Fundoplication on 10/23/14 after 29 years of GERD/hernia

Hello all,

I’m a new poster but a long time lurker. A grateful lurker. I have used everything I’ve read here, both good and bad, scary and comforting, to arrive at a place where I feel prepared and actually hopeful for improvement in my life. I can’t say thank you enough to Patt Fill and all the members who came back to post on the “For successful fundoplication members” thread. It was literally my saving grace and the last piece of the puzzle as I waffled between “do I really want to do this to myself” and “can I live like this for the rest of my life.” So THANK you, I understand how easy and normal it is to wander away and never look back after your life improves and you move forward.

My story is LONG, but I’ll try to do the cliff notes version. I have had GERD for 29 years. Holy poop, that is stunning to realize. I was diagnosed at 15 and am 44 now, I have been on PPI’s of one sort or another for most of those years with ever increasing doses over the past 8 or so years. After dealing with GERD for so long, it was just something I dealt with but over these last years things have gotten crazy and not until I read here did I begin to understand the depth of this evil disease. SO many things that I have had NO explanation for I now realize are GERD related/caused/exacerbated.

I had surgery on my stomach in 2005 that left me with a gastric sleeve for a tummy (pretty similar to what it is going to feel like, post-Nissens) that had a capacity of 2-4 oz at any given time. That surgery/recovery was the hardest surgery I’ve ever gone through and with that behind me, I know I can handle this. I’m just not looking forward to it.

I’ve had 25 major surgeries in my life. Sometimes I feel like a perpetual surgical patient but I KNOW there is life after this. I’m looking forward to that life so, so much. I truly feel that this last piece is going to change things for the better so with hope and gratitude, I am determined not to be a patient any more. Hope, hope, hope!

I have a medium size, 5cm sliding Hiatus Hernia as well as the severe GERD. It had been suggested that I “might” have a small/medium hernia by several GI doctors over the last 8 years but the answer fluxuated from EGD to EGD. In Nov. 2013 I had a full upper GI series and it was finally proved that I did in fact have the hernia and a LOT of free flowing reflux with the slightest pressure. That was pretty cool to see on the screen. Like a little mini volcano in my throat, weeeee eh?

Since my stomach is not virgin it makes this wrap extra complicated and I am thrilled to say I have the most amazing, talented and EXPERIENCED Dr. doing my surgery. He is a general surgeon that specializes in gastric surgery and does an extensive amount of re-do's of various weight loss surgeries. He does Nissens on re-do patients all of the time and has done them on every possible condition of stomach. Depending on the condition of my stomach I may have a full wrap or end up with a posterior wrap. I have 100% faith in him and am so very grateful I have him.

There is much more to this complicated journey but I’m just out of time. I have attempted to make sure that EVERYthing is covered, bought, paid, stocked up, saved and ready for me to return home and not have to worry about anything but healing. I am so lucky to have my family here for post op care and will definitely keep a journal for several reasons. Please wish me luck, I feel like I’ve forgotten so much that was important but in less than 36 hours I’ll be on the table and going night night.

I welcome all suggestions, comments, ideas and or just sweet, sweet lovin' that you'd like to share.

Be Safe!

Tami

Hello myuniqueme, welcome to our forum. Glad you found it helpful Tami. Tomorrow is the big day. You sound prepared and have help around you. Please continue to post your journey of recovery so we can all benefit from it. Ask questions too. Tell us what food instructions you have been given before for after surgery. That's an area quite a few of us have questions about and few instructions from our doc. If you care to,-- tell us what state you are in. Suggest you keep your posts under this topic so we can follow along with you. When you are ready, I'll look forward to your post under the 'successful' topic too. Wish you the best,-- you are in our thoughts. Kindly, Pat Fill

Let the healing begin-- it will happen at your bodies own pace. 🌺🌺🌺

Hi.

I'm glad you finally decided to take a step towards improved quality of life.

I'm going to have the surgery close to christmas after all my exams, and I'm looking forward to hear about your recovery.

I wish you the best of luck!

Jakob.

Hello,

i was wondering isnce you suffered from Gerd for so long. Di doctors ever mention to you about an irregular z line?

Thank you,

Hello all,

I'm alive and functioning enough to make a post so I reckon that's pretty good eh? I'm writing this exactly 3 days to the hour of the completion of my repair/wrap but it feels like longer I'll tell ya.

I had my pre-op meeting with my doc the day before surgery but he was called into emergency surgery so I didn't get to have that final question/answer session. That was only a little bothersome because of who he is and what he does. He did call me and answer my big questions but there was a lot of little things I still didn't feel like I had answers to. To be honest with you, some of the things that I was MEGA concerned with from my reading here on the forum, he just waved off and said those aren't concerns. That concerned me. Heh. We all know how it feels when a doctor dismisses things that we KNOW are issue. But I had faith in him so on we go.

Morning of surgery he came in, said it would take an hour and a half at MOST and we'd see each other in the hospital, answered a couple more questions and in a flash he was gone. The anesthesiologist was perfection. I told them all I loved them as I went under, I remember that much.

*FYI - I knew going into the surgery that his plan of attack was to do a full wrap if I had enough stomach left after having had a gastric sleeve, but if not then he would do a posterior-wrap. According to the studies that I read the posterior has excellent results and he was confident that it would solve my issues if we couldn't do the full wrap. There is less difficulty swallowing with the posterior wrap, evidently.

Surgery only took an hour. Talk about shock. The recovery room was a *****, had a very difficult time getting my pain under control but that's because of my bodies extremely high tolerance for narcotics after all the surgeries and being on a pain control regimine. Off to my private room where my husband joined me and I was sipping water and chewing ice chips immediately. He put me on clear liquids for my first intake and full liquids for my second, MUCH to my surprise. So I had broth and tea for my first meal then cream of wheat and tea for my second. Absolutely zero issues with swallowing.

OH, one HUGE surprise was withing hours of waking up, I was able to burp. Let me assure you, I was a professional burper before surgery and I was scared to death at the thought of not being able to burp as a relief mechanism. But with no prompting, after swallowing a bit of air I reckon, a little burp. Then another later. I'm on the fence on whether that's a good thing or not but in a couple of weeks I'll know what's what for real.

He sent me home 24 hours after surgery on a full liquids diet. I've been in my recliner sipping and resting when I'm not walking. I'm doing so well that I'm waiting for the hammer to fall. It doesn't seem right but I'll take it while it's good. I KNOW things get worse before they get better so I'm just taking it moment by moment.

Thank you all for your replies and good wishes, again, I couldn't have prepared myself as I did without your help. I'll answer the questions I saw in the thread, now.

I'm in Southern California, my doctor is Dr. Ara Keshishian. You can look him up at www.dssurgery.com. On the left side of the main page there is a link to "streaming media" which is videos of surgeries of all types that he's performed and narrated. Just FYI the Nissens surgeries are under the Hernia Surgery section. He is located in Glendale which is basically the Pasadena area. I was at the Huntington Memorial Hospital and it was absolutely the best hospital I've been to. Outstanding from start to finish.

I've never heard of an irregular Z line, I'm sorry to say. Honestly, Dr.'s never EVER suggested anything besides take medicine for all those years. It took me getting to the end of my rope and start looking for another answer to realize this was a much bigger deal that just having heartburn. I was completely uneducated about the disease and how many of my health issues were related.

Thank you all again!

Tami

Post Edited (MyUniqueMe) : 10/26/2014 8:52:59 PM (GMT-6)

Monday - Day 4 - No real changes just feeling more comfortable and a little stronger. This feels totally off, maybe it's because I've had SO many surgeries but this has been unnervingly easy so far. Still waiting for the hammer to fall. I'm able to drink normally, not gulping, not sipping, just normal. I'm able to ingest a cup or more of soup/pudding/etc. with no issues swallowing or feeling full. Felt actual hunger pangs last night for the first time. Walking often on my treadmill, only 10 minutes at a time but it feels good and helps any tension I feel.

Called my Dr. and they said move on to soft foods as I feel comfortable and I'll see him in a week.

Tuesday - Day 5 - No change except less discomfort in my abdomen as visible swelling is decreasing. I think I'll try some soft foods today and see how that feels. I'm confused by how this is going but I'm just letting it be what it is. Listening to my body and trying to kick back and rest, which is a little hard to do when I feel as well as I do already.

Weird journey continues...

Tami

Hi Pat!

Thanks for asking about me. I'm doing great, shockingly great. I almost feel guilty but that's pointless eh? I was released from the hospital after 24 hours on full liquids, four days later he had me move to soft foods. I took it slow, but then overstepped my boundaries a little and paid for it for a few days. The swelling increased around one week out and things got a little more uncomfortable but still manageable.

I was supposed to go in last week on Tuesday for my 1.5 week check up but I ended up taking my dad to the E.R. Monday night. He had an acute appendicitis and ended up having an emergency appendectomy that night. It was a LONG night for me too as I was not up to doing that but you do what you gotta. I missed my DR. appt Tuesday cause my dad was my ride LOL. I'm going this Thursday for my first check in, that's three weeks to the day. Obviously, he feels I'm doing well enough to wait that long.

I am taking it as slow and easy as possible. It is difficult to rein in when you feel better so I'm working on that. I'm doing some things again same as before surgery but nothing heavy or strenuous. I'm using my recliner when I sit, sleeping at an angle per my dr.'s order. I've had meat a couple of times but only very cautiously, mooshy, soft, mashed etc. Otherwise I'm eating soft foods comfortably, chew chew chew and listening to my body. Food is driving me crazy though, it all looks and smells so good, Im' really hungry and that is disappointing heh, I was hoping for weight loss darnit. The more I eat, the hungrier I am so I wish I had stayed on clear liquids longer for that reason only.

I am SO grateful that my Dr was so skilled and experienced at this. I don't know if I mentioned it before but the surgery took around an hour instead of the 3+ I was expecting. I think that shortened surgery time has a LOT to do with how well my recovery has gone. Less rearranging of the insides for less time means less swelling. Having someone that does gastric surgeries constantly, especially a revision specialist, is extremely critical to my situation. I couldn't be more thrilled.

Thank you again to everyone, for I learned so much here pre-op!!

Tami