Questions I SHOULD ask my Surgeon prior to NF with HH repair

Hi Sephonna I have just gone through this process myself, getting the surgery done tomorrow. The first thing I'll say is research the procedures, not just the nissen but the partial wraps as well, and maybe the alternatives like Linx and TIF if those are available in your area. My GI said surgery was needed, but wasn't specific about which one, so I just had a look at all the options. It might turn out that your surgeon only offers one, mine only does Dor Fundoplications. Thats not a bad thing though, it means that they will have a lot of experience doing that procedure.

As for question you could ask. How many times have they done this surgery before, have they done it as a redo - redos are trickier and require more skill to do, what is the success/failure rate, what are the side effects from this surgery and how likely are they to occur, whats the recovery time, what will my post op diet be, is there anything that needs to be done prior to the surgery - i had to go on a ketosis diet for 2 weeks, what are the possible complications, how is the surgery performed (if you want to know that).

I'd recommend writing them down to take in with you. My mind went blank the minute I went through the door so I was glad to have it on me.

Thats a good thing, my surgeon is a bariatric surgeon as well. Because they also deal with the end-to-end process for weight loss surgery they seem to be able to give much more realistic expectations of what your recovery period will be like, because a lot of the diet and side effects are the same due to the changes to your digestive tract. Plus it means that they have experience with trickier cases.

Thanks, I will definitely be posting as soon as I can!