Page 2 - Ken Muller' Experience

Presentation by Kenneth Muller

before us, especially during the ultra-strained months of sumptuous. My eyes were so much bigger than my now
October and November. It also equipped us to keep our much reduced stomach capacity. Encouragingly, during
family and close friends, more authoritatively informed these last three months, I have rarely experienced any
about the developing situation. The continuous focused dumping. Since my surgery, I have maintained a steady
care and support from the Churchill Team was always with weight of around 12 stones. However, only one month
us, as was the amazing level of support and after surgery, I developed a growing intolerance to milk,
encouragement from our family and friends. Sheila and I especially when mixed with hot beverages, such as tea
never felt remotely alone in the long fight that lay ahead. and coffee. I also refrained from having cold milk and
Post-surgery, OOSO has, of course, significantly reinforced cereals. I did try a variety of other recommended milk
this support. products, but all of them reacted in me, to one degree or
another. I used to love milk at any time of the day.
At my last 6 monthly consultation with Bruno Sgromo,
The Biggest Challenge mid-May, we discussed this challenging issue. He
recommended a daily lactase enzyme tablet, first thing
For both myself and Sheila, it is without doubt the entire
subject of a new dietary regime and all that entails. each morning. This recommendation is already beginning
to work to good effect.
Within weeks of returning home, I became increasingly
unable to maintain the recommended regime of half a Just returning briefly to the subject of my daily evening gin
dozen snacks or small meals, evenly spread throughout and tonics, I feel that I should clarify and justify their
the day. I became repeatedly nauseous at even the very inclusion in my weekly diet. At the first OOSO quarterly
thought of the next snack after such a relatively short meeting that Sheila and I attended after my discharge
interval since the previous one. However ingeniously from hospital, we received a superb presentation on
varied was that day’s devised menu, my overall appetite dietary issues and on the changed operational nature of
for eating radically diminished. In those first six months, what remained of one’s oesophagus and/or stomach,
following surgery, the entire subject of eating had post-surgery, from two of the leading members of the
become my worst nightmare, since the actual diagnosis Churchill’s dietician team. We were advised to limit our
and the ensuing period of pre-operative treatment and consumption of carbonated drinks. A couple of brave ex-
then the surgery, itself. That nightmare was shared by patients proffered their liking for drinking tonic water and,
Sheila, who was valiantly, but frustratingly, always additionally, diluting it regularly with gin.
searching for more amenable eating solutions that might,
After a short stony silence, Nick Maynard gave us his
hopefully, suit me better. Additionally, I had become
qualified approval, but cautioned us with the ever-
repulsed by almost all red meats and by numerous
repeated mantra, “in moderation”. Naturally, I followed
cooking smells. Since then, I have gradually returned to
such welcome endorsement enthusiastically and
eating three times per day. I do start with two or three
gratefully. Actually, I do believe that I do benefit from
cups of tea between 07:30 and 08:30. Mid-morning. I will
these evening’s libations, but I do ensure that a suitable
generally have a bowl of mixed fresh fruit, followed by a
time interval is observed before starting to eat my dinner.
couple of slices of toast and jam. Between 13:00 and
Cheers!
15:00, I will make a couple of sandwiches and eat them
during that two-hour period, sometimes with a little more
fruit or some cake. I rarely drink any fluids during the
afternoon. At about 18:00, Sheila and I will wind down our Two Top Tips to Share
daily activities. I will usually drink a couple of gin and
Tip one
tonics until 19:30. Then between 20:00 and 21:00, we will
sit up at the table to have dinner, usually comprising a At no time, did I ever want to become an expert on
main dish, cooked or salads, and then some type of light oesophageal cancer. The amount of informative literature
desert. My plate volume is, of course, much reduced than that we were given on various matters of importance,
before my surgery. I never experience any reflux after during those initial five months, before surgery, could
dinner nor throughout the night. I do, though, take a have pushed me in that direction, entirely against my
30mg Lanzaoprazole tablet every morning with my tea. base instincts.
However, I did experience frequent early or late dumping
Notwithstanding, I always studiously ingested the
for the ensuing few months, especially when I forgot to
informative and, often essential, array of verbal and
limit my volume intake per meal session.
written advice and explanatory data that the Churchill
This situation is very prevalent whenever we now go away team and, particularly Anita Joyce, would specifically
on holiday, such as our two weeks holiday last February recommend for our close attention, ahead of any
on the island of Zanzibar. Breakfast offerings were impending major next stage of my pre- and postoperative