Molly is 2 weeks post lap. fundo. We have been amazed by her recovery, she was only in the hospital for 36 hours! She was up and walking 3 hours after surgery and dying to eat, she had no problem with the soft diet on the 2nd day, so they sent us home. Well.....we have regressed. In the hospital she ate a grilled cheese and fish sticks with NO PROBLEM, the further we get from surgery, the less she seems able to eat. All solids get "stuck", she can get some stuff down if I cut it up REALLY small (1/4 inch or less), but is mainly eating pudding and applesauce. She lost 8 lbs from September to her surgery (Nov 21) and has lost more since her surgery and I am becoming concerned. We see the surgeon for a follow up tomorrow and the GI in two weeks. I don't want to be overly concerned if I don't have to be, I just have been unable to find much info on how long it should be before she can eat and if this is normal.

Thanks!

Hello,
This all sounds common to me, Eli went through the same thing. I am sure you will be reassured by the surgeon although he may be concerned about the weight loss. If I were you I wouldn't be trying solids, that is when things get more difficult, each time we gave solids it would swell the wrap and cause more and more difficulty, if we stuck with liquids it went well. It will be this way for about 6 weeks. and, will be a few months until its completely gone. The more you feed solids the more difficulty swallowing things will become, atleast for us that was the case. Hang in there! It won't be like that forever :) It just seems like it will. Our son also did fine at first and then got more difficult for a while as it healed. You are doing great!

Wish I could help, but Sam is still tube fed. Just takes a spoonfull here and there. Maybe you could call the GI or surgeon for some advice before your appt. Is she drinking well?? Maybe you can make some special shakes to increase calories.

I am glad to hear that the surgery went well but sorry to hear that your daughter is having problems now. I do have to agree that this is very common in children post op, I have learned this the hard way because I have three children that have had fundos. I also have to agree not to push solids at this time because they can cause the wrap to swell and be the cause of things getting stuck.

It is part of the recovery for the area around the fundo to swell causing a problem for some children to eat. The child may have pain or food that can lodge. I would talk to the surgeon about this because it could also be that the wrap may be to tight and not allowing foods to pass easily. My one son had this problem post fundo.

I also would have to agree with the weight loss and that can be a concern. I was wondering if your dd would drink some pediassure to help meet her nutritional needs? I do hope that things improve soon and that there are no problems.


Melanie

Thank you ladies for your support and info! I am serious when i say that we got NO aftercare instructions, I have found the most comprehensive information on this site. Our discharge papers specify no restrictions (on anything!) and didn't even have any info about continuing her meds...I called the hospital when we got home and I realized that no one had said anything. The surgeon told us that she could begin eating normally after we went home, the only items he said she couldn't eat were grapes and hotdogs. After food started getting "stuck", I called the GI who then gave me a list of things not to give her - but that was a week later! I am frustrated that they assume I know what to do. We do supplement with Boost (she won't drink pediasure, even though I got a lecture from the hospital nutrionist because Boost is for adults!), but when things get stuck, she just quits eating all together. I will follow the advice and stay away from the solids, any suggestions of things that are safe to feed her? She won't eat soup or mashed potatoes (it's a texture thing) and is slightly allergic/extremely intolerant to milk (the liquid form makes her vomit, as does ice cream) so we are limited and my imagination isn't working as creatively as usual the days!

Have a great day!

I am appallled that they didn't give you instructions and/or a Nissen a diet to take home, How insane! We even had a nurse call every few days to check on E and make sure we were feeding him correctly!

Anyhow, I wish I still had his Nissen diet instructions, I would send it to you. But, here are some ideas.

I found it, I will post it as a sticky at the top of fundo issues!!! Hope it helps!!!!!

Thanks for posting the diet, I printed it off and stuck it on the fridge! The surgeon was concerned about her weight loss and inability to eat. He said to call in a week if she was still having problems and he would do a barium swallow to check things out - Good Luck getting ehr to drink that!! He seems to think that she should be able to actually eat some stuff at this point, but that doesn't really sound like what ya'll have been telling me (the real life stuff!). What worries me is that she seems to be able to tolerate less as time goes on, not more. That might be a totally psychosomatic thing at this point - if it hurt her once, it will always hurt type thing. You certainly can't reason with a 6 year old - especially a really smart 6 year old! He pulled off her remaining steri strips and that really pissed her off, but things look good - does the "bumpy" part around the incisions go away or does it leave raised scars? Just curious.

Thanks!

The bumpy part goes away.

And what you are saying about it getting worse, at a certain point of healing in there it gets more swollen and becomes more difficult, plus the more you put threw it the more it swells. Our son started out good and then had more difficulty and the more we tried to feed him the worst we made it. He finally starting getting better and healing after we decided to put him on full liquids about 6 weeks after surgery. I think if we would have done that in the first place for 4 weeks he would have done alot better.

Just checking in to see how Molly is doing????? Hope you have Happy Holidays!!!

Welcome, I flaked on this post. I hope Molly is doing better and progressing with her diet a little smoother. Don't you just love surgeons ???

Thanks for checking on us. She is hanging in there, still having problems swallowing, but maintaining her weight. The GI was very concerned about her weight loss (9 lbs, but most of it was pre-fundo from not eating) and the surgeon admitted that her wrap is tighter than he would like. He said that he would call us the first week in january to check in on her. I am honestly not sure if eating is getting easier or if we are just getting better at adapting what we feed her. She can get most things down just fine if they are cut into 1/4 inch pieces, but I am not sure that she will want to eat that way the rest of her life. The GI said that they could somehow stretch the opening, but that they usually wait 2-3 months. Molly had an upper GI a couple of weeks ago that showed no blockage, but did show how small the opening was. So I guess we wait. Does anyone know how it is that they can "stretch" they opening and what it involves? I would like for her to be able to eat normally, but would hate for the reflux to return because the opening is too big.

Thanks and here's hoping for a Happy New Year!

Its called dialation, we had to have it done. They go in with a scope and they widen it until it is the desired stretch. They put them out for this again, which really sucks, but they bounce back pretty fast. If you have to have it done, be prepared, Eli was more ticked off then he was after the fundo coming out of it and then he had a very sore sore throat.

Hi, this is my first posting, so bear with me. My little guy has had 2 fundos in the past year. The first one at 10 months and the 2nd at 18 months. After the 2nd, he had a tough time eating. They narrowed his esophagus considerably, given the way he wretched his way through the 1st findo. Anyway, it took us 2 months to get him back on regular food. We took it SLOW! There were many foods that the surgeon wanted and still wants us to avoid all together: any gummy consistancy candy.fruit snacks, pizza, basically any good that will not break down if stuck in the wrap. It includes a lot of bread products, etc. I hope by now Molly is doing a bit better! Its a slower road that you think at first! We spent almost a month on liquids and then soft purees. It seemed like forever, but he is now 6 months out and eats pretty much anything!

Wanted to say that we took 6 weeks too on liquids and purees wanting to take it slow. She had two fundos too, and after the first one she sounded a lot like Molly. It herniated 3-4 months later (the reason is not related to anything you are experiencing--don't worry!) and so when we did the second, we were very cautious. We didn't even offer anything solid until 6 weeks and by then she was fine.

I wanted to tell you what we did give her that worked well for her weight---she is allergic to milk and soy so we struggled with finding full fluids and purees she could and was willing to eat. I made Dr. Sears Smoothies with flax oil in it. She LOVED them and lived on them the tnire time. He supplements them with peanut butter, avocado, flax oil (high in omega 3 fats) and juice plus. The powder has soy protein in it, so we opened up the fruit and veggie capsules and put it in. The rest of the ingredients are soy milk (we used rice) and frozen berries and bananas and juice. High in good fat and very nutritious. We tailored the recipe to fit Chelsea's taste and it worked great. The recipe is at askdrsears.com, and type in school aid smoothie in the search bar. It should come up.

Also, it does get better, a few months into it, she was able to eat everything again.

Take Care!:iconbigg:

For some reason the board has quit emailing me when I have a post - I apologize for the delay, and truly appreciate the encouragement. We are now about 10 weeks out, she still struggles, but I can see it getting better. At her lowest point, just the thought of putting food in her mouth made her feel like she was choking, thankfully we caught that quickly and started over before she quit eating entirely! She has only lost a pound in the last month, so I am hopeful that things are in their way back to "normal". As many issues as there have been since her fundo, I know that we made the right decision. More importantly, SHE knows that we made the right decision. Her greatest joy is being able to attend the coveted bounce house birthdays and actually be able to bounce without throwing up! We have learned alot about tailoring food to make it a consistance that she can manage. Sandwiches now are served on crackers instead of bread, pizzas are baked on tortillas instead of crust, solid foods are cut up into very small pieces (that annoy her) that are manageable AND slow down her pace. It is not easy, but life before the fundo wasn't easy either! :)

That is so true!

We are having a party for Eli saturday to celebrate his one year anniversary since the fundo surgery, February 11TH.

And, I can truely say it has taken this year to get where we are and it is great. He has been functioning like a normal child this past month, eating anything now with now difficulty and no gagging or wretching so hang in there! It is a long recovery!!!

Hello just reading everyones comments and would like to add a few things. Our son Gaeb got his surgery 2yrs ago (fundo and g-tube) the surgeon promised us that everything would be fine we stayed in the hospital 2weeks after his surgery and I saw problems and I would question him and he would say oh no thats ok. Well the day before we left to go home we were in Edmonton and had to travel 7hrs to go home. I noticed he was fevering off and on , when I asked he said oh that happens sometimes.our drive home was terrible he was in terrible pain and fevered. By the time we arrived home it was bad, in the middle of the night we went to the hospital he had a major infection in the g-tube sight we stayed for 4 days . I have learned the surgeon only does the repair not the after care. We still have a struggle with Gaeb tolerating his feeds and eats very little. Hope to hear back from someone. Also if anyone can help me with some advice his mic-key is allways being sucked in , they said its so rare they dont know much about it . We have discovered that if we put water in his mic-key it slows it down. thanx Rosie

we have a section for tube feeding where you will find lots of helpful advice and people in the same boat. I would post over there about it.

Also, we had the fundo done as well and learned as you did that they just do the correction not the aftercare, very frustrating I know!

It sounds like most of your problems post fundo are from tube problems. We have several on this site with tube fed kids, they hang in out in the tube feedings section. Let me know if you find it! And, all us fundo people like to keep each other updated as well.

I hope things get better for your son. Is his GI doing anything to help you guys? Ours is really aggressive and helpful with Eli.

Hello I have been reading everyones input My son Gaeb is 4 now and got his fundo and g-tube surgery when he was 2 . They had told us he was failure to thrive and we had no other choice. We were terrified but we went threw with it . I think it was the best thing for Gaeb but I will be truthful and say its hasnt been easy. He still is gravity fed and doesnt tolerate alot of the times. He eats here and there but mostly fruit. His biggest problem is that when he feels any thung in his tummy he says he is sick. He has a low immune so he gets sick alot too. We are now dealing with his mic-key sucking in, they say it is very rare so they dont know much about it. We have discovered if we put water in his mic-key it slows down. Anyone know of this ? thanx Rochelle

Our son had low immune system too, he is much stronger now. He also gets sick with a full tummy, still better than what we were dealing with prefundo!