9 Days Post Fundoplication - husband struggling to cope.

Hi all, first post here.

After a year of bouncing forth between various specialists for chest pain and difficulty breathing, my husband had a Lind fundoplication (300 degree wrap) with hernia repair for a 3cm hernia on December 6th.

Things went relatively smoothly for the first few days, with symptoms of clicking in the throat and liquid in the mouth (also experienced pre surgery) that have lessened. On the 7th day, however, he felt a sensation he describes as similar to that of his hernia moving upwards, which he links to difficulty exhaling (he felt something 'move up' in his chest, followed by the sensation he couldn't breathe for a few seconds). Since then, he has had difficulty exhaling which is very distressing to him.

He is not due a follow up with the surgeon until the 4 week mark. We went to see a GP yesterday, who told us that his symptoms are normal due to the swelling and the way the area has been affected by the surgery. In spite of this, he is extremely worried that he has reherniated and will need surgery again.

Have any of you had this experience post op, please? Is it normal? And how long should it be before this symptom subsides, roughly? If he were to reherniate, would his symptoms be different?

Many thanks for all your help.

SharonZ said...
It's more than likely not a re-herniation. During your recovery, you can experience gas and bloat symptoms which can give you breathing difficulties. Try taking an anti-gas medication containing simethicone, and I bet he sees the symptoms subside. He can expect to have minor setbacks, it's all a part of the healing process. I didn't start to feel a whole lot better until around the 6-month mark, and my "new" me around a year.

Sharon

Thanks for your reply, Sharon. He's been on Simethicone, which hasn't helped much.

On Saturday, he was taken to hospital, where he had an x-ray and clotting tests to rule out emboli. Thankfully, everything looked ok. They are also arranging another barium swallow for him, which will take about six weeks. The x-ray didn't show any evidence of re-herniation.

The problem is that he's had no improvement in this symptom (now 12 days post op), and it is causing him significant anxiety, as when this symptom began, he felt something move internally that he describes as being very much like the feeling he had when his hernia used to slide up - although small (3cm), the breathing issues he's had always accompany it. Breathing issues were always the most troublesome for him - now he is worried that the hernia has returned and that he's being left to suffer because he's being told it's unlikely. He had 2 CT scans before and only the second one showed a hernia - it's never shown up on an x-ray, which is why it's not giving him peace of mind.

The message from the surgeon, and from the surgeon that saw him at the hospital the other night, is that this difficulty exhaling isn't unusual. His surgeon said it is completely normal as he has had to work on his diaphragm for the hernia repair. It doesn't seem to be a common effect of the surgery, though, so it's difficult to console him. He was told he'd be ready to go back to work in two weeks, which at the moment seems very unlikely.

I hope it begins to settle soon, as he is really upset. :/

Post Edited (SpiralGalaxy) : 12/18/2018 5:21:39 AM (GMT-7)

Thank you, Sharon. I'm hoping that it will begin to settle a little soon, as the two week mark is tomorrow.

Hi Sharon,

He's developed quite an odd symptom in the past few days - sinus pressure and dizziness. It is made worse by lying down, is least oppressive when standing up, and his breathing tends to improve as it worsens and vice versa. He also has blurry vision with it, or more accurately, difficulty focusing.

He went to the opticians yesterday. They ran their most sophisticated tests on him, and found nothing wrong with his vision. We've amassed a small arsenal of testing devices over the past year, so his blood pressure, blood sugar, and temperature are normal. I called the hospital where he had the operation, and a nurse spoke to a general doctor there who said this symptom is unrelated to the surgery.

He is prone to sinus irritation, but this is different as it is somehow tied to the breathing issue. He has had a couple of days where the breathing seems to be getting better, but only in the mornings when he has had nothing in his stomach all night. He got up in the middle of the night to drink some milk and woke up with bad breathing this morning, but the feeling of sinus pressure is improved.

I should also mention that certain foods are giving him stomach cramps - he had one scrambled egg and half a piece of fish in separate meals a couple of days ago, which gave him chest pain and cramping, so we've gone back to soups and shakes. He'll probably try them again in a few days.

He has a barium swallow on 2nd January and the follow up with his surgeon on the 4th. I don't know what to do. His experience doesn't seem all that common going by other people who've had these surgeries, so it's so difficult to give him any peace of mind. We're all trying to reassure him things will get better.

I went through similar stuff and took gas x. I am just over the two month mark now and rarely have issues. The only thing I notice is sometimes I eat too fast and food starts to get stuck. I just drink loads of water and it passes through quickly.

Tell him to give it time to heal, he'll be happy he had the surgery.

Hi SpiralGalaxy,
To me it sounds like normal recovery. I had almost all of those sensations the first few weeks of recovery. It's hard to deal with and certainly, unfamiliar territory. But it does get better with eating according to the diet plan, scaling back as there's a lot of internal inflammation, walking around and just trying to relax. Music helped me a lot. The recovery is long and I know, we all wish it were quicker but just tell him not to worry so much. He'll get there.

Thanks all.

Well, his surgeon seems quite happy with his progress. Annoyingly, the literature we were given stated a 2-3 week recovery time. The surgeon said he doesn't see people until the 4 week mark because they only start feeling better in week 3. Gee whiz. I wish we'd been told that, because he's not ready to resume a more normal life for another couple of weeks or so.

He's getting better, but it's rather slow. The gas pains can be awful. He ate something earlier not knowing it contained brussels sprouts, and that's not fun at all. He's still getting throat tightness and difficulty breathing intermittently. From what I could gather, it's from the hernia repair and will ease in time.

At any rate, I'm confident he'll be ok.