Just recently I came across this site and can see that it is useful to compare and contrast our various experiences. I seem to have got off quite lightly compared with some others.
My tumour was discovered summer 2010 (very luckily for me) and quite unexpectedly while I was undergoing an endoscopy to confirm Coeliac disease. Following that confirmation I am now on a permanent gluten free diet.
A problem I have, which seems fairly common, is the feeling of the need to regurgite food which can occur at anytime in a meal. It seems that a nervous reaction is triggered when food contacts the throat/stomach surgically created joint. The release of saliva, I guess, is the body's way of trying to move food on. I find that the thin saliva is followed by a more viscous but tasteless form, my eyes become watery and I need to blow my nose. Within 5 minutes, however, the crisis passes and I can finish the meal without any problem. This seems to occur about twice a week. I was prescribed Domperidone but it didn't seem to be very effective.
Soon after the surgery I experienced constipation problems probably due to the fact that on a gluten free diet it is very difficult to consume the high fibre diet I used to have. This has been solved for me by drinking 200 ml of prune juice each day.
My weight is now quite stable at about 3 kg less that before the op but since my BMI (body mass index) is just about optimum at 22 I don't worry about it.
I sleep with my body raised from the waist up using 2 ordinary and 1 triangular pillow. To stop slipping down the bed during sleep I have fitted a substantial length of wood across the bed so that my feet are pressed on it when I'm correctly positioned.
Bert.
