I guess I should have included a lot more information in my original post.
I have been fighting GERD symptoms for about the last 6 years. I may have been suffering before that, but I did not really realize what it was until about 6 years ago. I started talking with my Dr. about the symptoms, which at that time were basically heartburn in the general sense. I started trying different medications and after 2 years of fighting this issue, I was referred to a GI specialist. At that time (4 years ago, or so), I had started waking in the middle of the night coughing. My Dr. and I thought this was caused by my mild asthma, so I did not think too much into it.
The GI Dr. put me through the normal battery of tests and he told me everything looked "normal", even though his nurses had previously told me otherwise. I argued with the GI Dr. for about a year and gave up the fight. I was very disheartened and assumed I would have to just "deal with it" for the rest of my life. I even gave up taking the medications I had been prescribed because they were not helping anyway, so why spend the money on them.
A few months ago, things got a lot worse. My symptoms now are completely unbearable. Thanks to a friend, who had medical problems, I decided to fight for my own health. I got a referral from my Dr. to a different GI specialist and began the battery of tests again. I began having the same experience with this GI Dr. that I had with the first. The nurse would call me with results and tell me how bad everything looked, then I would see the GI Dr. and he would say it was all "normal".
I finally got fed up with him and told him I was done treating the symptoms and I wanted to know what he was going to do to fix the problem. He told me he would send me to a surgeon, but the surgeon would require other tests before being willing to do surgery on me.
I went to the surgeon about 4 weeks ago and found out that there was enough evidence for me to have had the surgery 4 years ago. I am furious with my GI Drs., but am thankful for my surgeon.
Now, I start the "fun" part of my journey. I am scheduled for the Nissen fundoplication surgery at 8am on this coming Wednesday. I want to thank everyone that has posted their experiences here. I have been reading your posts for weeks and they have helped me come to terms with my decision to have the surgery. I also believe you have all helped prepare me for my recovery.