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Posted 1/27/2013 11:17 PM (GMT 0)
All,

I recently had an "open" surgery to completely undo my previous nissen surgery. I am now back to a completely normal anatomy. If anyone has any questions about this, please feel free to ask. I'm happy to share my experiences.
Posted 1/28/2013 6:31 PM (GMT 0)
What happened?
Posted 1/28/2013 11:06 PM (GMT 0)
A Dr. in Lorton, VA did not reveal my first test results to me (i.e. manometry, PH, etc.) and did the surgery anyway. I did not need the surgery so I had it undone completely by a world renowned surgeon. The Dr. in Lorton, VA lied to me and my wife multiple times. All my medical records are under review by my attorney and I am reporting the Dr. to the Virginia Department of Health. Also, a friend of my wife had a surgery performed by this same Dr. and he was rude and lied to her as well. She had post op issues and he said it was nothing from the surgery he did. Turns out she had tests performed and it showed her issues were from the surgery the Dr. in Lorton, VA performed. My experience with him was absolutely horrible and I would not recommend him to anyone.
Posted 1/29/2013 1:30 PM (GMT 0)
hi biged11543,so sorry to hear what youve been through,im sure its been a nightmare for you and your family.Hope your feeling better now and good luck with your legal case against the surgeon.May i ask how you are feeling now with the wrap undone? Barry
Posted 1/29/2013 3:21 PM (GMT 0)
What kind of issues was she having? I had the same doctor.
Posted 1/29/2013 5:06 PM (GMT 0)
Dave,

If you and Ed want to communicate further via email, you can either make your email available in your profile here, or both of you could send me your email addresses and I'll exchange them for you.

Denise

Posted 1/29/2013 7:47 PM (GMT 0)
Baza,

Now that the wrap is "undone" I feel back to normal. My current surgeon even took pictures of my stomach in its "normal" anatomical state.

Dave,

She was having stomach pain which the tests revealed were a direct result of the surgery. I hope your surgery went well and the Dr. was truthful with you. He certainly was not with me nor her. When I called my attorney, he informed me that I was the second call in the same week about the same Doctor. SCARY!!
Posted 1/29/2013 9:47 PM (GMT 0)
I am interested in learning more, biged.
Posted 1/29/2013 10:00 PM (GMT 0)
Ed,

Dave has made his email link live, so you can click it and send him an email directly.  Just click the little envelope under his name.

Denise

Posted 1/30/2013 9:44 PM (GMT 0)
Ed,
I had my TIF surgery done by a surgeon in Lorton, VA about 2 years ago. It has been a bad experience, and I am now considering visiting new doctors and getting more opinions on what to do next. I am very curious to know the name of your doctor.
Posted 1/30/2013 10:04 PM (GMT 0)
Sophie,

If you make your email link available in your profile, Ed could email you directly with any information you'd like.  Just go to your profile and choose that option. 

Take care,

Denise

Posted 1/30/2013 10:52 PM (GMT 0)
Dave,

I sent you an email to your address.

Sophie,

Like Denise said, if you provide your email address, I'll be happy to discuss with you further.
Posted 1/31/2013 11:00 AM (GMT 0)
hi ed,glad your feeling back to normal,its good to know that a nissen can be undone as i was told that it there was no return from the op. All The best! Barry
Posted 1/31/2013 1:08 PM (GMT 0)
Barry,

Not sure who told you a nissen can't be undone. It DEFINITELY can. I have actual pictures from the surgery to prove that my anatomy is completely back to normal as it was prior to the nissen. I had the procedure done "open" vs. laparoscopic so the surgeon would have better access to everything. Not sure where you are located though I'd be happy to give you my surgeon's information if you are considering a re-do/undo; he specializes in them.
Posted 1/31/2013 2:16 PM (GMT 0)
Hi Ed,thankyou very much for the offer but i gather your in the usa,im from Northern Ireland,im currently arranging to see a more experienced surgeon over in the uk mainland so he can have a look at my problems with the nissen. Thanks Again. Barry
Posted 1/31/2013 3:46 PM (GMT 0)
biged, can a nissen be undone even if it is, say, 2 years later?
Posted 1/31/2013 7:13 PM (GMT 0)
Dave,

I am by no means a Dr. so anything I post here is only something I've researched and/or a surgeon has told me. From my research and from what surgeons have told me, yes, a nissen can be undone. Not sure of the time frame in which it has to be undone, though I did not want to wait any longer. My initial nissen was in summer of 2012, had a partial takedown 2 months later and my last surgery was on the 10th of this month that put me back to a completely normal anatomy (as I was prior to my first nissen).
Posted 1/31/2013 7:36 PM (GMT 0)
biged,

why did you undo your surgery? it did not help your reflux? what were the symptoms that made decide that this is not working for you.

thx

Posted 2/1/2013 6:07 AM (GMT 0)
Dave-

I believe it could be undone even after 2 years, but would be more difficult.
When they had to put in an esophageal stent to help my tear heal it tore my wrap completely apart. I was 22 months out from my redo when it tore apart. When my surgeon went in to redo it again he showed me pictures of how much had come undone. There was about a less than an inch still scarred to the esophagus.

Take care,
Bill devil
Posted 2/2/2013 1:53 PM (GMT 0)
Thanks for the clarification Bill. My current surgeon said that they removed scar tissue as well in order to completely undo my nissen and put me back to a normal anatomy. It took them a little over 3 hours. They even loosened the hernia repair.

Sophie,

I prefer not to list the name of the Dr. here though I will tell you that his office is located in Lorton Station.
Posted 2/19/2013 2:46 AM (GMT 0)
biged11543 - I hope you are still on here because I REALLY want to discuss this with you! I'm new here and have no idea on how to email you! My doc's have all said the ONLY way to 'undo' a Nissan is a gastric bypass. Is that what you had done?
Posted 2/19/2013 11:21 AM (GMT 0)
vinylmasters

A nissen can be undone the same way it was done, just reversed. A lot of surgeons don't want to take the time necessary to do it right and say it can't be done or that a gastric by pass has to be done. Not true.
I had my first nissen completely undone and then redone correctly. Took them about 5.5 hours to do it though. My redo was completely tore apart 22 months after it was done because of what had to be done to repair an esophageal tear. That redo was done open on 8/24/11 and is holding up great.
You just have to find the right surgeon.

Take care,
Bill devil
Posted 2/19/2013 12:33 PM (GMT 0)
opnwhl4 - that wasn't elective, and more of a necessity?? I'm not arguing here, I'm just wondering why I have been told by surgeons here something completely different?
Posted 2/19/2013 1:01 PM (GMT 0)
vinylmasters

As I said earlier, a lot of surgeons don't want to take the time necessary to do the time consuming work of finding the sutures and clearing the scar tissue carefully to undo it. I had to go to a university teaching hospital to get the first one redone. No one hear could figure out what was wrong and they didn't want to mess with a redo. Fortunately a surgeon I had for a lung surgery knew a surgeon who specializes in nissens, redoes, and swallowing disorders.
My first surgeon also told me when I went to him to see if he could figure out what was wrong that it couldn't be taken down and the only fix he knew was a gastric by pass. By the way he specializes in the by pass.
Now with my first nissen It did work and I could eat, but I had to put something like salad dressing on meats and such to get them to go by easier. I was fed up with the weight gain from eating this way and that is why I started to see if there was something wrong with it.
It took them a solid 9 months straight of EGDs, dilations, barium swallows, and manometries with 3 different GI docs and 3 surgeons to finally see a small issue when I swallowed.
So they finally did an exploratory surgery and he was pretty sure he wouldn't find anything wrong and was more or less doing it to appease me and my wife. He ended up finding the wrap was close to being correct, but the other surgeon brought the lower part of my stomach up to make the wrap vs. using only the upper part(fundus).
So it really wasn't compleyely necessary, but I wasn't happy with it. He also gave me the option of just taking it apart if he didn't find anything wrong. He asked me what he wanted me to do when we were in the OR. I told him to do what he would want done to him. I got a redo.


Take care,
Bill
Posted 2/19/2013 1:47 PM (GMT 0)
I agree completely with Bill. A "reversal or takedown" (some call it different names but all means the same thing) can be be very complicated and time consuming and a lot of doctors don't want to do it. My complete takedown surgery took about 3.5 hours (actually almost 4 hours); they had to completely take down the wrap, remove all the scar tissue, and then ensure there was nothing else wrong. If you are considering a takedown and/or redo, please, please ensure the doctor has special expertise in performing these. They are different than doing a Nissen Wrap for the first time. I too had my takedown performed at a teaching hospital and they were outstanding.
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