Laparscopic Nissen Fundoplication and Hiatal Hernia repair surgery

Digestive health
81

thanks for replying.  I think this forum is great.  wish I had found it sooner.  I have gone two days now  without throwing up.  Unfortuantely, I think the gastro doctor is planning on putting in a feedinng tube when the surgeon takes my wrap down.  I'm only 5.2 and now that I'm under 100 pounds and continuing to throw up he thinks that this will help me by by-passing my stomach to maintain some nutrition.  Although I have not limitd my diet too much, just does not stay down.  My thoughts are with you as you recover and understand the pain and discomfort.  The belching never  goes away -- at least not for me, even drinking water causes belching and many times at inappropriate times.  I attempt to keep it quiet, but....sometimes not possible.  Best of luck and hope you feel better soon too.

kay

82

Thank you Kay,

I hope you get back to yourself soon.

With the belching top and bottom I've always been a bit windy so used to it.

I'm glad you have had 2 days free from sickness

Margaret x

83

Hello Margaret, good to read your comments.  I had my op on April 15 so am almost 5 months on. Recovery from it has been slow but ok. Still trying to deal with changes in bowel movement. Sometimes go for three days with nothing. Like you meals are different, yes pasta is good. I find that I have to make myself eat something cos don't feel hungry. Fill up real fast when I do eat so 6 small meals a day seems to be the way forward. It is so good to feel better though, no more reflux and able to breathe better is fantastic. Wishing you well. Jenniferx

84

Thank you Jennifer,

I went shopping today and looking at what I bought for myself to eat compared with what I bought my partner it's ridiculous, I filled the freezer with food for her ( she veggie) and barely anything for myself, then I will cook her lovely meals and me well I just stick with my pasta for now, hopefully by Christmas I will be eating a bit more adventurously..

What I do enjoy now very much is having a bowl of flakes before bed and laying down properly in bed after and no reflux of the flakes..

My bowels are back to how they were pre op, main visit just after breakfast and maybe 1 more in the day, no diarrhoea at all :-)

Margaret

85

So glad I found this post. I had the full wrap and repair to my HH 12 days ago. I haven't been able to keep any food down not even water. I wish I knew how horrible the outcome would haven been before I got the surgery. Mine was done by a thoracic surgeon who was recommended by my gastroenterologist. After the surgery I spent 5 days in the hospital. The first three my diet was very strict, one small cup of water a day! I did have an IV thank goodness. The last day I was advanced to full fluids but unfortunately I'm lactose intolerant and gluten intolerant so I have very few goods I can actually eat. A few days after I was released I wasn't able to keep any food down, I hiccuped constantly and alerted the surgeon his receptionist not even him put my back on full warm fluid and since then it's only gotten worse. I constantly regurgitate white foam and mucus since the only thing I can semi keep down is room temp water. I've lost 12lbs and I'm not overweight so i am highly concerned. I went to urgent care and the doctor alerted me to get in contact with my surgeon whom I'm still waiting for a call back 3 days ago from when I previously called. I have a sever burning in my throat that's constant and I'm unable to burp. I keep getting sever chest pains Everytime I take a sip of water that turns into not being able to breath causing me to regurgitate just to catch my breath. I recent found out that if you have achalasia this surgery is not recommended however my surgeon and gastroenterologist knew from my pH manometry and 24hr manometry that I have achalasia so I don't see why I wasn't informed of this before the surgery. It just seemed to make it worse plus the sever burning in my throat. I honestly feel like my surgery was a failed one or the warp slipped or something b.c the only pain and discomfort isn't from the incision but from all my postopt side effects. I'm still on both my ppis and now added sucrafate and zofran. I was also informed that I have an enlarged floppy liver and spleen. However the surgeon has no idea why I have this abnormalities. He stated to alert my gastroenterologist. For reference I'm 5'2" and 112lbs.

86

Hi Nicole,

I'm sorry to hear that you are having such a bad time after your op, maybe they shouldn't have done a full 360 wrap for you as you already had problems swallowing . My manomatory test showed my swallow was fine and I only had a 270 wrap done, I've I was out of hospital the next day and could manage to drink no problems and small amounts of sloppy food, I kept everything down, I did have some bouts of nausea but the cyclizine anti sickness tablets helped.

Best wishes to you and I hope you are feeling better very soon.

Margaret x

87

Hi Margaret,

I wish I knew there were different wraps before I had the surgery, I was only told of the one by my surgeon.

I'm glad to hear the surgery went well for you, thank you for your kind words. I hope you have a speedy recovery.

Best wishes to you as well.

Thank you

Nicole smile

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Julie

I feel your pain.  I had NF surgery about 18 months ago and I too wish I had not done it.  I was vomiting over 20 times per month for over 5 years and no doctor was concerned because I was not loosing weight.  Then FINALLY a new gastro doctor found a HH and suggested the NF surgery.  They did a full wrap and I was not able to eat anything much for over 6 weeks.  I lost 15-20 pounds,  I too am 5.2 but I was overweight at 130.  Follwing the 6 weeks I had about 4 months of good feelings  I ate small amounts, stayed away from bread and cakes as they gummed up in my throat, but chips worked great. really almost anything crunch went down so much better.  Then I began throwing up daily.  Went to the gastro and he stretched my throat, said the wrap was too  tight.  The vomiting continued and the surgeon would not see me again.  I began loosing weight again and sought out a new gastro. He did all types of exams and discovered my food does not digest,, thus the vomiting.  This was 9 months ago and he and a new surgeon will not do  surgery because they think the first surgeon messed up some things inside and the scar tissue is terrible and the surgery may not make any difference. I vomit almost daily (sometimes two-three times) and always carry a plastic bag, because I never know when it will come up. have been embarrassed several times.  As of now I have lost another 10-12 pounds and weigh under 100.   I have found that surgary drinks (like the slushy from Sonic) will make me vomit almost immediately and sometimes water will also.  So I can''t necessarily omit sugar when water does the same thing.  I have tried nutrition suplemental shakes as a meal replacement and sometimes that  comes up too.  no food is a real trigger, but I try to stay away from large amounts and only use  child portions for most meals.  I can only drink in TINY sips even to this day and so wish I could guzzle a glass of cold water, and yes ice is not nice to me either.  So I have gotten used to drinkng most drinks with minimal ice or none at all.  It took a while to learn to drink iced tea without ice but keeping it in the fridge and letting it set for about 10 minutes before drinking has helped and I'm now used to it.  I never drink more than 1/4 cup of liquid with a meal though. The first surgeon said that i most likely will never be able  to drink much during a meal and should  not.  I get to see the new surgeon in late October and hope he will remove or redo the wrap.  The gastro wants to put in a jtube (feeding tube) and I am not excited about this option so am hoping we can come to another agreement.  But it needs to be done the same time the wrap is done so we have to decide.  Evenif it is only for 6 weeks or so as I recover this is no way to have to do things.   I am so tired of vomitig so much.I must say my throat is sore all the time and it burns a lot from all the raw spots from the stomach acid. so not eating and having food bypass my stomach may be great! (HAHAHAHAHA).   While I have maintained a positive output it is tough and I admire so many on this forum. I am glad I found others who have similar symptoms and I am not alone.  Thank you for sharing with us your experience.

89

hi Julie , im so glad I have found your post , I am due to have my surgery in a weeks time and I guess I didn't realise what a big life changer it can be , everything you have experienced so have I and I'm excited to hopefully stop the acid reflux which I have had for about 10 years , I have struggled to lose weight and feeĺ that I have a ball underneath my chest , I haven't drunk alcool for 8 or 9 years and have slowly over the years stopped eating foods I like as they cause me problems with acid burning or coughing acid out of my throat and swallowing it to cough it up , I was worried about the damage this would have on my osophegus so I'm keen to have the operation, I hadn't thought about the after procedure regarding how long I might need to be on soft food and how much to eat but I guess I will find out, im hoping I will lose my 'food baby' as it's so uncomfortable with my enlarged liver , I will read your post many times I think to give me confidence about what's going to happen ,I will check out my surgeon to see the success rate , but have realised I have to have this done for a better quality of life , I just hope my surgeon is as good as yours , let me know how your doing now 12 months after your op ,kind regards Denise

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Hi Denise,

I had my surgery 16 weeks ago today, it's still relatively early days yet and it's a slow process but I'm feeling much better.

I put a day by day log on this forum from day one through the first couple of weeks, I don't know how you can locate it, it might help you to read through it, so many different people have different experiences. I can slowly drink one unit of alcohol now which is great. Still on child portion sizes of food.

Good luck with your op.

Margaret x

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glad your doing well ,I watched the operation on u tube this evening and saw how the patient was after day 1 and week 1 , good to know that his problems were fixed ,that's what I'm looking forward to , I will look for your blog , how long did it take you to get back to work , I've been told about 6 weeks but I'm sure it takes longer than that to recover completely, only 6 days to go and start my diet to reduce the liver for the op ,take care thanks for replying

92

Hi Denise. Im having the surgery on Oct 7th and cant wait to have my life back. Ive been put on a 2 week liver shrinkage diet and it was quiet difficult for the first few days, but now on day 7, I think I'm getting used to it, but, Ive only lost 1lb so far!!

Good luck with your op. Let us know how it goes. I will post after Ive had mine.

93

the hospital forgot to send me the diet sheet so shd get that today to start tomorrow that only gives me a few days ,after watching the op on u tube I can see what they want the liver shrinking, to keep it out the way , I can imagine with the retractor keeping it out of the way that it might get a bit bruised so might cause a bit of discomfort after ,but I'm just pleased im having it done and I'm hoping that I might even lose a bit of weight , good luck with yours I will message you after mine to let you know how I got on , but I think if ur happy to have the surgery then ur taking a positive attitude in with you which will help recovery ,

94

Hi Denise

I went back to work after 7 weeks, as I'm self employed and do a physical job ( housekeeper) I didn't want to chance going back too early, I'm still taking it relatively easy watching not to lift anything too heavy, the heaviest thing I lifted so far is Henry hoover. In the beginning I was quite tired but I'm not too bad now.

You were brave watching the video, I found it and couldn't click play, I love watching hospital programme on telly but couldn't watching what was going to happen to me..

95

I didn't have to do the liver shrinking diet before my op.

I lost a stone in weight in the first week and it's stayed off..

M

96

Mark, sorry to hear the symptoms are returning.  I feel your pain, as mine are also returning.  I had NF in 2015 and the wrap has slipped and it has to be fixed.  The surgeon does NOT want to do it as there is a lot of scar tissue, but not much choice.  It has to be fixed.  I suggest you be persistant with your doctor and make sure the wrap has not slipped.  Best of luck.

97

Nicole, we must have had the same surgeon.  Mine actually told his nurse to tel me to stop bothering him and go see my gastro doctor.   I have regretted the surgery and it's been over 18 months. My wrap has slipped and the HH is back and a new surgeon does not want to do surgery to repair the slipped wrap because there is too much scar tissue left behind.  So now what.  I tend to vomit daily and never go any place without a "barf bag" or know how fast I can get to the restroom to throw up.  I had Botox injected into the sphincter muscle and that has helped some.  I often go 3-5 days without vomiting, but still have feelings it is going to come, but at least a couple of days vomit free is great.  I havel ost over 30 pounds (i was aittle over weight) at 5'2" I weighted 130 and now weight under 100.  Stillhave trouble with cold liquids and tend to avoid them most of the time.  Small amounts of food still and only able to sip water, would love to take a large drink and swallow without pain.  Oh well!  I wish you luck  and am glad I am not the only one who is not happy with the surgery.  I would not recommend it at all.

98

Hi Denise

I had my operation on 13th August 2016.

I also had to do liver shrink diet 14 days before my operation.

I lost a stone before my surgery is did on the food option was hard as very restricted

I have also lost about another stone since. I was written off work for 4 weeks .

I work in office. Still feel tiered at work can't wait to get home.

I was unlucky and had bad reaction to the anisetic made me sick and blood thinking injection.

So had to stay over night should been day surgery.

The hospital and my surgeon was real nice and caring made sure felt okay before when the home.

I got rash round were had blood thinning injection and rash on my body from under books down body .

But surely you will be fine if was just the 1 in a million that had reaction.

I would advise to make sure you ask for anti sickness tabletso before leaving hospital as I got sick and had to get some from Doctor.

So better to have a hand in case.

I'm still only eating small meals too. I can still only eat size half microwave meal at one sitting.

I found rice Krispy with bit milk in morning okay now.

Found seam more sensitive to taste of food and smell.

I sure you will be fine. Good luck hope you have good Surgeon like mine

he called me after 6pm at home when I was sick and sounded as if he genuine cared to see if I was okay.

I found Maggie logs very helpful and reassuring.

Helped me through it

I also Google and watched the op as wanted to know .

I haven't put much on here lately since been back to work as tiered

When get home from work .

Good luck hope all goes well.

Keep us updated how you got on.

It will be about 7 week this Saturday from operation day.

Don't take any medication now.

Just don't rush it take every day as it comes.

I try and go for a walk in my lunch hour weather permitting.

can only do about 26 to 30 mins.

Find enough or feel exhausted.

Was walking 55 min when on liver shrink diet to try help the weight come off.

I'm still following these posts.

Wish everyone well that going down same road to get surgery done.

I waffled on too much already.

Good luck

Keep us updated

Zena. ..

99

Hi Zena,

I'm glad you are feeling well and back to work, the tiredness will ease when you can eat more.

I'm getting on well now still on s small portions. I still have a bit of tenderness, but not having to take any painkillers now just the odd one.

Margaret x

100

Hi paul,

I had my surgery (Nissan fundilplication) full wrap in March. For me it has been life changing, not necessarily in a good way either. In hindsight I would not have bothered. I think unless your life is affected massively by your symptoms now, don't bother. this is just my opinion, and maybe because I have had a bad experience I am biased. I am just saying not to think about it lightly if surgery becomes an option