3 weeks post Nissen, heartburn and burning tongue / lips

It took me a long time to get my surgery. My combination of Gerd and LPR did a huge amount of damage especially orally. Dental erosion, soft tissue damage, ongoing mucus and post nasal drip. The regurgitation got so bad near the end, foul tasting and gritty, I didn't want to eat. Heartburn was reasonably well controlled with PPIs but there was always some low level discomfort in my chest. Also I burped disgustingly, hundreds of times a day.

I finally had my surgery end of August. Very painful first couple of days. I don't know what I was expecting, but I had the impression it did not work initially because the mucus and the post nasal drip were still there. I had to remind myself constantly that these problems took months to develop and will likely take as long to improve as tissues heal and cells regenerate. The disgusting regurgitation and burping were gone though. And although it was not a major symptom, no heartburn either.

Two weeks in I was starting to feel good. Still a lot of mouth sensitively but I was able to eat, obviously just sloppy cereal and soup and jelly and things like that, but it wasn't coming back up. I was getting energy back. There was still excess mucus in my mouth but it was watery and not acidic.

Then Tuesday morning, suddenly my lips were really burning. A hot, acidic taste had entered my mouth. I then had a feeling of heartburn mid chest. This heartburn has persisted for three days now, on and off (but mostly on). It's not severe, but it's chronic. The taste and feeling of acid in my mouth has also been getting worse again.

I'm having a barium swallow tomorrow. I'm very worried the wrap had slipped. I am not having any bad tasting regurgitation though, and no return of burping, which I would think would relate to the wrap coming undone completely. Things still go down slowly (obviously not as slow as first two weeks though), and I still have little gurgles after eating and drinking. But the stomach acid must be coming from somewhere, so I can only think it's from a part of my stomach that had gone above the wrap.

I would love to believe it's a only a transient heartburn-like pain that is part of the healing process, but the fact my mouth is burning again tells me that it is coming from my stomach.

I'm terrified and depressed. This had been such a long, painful journey and just when I could finally see some light, seems like it's been snatched away again. I also had to go interstate for my surgery so my surgeon is a plane flight away in another city.

Will know more tomorrow. If it shows normal in tact wrap then I don't know what to do. I can only wait it out. I don't want to go through the operation again but at least it would explain sudden return of symptoms. Hopefully it can be done laproscopically and doesn't require a complete take down of original wrap, just an adjustment and resecuring.

Pray for me folks. My family who have suffered along with me this terrible time need me to be well again.