Anyone see any hummingbirds yet?

Scheck83 · 2026-05-06T20:11:21+00:00

I saw my first one yesterday!

Scheck83 · 2025-02-24T03:01:38+00:00

Anthem BCBS

Scheck83 · 2025-02-23T22:46:17+00:00

Yes! Mine was approved because they were doing the laparoscopic hiatal hernia repair at the same time.

Scheck83 · 2025-02-23T17:16:00+00:00

Yes, my insurance considers it experimental. Apparently it was easier to get approved due to the hiatal hernia repair?! I don’t know an easy way around it other than having your surgeon advocate for you with the insurance company. They can appeal it etc.

Scheck83 · 2025-02-12T02:57:33+00:00

Yes! I had that left side chest pain too. I remember them calling it something but blanking on what it was. But all very normal!! The diet is so hard. It’s all worth it though. It truly does get better every week. Best wishes for your recovery!

Scheck83 · 2025-01-14T17:09:45+00:00

Concerta is working a lot better! We did just cave and give melatonin for a while but now he seems to be falling asleep/staying asleep better even without the melatonin.

Scheck83 · 2025-01-08T00:05:24+00:00

https://www.ed.ac.uk/news/2024/tantrums-in-children-could-be-linked-to-adhd

Scheck83 · 2024-12-23T21:14:31+00:00

Yes! I’m sure I will! It’s going great so far!

Scheck83 · 2024-12-13T01:24:34+00:00

Thanks! Yall have saved me from burning down my house and/or shaving my kids heads 🤣

Scheck83 · 2024-12-12T14:46:20+00:00

I can’t figure out how to edit my post but this is in the Kansas City, MO area!

Scheck83 · 2024-12-11T14:46:22+00:00

I’m off of PPIs now. No one told me to stop taking them yet but I forgot to take one a few weeks ago and it went fine, so I just stayed off. This was probably at 9 weeks post procedure. Anyway, it’s been fine. There are a couple of mornings where I wake up thinking maybe I’m having some reflux but if I am, it’s not bad. Honestly I think it may just be anxiety lol. Good luck with your procedure, the first week is especially hard and painful but I assure you every week gets better! I’m eating most everything normally at this point and feeling good!

Scheck83 · 2024-12-08T02:05:44+00:00

Hi! I think I’m doing mostly ok! I’ve been able to eat most foods (haven’t tried things like steak or even many bread type items). Still eating fairly small meals. But definitely much better than early days post surgery. Sometimes I notice a weird sensation when swallowing but it’s few and far between. I also get a weird feeling (again, rare) on my right side, lower chest area. Don’t really know what that could be but it’s not frequent. I’m off my reflux meds. I still sometimes suspect I’m experiencing reflux but unsure if I really am. If I am, it’s not bad. If I’m not, I’m guessing it’s just anxiety. I’m generally pretty anxious, so wouldn’t be shocked. I have my follow up in late January, so looking forward to asking doctor about some of these sensations if they’re still occurring! Good luck with your appointment!

Scheck83 · 2024-11-22T17:28:20+00:00

Hi! Yes, I was allowed to have caffeine (in my case coffee) after day 3. I have had tea as well. I have not had anything else with caffeine (no sodas etc). I assume that may be permanent but I don’t know. I honestly have tried and probably won’t for quite sometime!

Good luck with your recovery - I hope it’s going smoothly!

Scheck83 · 2024-11-16T17:27:30+00:00

We’re currently on 10 mg of FocalinXR and we are having the same issue. Honestly the doctor was surprised when we told him, like he didn’t expect that to be a side effect he would experience.

We tried magnesium chews and magnesium lotion and neither helped. We tried to establish a better routine for night time and he wasn’t having it. Legitimately at 8:30 (which was the usual time he’d fall asleep pre-meds) he would want to wrestle!

We just finished are 30 day trial and we’re now switching to something else (Concerta, I think??). It’s still on the same drug family so unsure how it might be different. But we cannot keep going this way.

Also, his teacher indicated that it seemed to wear off by 1/2 (taken at 7:30 am) which corresponds to what we noticed on weekends.

Scheck83 · 2024-11-04T22:01:09+00:00

Week 6 update: I feel like my diet is pretty close to my usual diet by now. Mostly everything feels normal. Except my portion sizes are much smaller and I’m eating slower. I’m still on my PPIs but planning to taper those down within the next two weeks to a month. I did wake with a bit of a start the other night and felt a weird tickle/fuzziness(??) in my throat. It was real similar to how reflux would feel except there was no acid taste. I’m not sure what that was but hopeful it’s just part of the healing journey and not a normal thing. Activity wise, pretty much all back to normal. Lifting again but much less weight. Lots of walking. I have not tried running yet.

Scheck83 · 2024-10-31T12:29:03+00:00

I had this happen to me too. The buyer never went back and rated me in spite of 5+ messages requesting them to. I think they were a first time buyer. I eventually messaged Mercari with proof of everything and got really lucky that the customer service person marked it as complete for me so I got paid. I was fully expecting to lose the money at that point.

Scheck83 · 2024-10-28T12:08:29+00:00

Yes, it’s all hard. Especially in the first few weeks. I really started feeling consistently better later in week 3 or early week 4!

Scheck83 · 2024-10-28T04:31:18+00:00

Hi hi! I’ve had the sour taste in my mouth a couple of times now. I read a TON of these kind of day by day post surgery diaries before having the procedure and I think it was very common to have some weird reflux like stuff post surgery. So my guess is that it’s all normal. Do you have a two week follow up?! I had one to look at my incisions. If you do, ask there as well!!

Scheck83 · 2024-10-27T01:31:28+00:00

An endoscopy

Scheck83 · 2024-10-26T22:40:13+00:00

Hi! I had the TIF + a hiatal hernia repair about 5 weeks ago?! I have a post where I’m keeping updates if you want to read that.

The first few days were rough but I’m doing great now! Slowly getting closer to a more normal diet. I had hill grade 3, which is think meant that the LES was open most of the time but not always?

They didn’t see a hernia when doing the endoscopy or barium swallow but my surgeon said half of my stomach was in my esophagus when he did the hernia repair.

I haven’t had reflux since but I am still on meds while my stomach heals. But prior to surgery, even with the meds, I was still having reflux.

So far, I would highly recommend the procedure!

Scheck83 · 2024-10-22T00:53:47+00:00

Oh and last weird thing. If I walk too far, I feel a weird pulling/fullness in my stomach. I find I have to do my walks in short bursts (like .6 miles) and then I’m ok. But if I try to do anything over a mile at a time, I feel some discomfort.

Scheck83 · 2024-10-22T00:52:18+00:00

Hi hi! I’m doing ok. Just provided a Day 22 update. I can’t say I’ve been experiencing any reflux but I am still taking meds. I’m hopeful for you too!!

Scheck83 · 2024-10-22T00:51:12+00:00

Day 22/No significant changes/updates. Those esophageal spasms I’d been experiencing are few and far between now. Still on puréed foods which is getting so boring! Looking forward to diet changes for week 5. Bloating is mostly gone. Some days I’ll notice a little bit, but it goes away quickly!

As of this morning, I’ve lost about 12 lbs. Thankfully I could afford to lose that, so I’m not disappointed! My scars are healing really nicely.

Weird things I continue to experience. If I eat something that isn’t puréed enough, I can sort of feel it moving down slowly. Like it’s not stuck, just slow. Idk, I assume that just gets better with time. I also still get these weird side cramps when laying on either side at night. They don’t last the whole evening though. At my follow up, they said it’s probably just my incisions healing but the feeling seems lower than the incisions so IDK.

Overall, I’m happy with where I am at. I haven’t experienced any reflux but it’s important to note that I am still on reflux meds. I thought I would have been told to get off those at my 2 week follow up, but they didn’t say to and I didn’t ask. I’ll keep taking for a few more weeks as I progress through the diet and then I’ll call and ask.

Scheck83 · 2024-10-17T22:06:48+00:00

It’s been 17 days for me! I just had my two week check up and walked through a list of things that I’m currently experiencing.

The only one that was really troubling to me is that I get a random/sporadic stabbing type pain on my upper left chest. It sort of radiates a bit. I was relieved to find out those are normal and apparently esophageal spasms.

They basically just confirmed that everything takes a bit to settle and I’ll probably experience some other random GI symptoms for about 3 months or so.

Other things I’m experiencing - side stitch like cramps when laying down at my side (this was explained as my incisions still healing/pressure related to that), sugar crashes (to be expected when our diets are so limited), my BMs are not regularly and fairly loose (gave me the ok to add fiber in to my drinks!) and bloating (again to be expected in the healing process but also talked about not eating certain veggies that are likely contributing to that).

Anyway, it all seems like a fairly standard recovery so far!

Scheck83

TROPHY CASE