Posted 10/4/2011 2:48 PM (GMT 0)
Well that's a good story I never tire of telling. LOL!
I had my first done by a local surgeon who had removed my gallbladder about a year before. Had all the tests done and he said he could do it. I neglected to ask some valuable questions like how many have you done yourself and how many were successful? I had issues right away and were put off as just a tight wrap. had it dilated by my surgeon twice during the first 4 months with no relief. So I figured it was normal, but had to put something on everything I ate, like salad dressing or something to help it go through. This was done June of '06.
Fast fwd to Sept. '08....Couldn't stand eating this way anymore and was gaining weight because of it. went to my GI doc and he dilated it about 8 times between Sept/ '08 and Dec. '08. They were baffled. I had an appointment with a different surgeon who had done my lung surgery in Dec. '07. He recommended me go to Loyola and see a surgeon there who specializes in swallowing disorders and nissen redos. From Jan. '09 until April '09 they tried to figure it out. Had 4 more dilations up there and several barium swallows. finally the surgeon so "something" on the test and decided he would do an exploratory surgery to see what was wrong. He found out it was done incorrectly and nothing except a redo would fix it. He actually told me in recovery he was glad we kept on him about it because there was no way dilations would help since it was done wrong.
Okay, fast fwd again to Feb. '11.... Had a follow up EGD die to barretts, get one every year to keep an eye on it. During the EGD my GI doc tore my esophagus. This is extremely painful by the way. Was sent to Iowa City university hospital and had surgery to repair it on 3/1/11. 4 days after surgery they checked to see if it was still leaking. It was, so they had to put a atent in my esophagus that went through the LES into my stomach. It stayed there for a month dilating my wrap and moving around every time I swallowed. I finally was thought to be good to go in May.
Started to have problems again in June and local hospital and surgeon who had done my lung surgery did a ct scan and saw the hole in my esophagus was opened up again, It wasn't leaking into my chest because the outer patch was holding. But still the hole being open was very painful and a very high risk for infections. Finally after being sent home from Iowa City and then being sent to another large hospital a few days later, the hole did finally heal. Just had to without anything by mouth for 2 weeks. They also found out my wrap was ruined and my LES was wide open again. I had to wait 4 to 6 weeks though before the wrap could be repair again.
So The surgeon who did my lung surgery did my redo because we knew for sure what was wrong, but it had to be done open this time because of all the scar tissue and my stomach was attached to my belly because of the feeding tube I had during the esophagus repair.
There are some very interesting things I skipped because they aren't relevant, but I have had some very interesting bumps in the road since May 18th of '09.
What is your cause for a redo?
Take care,
Bill
ps. my first redo was perfect by the way. Once it was done correctly all was well. I even went through a few bouts of dry heaves and do lift a lot of heavy things without any issues.