Does/has anyone out there suffer/is a carer of a sufferer of sleep apnea following surgery? Husband has had esophogectomy and from all I have read, he should be sleeping like a baby pretty much most of the time in this post-op recovery stage!!! However, he can't even sleep at night (sleeping pills are failing him too) and just about catnaps in the day, he is exhausted!!!! Has weird feeling between his shoulder blades and also shoulder pain that means he is constantly moving around and fidgeting to try and get comfortable - standing up, sitting down, trying every bed in the house, kneeling on all fours, new one today - lying flat with his legs up in the air...nice...- nothing is working for him today.
What can we do to help him sleep??? Am looking at reclining bed with memory mattress (thanks for advice Libby) but what can I do to help in the interim? Can anyone offer any advice?
His bad is obviously pay-back for my smug post of yesterday boasting 2 good days in a row.
FormerMember
I think if I mentioned another operation at this point (his oesophogectomy was 1st July) to him, he would probably throttle me!!! However, it is worth banking this info for further down the line if David continues to have trouble. He is going to the doc on Tues so fingers crossed he will come up with something - we have complete faith in our doc and he generally comes up trumps in the end. Hope you had a lovely weekend - it was a sunny day in Bavaria today...simple joys eh?
My dad had this op on april 20th like your husband dad did not sleep very well, I think it was due to the pain but had sleeps throughout the day it was a good six weeks before he slept through the night. He too has pain in between his shoulders this is apparently normal due to the surgery and cutting the muscle in the back often nerve damage occurs. I bought my dad a v shaped pillow which really helped him. He has just had his first post op chemo but is still very tired and lost quite a bit of weight but is still fighting this wretched disease and we are all being very positive. I do hope your husband continues to do well, but all thay you have mentioned is fairly normal this op is the second most invasive op one can ever have. It takes a year to recover from.
Just read your message - haven't been on-site recently as life and cancer have been all-consuming. Thanks so much for your reassurance, it really helps.
David and I travelling to London tom (Army are sending over an escort for the trip - much to David's horror) to St Guys Hosp for our first English consultant appointment. We should know more of the way forward for us afterwards. The German treatment plan seems to differ from the English point of view - we would love to stay here, but I think the Army are gonna push us back to the UK for treatment.
Hope you Dad is getting through the chemo - it seems so cruel that they have to go through the op and its recovery, only to be hit then by the hell of chemo eh? Still its worth it!!! Fingers crossed for him Natasha - Julie xxx
