Professional Singer needing advice - Lap Nissen Fundo, Toupet, or EsophyX

Toni,

Thank you so much for all the information. It's really helpful :). I was wondering who is the best surgeon out of the two doctors Koufman work with lol. I been wanting to do the surgery for years now but when I was about to do it i started feeling better. and then after some time i got sick again . It was like a cycle. I believe I have bad reflux but with all the stress I make it even worse. I feel this condition has a lot to do with stress too. I wanted to ask you did you talk to ur surgeon about the Linx procedure over Nissen? And do u mind if I ask what kind of surgery K. Performed on you? I ask this bc if whatever u had on ur throat was caused by reflux I might need that too. I'm very curious about ur symptoms too lol I'm sorry but I identify myself with u and all we have to go through with LPR.

Bianca, Dr. Edye moved out of the country right after my nissen. I've heard that Dr. Salky at Mt. Sinai is really good, but I would just explain how you feel to Dr. Koufman, as I'm sure she'd be happy to recommend someone else.

As for the type of procedure you should go with, that really all depends on the severity of your symptoms and docs recommendation, but I have had very good results with the nissen. The throat surgery I had was due to something separate from acid reflux.

Denise, I hope that other singers having similar issues will find this info helpful and go get themselves healed :)

Post Edited (SingerNYC) : 4/15/2013 11:04:24 PM (GMT-6)

Bianca,

I would definitely trust a referral from Dr. Koufman, but most importantly, you need to feel confident. It won't hurt to ask her for another referral, as I'm sure she knows lots of great specialists.

As far as weight loss after nissen, it's inevitable. I'm thin as well, and lost about 16/17lbs total. To keep myself from getting sickly, I made sure to drink Ensure every day. For a few months, I could only tolerate about 4 oz/day, but some protein is better than nothing. Don't worry too much about that, though. Find a surgeon you like and feel comfortable with, and get yourself healthy. You'll have plenty of time for the gym, etc once you're on the other side of this. One thing I would suggest is to make sure you keep yourself moving post surgery. The day I had mine, I was up doing laps around the hospital floor they transferred me to. Every time I got up to use the bathroom, I did at least a few laps before I laid back down. Once I got home, it was a lot harder to keep up with, but I would still go for short walks outside.

My personal experience with two surgeries back to back is that the anxiety beforehand makes you wonder and worry about things that shouldn't even be focused upon. Not that it's not important to ask questions and have people to confide in, but you'll save yourself a lot of grief and energy if you can learn to weed out some of the less important things. Think of it as "mental real estate". Find a great surgeon and ask him or her a trillion questions, but once you commit to Nissen, just trust that you're in good hands and let the anxiety go (as much as possible). If you're like me, which it sounds like you are, your mind is going a mile a minute, and that's only going to make this process worse. There are some bad nissen stories online, but the truth is, a TON of us (and probably the majority with experienced surgeons) do just fine. I really believe you'll do great!

Bianca,

Good, I'm glad :) It started off for me waking up in the middle of the night thinking I was having a heart attack. The pain was that bad from acid reflux. I took some meds that my doc prescribed and they seemed to help, so eventually stopped taking them and was fine. A few years later, I started having serious vocal injuries due to GERD and LPR and had been a forever struggle since until I had the nissen. I'd say minimally 10 years total, the last 6 1/2 being the worst... and it finally seems to be over. I'm still recovering and have some issues with esophageal spasms, but it's still worth having had the surgery done. Have you chosen a surgeon yet? Is it booked?

Hi Toni - I'm also a singer based in NYC and after three years of trying everything to get my LPR under control, I'm heavily considering a Nissen. I really appreciate everything you have articulated about this process for you and am wondering if you have any updates a few years after the surgery.

Have the initial improvements in your voice after the surgery sustained in the years since?

How about your level of physical activity? I go to the gym and do yoga regularly and I'm definitely wary of any long term physical limitations after the operation.

I know it's been a while, so I hope you see this!

Thanks,
Timothy

This thread is over 4 years old, and SingerNYC has not been around on the Forum since then. You might get more responses if you start your own thread.

Sharon