Op day plus 5 weeks

Everything is coming together nicely now. I'm feeling almost normal.  My stomach is still feeling full easily, but not as much as it was.

I've been eating sandwiches for a while now, and have graduated into eating the crusts too (well chewed!).  On Monday this week (op plus 26 days) I had my first beer.  Beer here (South Africa) is almost all lager, so quite fizzy.  I poured it into a glass and let it settle, and took plenty of time to drink it.  I'd been having the odd sip from T's beer for nearly a week, so I thought a full bottle should be OK, and it was.  There was some burping, but no more than usual and quite painless.

The gas from the other end has diminished, too.  Even last week, after my "supper" (about 5.30 p.m.), I was getting quite uncomfortable (and so was T!), but now I would say I'm almost back to normal, and I'm happily having a small snack (generally milk and biscuits) quite close to bedtime, with no ill effects.  I'm having food with onion in, with no ill effects - it used to give me loads of trouble before.  I'm hoping to try garlic and chili soon.

I'm sleeping without pain, although I'm still tossing and turning and waking up quite a bit, but I think I'm back to the natural sleeping pattern of a man my age (54), more or less.

I have absolutely no acid reflux now.  I occasionally have sore throats which I always assumed were related to reflux, but it would seem they weren't.  I gargle as often as I can, even if it's with plain cold water, and that seems to be doing the trick as I've not had a sore throat for a few days now.

The scars are fading, but I imagine when I sunbathe come summer, they'll be very noticeable.  A small price to pay.

I still get tired quite easily, but I think that will get better soon enough.  It's a good excuse not to do too much work around the house!

Nurse T is pretty much relieved of her duties.  No more fussing with blankets or fetching my food and drink!

The bills are all paid.  I had medical insurance which paid pretty much all of the fees (about 41,000 Rand if you're interested. At today's rates, 3,800 GB pounds or 6,000 US dollars).  This was in a pretty good hospital, with excellent staff and aftercare for 2 days, although I'm not really that experienced in comparing hospitals.

All in all, I'm very happy with the way things have gone so far.  Next Thursday will be my six weeks, which seems like an excuse to go out and have a meal to celebrate, with my doctor's permission to eat anything I want - although it will be a long time before I relax and forget to chew everything dozens of times!