HH repair and Toupet Fundoplication (Performed on 11th Dec 2020)

Hi All,

Firstly I must say i'm so happy I found this page. The other posts are somewhat comforting, so I thought I'd share mine.

A bit of background - (Male, 37, Melbourne Australia) since June this year I've been experiencing daily chest pain which sometimes radiated to my left arm and between my shoulder blades.. Off to the GP and all the necessary heart tests were booked in.. Bloods, stress echo, multiple ECG's all came back clear.. Off to the gastro doctor for investigation - normal PPI's made no change and was on them for a few months before he tried me domperidone and vonoprazan - neither had any change in symptoms. Endoscopy uncovered small HH, no barrets but some some noticeable changes in coloration in lower esophagus.. 24hr PH monitoring revealed multiple events of acidic reflux and a second test on PPI's revealed NERD. Surgery was recommended.

Surgery took about an hour and a half. They repaired the HH and performed Toupet (270deg wrap) The following days after surgery were very painful, mainly abdominal and shoulder pain, shoulder pain def worse for a longer period. Not much pain swallowing 2 days after operation but little burps and sneezing hurt like crazy.
Around 5 days post op I started experiencing chest pain that felt like heartburn and immediately started to worry. This has continued even to today (13 days post op) although it does vary day to day with duration, time of day and severity of pain. I also experience a dull sensation in my left arm periodically..

I had a follow up with my surgeon yesterday and he assured me everything is ok. He is certain the chest pain I've been feeling is not heartburn but just the recovery process. The arm feeling could be referred pain from the diaphragm but didn't sound too concerned at this stage. I've lost a good 5kg (11lbs) during this time and still feel pretty flat and tired often. Again I'm hoping this is all part of the recovery.

It's going to be a pretty quiet Christmas for me this year but I'm looking forward to feeling normal again sometime in the new year.

If anyone has any tips or similar experiences I'd love to hear them.

Thanks and Merry Christmas.

Len

Thanks Lion - bring on the next few months 💪

Great to hear Alcie! I think I expected instant results and normality immediately after surgery..
Starting to understand now it’s a long and gradual process.