Posted 4/5/2015 4:38 PM (GMT 0)
Hi everybody, it's me again!
It has been such a long time since I last posted that I thought I should post my new (or repeat?) situation. After the first Nissen in, I think, 2012, I had a new hernia created during the time in the recovery room! There was a lot of coughing and retching and I am sure that is when the hernia occurred. That was eventually repaired by the same surgeon who did the Nissen. Again he muffed it and there was another hernia that wasn't caught so more surgery was needed. I insisted on a different surgeon and that was eventually repaired. Since then I have had a whole slew of symptoms from food getting stuck halfway down - to the other end - with diarrhea and passing gas. This was so bad that it certainly effected my day to day life.
My family doctor referred me for another scope and the doctor said that the Nissen has failed and would need to be redone. He referred me to a surgeon in a city about 4 hours away from my home and it took a while before I got to see him. He ordered a "gastric emptying" test which is a nuclear medicine test to see how quickly food passes through. I found that that whole process is severely delayed. Next was an "esophageal motility" test which involved having a tube passed through the nose to the stomach. While the tube was down there I had to drink sips of water and swallow upon request. (The tube was 55 cm long! Oh, Joy!) The whole test was less than an hour and I don't have results yet.
Not sure whether I will have surgery or not but am waiting for a telephone conference with the surgeon to discuss test results and options. Since there is already scar tissue all over that area he is not sure that I should have more surgery. He agreed that it was unfortunate that he didn't do the initial surgery! Will let you know what happens.
Good luck in recovery to all of you!
Sandy