get to and the rest has been left. My doctor tells me that my body will naturally clear the rest of it away. So what I want to know is how long does it take for this to be removed from the system. In week 2 and 3 after my surgery, I felt phenomenal - no throwing up, no nausea, no stomach cramps or anything. Since I got sick and had a stent put in and removed and had the collection half drained it hasn't been quite the same. I'm doing a lot better than when I was sick obviously but I've been getting stomach cramps when I eat, and my bras push down exactly on the spot so I can't wear them for very long. How long til you felt 'normal' again?

You're absolutely right, stress is a major implication in premature aging. When we are stressed our body excretes a hormone called cortisol which sets off a whole set of processes. If it's an immediate stressor it sets off the fight or flight response but if it becomes chronic, collagen gets broken down and our sensitivity to insulin and leptin is affected. Which is why lots of people put on weight when they are going through a prolonged stressful period. Nutrition also plays a big part. The reason why people are all over Omega 3s now is because aside from heart health, circulatory health and brain health it also provides the body with a pathway for producing more collagen. They tell us we need to eat lots of fish but that's only because nowadays most of the meat/dairy people consume is grain fed. Once upon a time livestock was grass fed which is where they would get their omegas from and that would provide us with the omegas but a lot of meat and dairy is relatively omega poor. Exercise is the other key - but not because you need to do lots of it - far from. If you exercise for longer than 45mins/1hour your cortisol levels start to rise putting your body back in stress mode. You're better off sticking to short bursts of 20 minutes once or twice a day. Hope that helps some - probably not tho.

Glad to hear you're at home at least. I've been in and out of hospital myself with a stent and picc lines and pigtail drains and all that but on a much lesser scale than you're suffering. It's rough - the stent made me so nauseated, I can't imagine the prospect of having it in for 6 months. There were times too when I felt so stupid for doing the whole thing in the first place and even more stupid that I couldn't just lose weight on my own. When people find out what you have had too, they ask you if you've lost any weight and when you're sitting there in hospital like that you think to yourself "Who cares?" I'd rather be fat and outta here and normal again. But you can come out the other side. That's what I'm still aiming for - normality. We'll get there eventually. It's a kick in the guts but try to remember it's not gonna go on forever.

Thanks for all your support everyone - it's much appreciated. I didn't make it more than another week past my last post before I started to get a fever again. I called the doctor and was put back into hospital (again!) that night. The next day they removed the stent *relief* and I immediately felt 100% better. My body wanted it out so much, it was such an unnatural feeling. Then I had another bariam swallow and they couldn't see any sign of a leak so I was released pretty quickly after that. Went back on to fluids and now mushies and I'll see the doctor next week. If I have any advice to anyone post-surgery it's that if you feel nauseated or feverish or put off your food - DO NOT HESITATE to see your doctor.

Go back to your surgeon! Don't self medicate or try to mask the symptoms - it's not worth the risk. The sooner you do the quicker you will find out if there's something more serious going on or not.

Well hello again! Thanks for all your support. I've only just arrived home from the hospital yesterday. When I last updated I was awaiting the results of a bariam swallow (Ct done standing while swallowing the undiluted contrast *yuck*). This time they were actually able to see a very small leak. So the hematoma turned out to be just a collection of everything I've been eating over the past month. So small that it didn't even make me sick until the collection started to get sizable. Safe to say I'm very sick of hospitals now . I had that bariam swallow on the monday, on the tuesday I had the very uncomfortable experience of having a drain put in under local anaesthetic and then straight into surgery again under sedation. The doctor actually did an endoscopy and placed 12cm stent with a plastic overlay down my throat in my stomach to protect the leak until it heals naturally. It covers up to the bottom part of my oesophagus which means that my stomach can't close off properly at the top. So that means for the next 1-2 months while I have the stent in I have to put up with unbearable nausea. I'm constantly feeling on the verge of throwing up and I have to be very careful of how I sleep. I have to see the doctor again in 2 weeks and I'm fairly certain I will have to get him to check me back into hospital as soon as possible to have the stent taken out. It's been in for a week already and the nausea is not settling down. He said to me on the last day I was in hospital that it might already be healed because it is such a small leak but the longer we leave the stent in the better the chance it has to heal. There was a big part of me that wanted to get out of the hospital and get home to my partner as soon as possible but part of me also wishes I had just been put on nil by mouth and stayed in hospital in relative comfort without the stent in for the duration. Not to mention summer has really hit here and it's so hot and uncomfortable. Well that's it for now - I'll let you know how I go when I go back to hospital.

So I'm in hospital again. Went to the dr and he sent me for a ct scan just to make sure there's no leak which there wasn't. He did however find a hematoma that was 5cm in diameter. The hematoma had gas bubbles in it which is the sign of infection so I have been on antibiotics all weekend. I just had another ct scan but this time I was standing up and i had to drink the contrast as they took a motion picture of it going down. Just waiting for results now. The doctor still thought there must have been some pin hole leak that caused the infection even though I passed 2 ct scans. I may have to have the hematoma drained but we don't know if we can do that yet.

Well it's 4:35am here and I managed to get a few hours sleep before I woke up at 2am dry heaving - luckily I got my partner to get me a bucket earlier on in the night for me. Nothing came up except spit. I talked to my doctor over the phone yesterday afternoon and he told me to go back on to liquids for the meantime and I'll see him today. I just want to go back to feeling normal again. He told me it's unlikely that I've developed a leak this far out from surgery. I wonder if it's just an infection of some sort. Is it possible I could have a flu and that's causing inflammation?

What's febrile? No vomitting but yesterday was particularly bad, felt like I might, plus I had a fever and my body was aching but I took some paracetamol and that went away - returned to normal temp. Now it's just back to this soreness in my stomach cavity.

For the past couple of days my whole stomach area has been sore again - especially when I take a big breath intake like a yawn. Plus it hurts to hiccup/burp in my oesophagus even though I'm still taking my Pariet. Is it possible that I've slept wrong and damaged the incision points? Before this I hadn't had any pain since the first week and a half. I've also been really lethargic, weak feeling and less hungry. Need help... What does it feel like to have a leak? What should I look out for?