Hiatal Hernia surgery?

[SusanL]

Has anyone had the surgery? I have esophageal (sp?) problems, GERD, and yadda yadda. I saw my gastro. on Tuesday, he said, "If you were my mother... (ACK)... I would recommend it for her." He is NOT young enough to be my son. That aside, has anyone had it and how was the recovery? I go see the surgeon on Wed., they are moving a bit fast for me. I was sort of expecting in the fall... I have had the endoscope several times and done the double dose of meds . Anyone been there?

[sneezles]

DH has pretty bad GERD and a rather large hernia and the doc has mentioned surgery. He was quite positive about how less invasive the procedure has become. So I guess it would depend on which procedure your dr is talking about.

I know DH is miserable most days and it scares the cr@p out of me when he has an attack in the middle of the night. He's not due for another scope for a couple of years but if the dr recommends it then I'm going to push for it.

[SusanL]

Thanks Sneezles, will let you know. My gastro. told me they will do it with the laparoscope (SP?) and it won't be too invasive. I don't complain, but do have chronic pain with it and a chronic cough. I think that gets on everyone's nerves ~ Will be glad to get it done, but still nervous about the whole thing. Go on Wed. to find out, will post - maybe he has something else up his sleeve that my gastro. hasn't tried!

[hlao23]

My DH had this surgery but his had gotten to the point where it was emergency surgery so it might not be the same recovery as there were other variables. I'll try to remember to ask him about it this evening.

[SusanL]

Just had the surgery on Tuesday. Wednesday I swore it wasn't worth it, a lot of pain. Went home Thursday and today I feel so much better. Since the dr. is going on vacation, I have three weeks of liquid diet until I see him. No driving until I saw him but I got that lifted since I am not on the pain killer. I am hoping that this will be worth it as my diet was so restricted before and I still had to live with the pain-even on the highest dose of meds~ Any other experiences with this?

The high point of the whole procedure is that I can eat ice-cream, but I have high cholesterol :eek: Hey, they said I should eat it;)

[kaygee1]

Speedy recovery! Hey, you're just following instructions, right? ;)

[Andrea_2]

Susan - Did you still end up having the surgery laparoscopically? My dad just had it done, and he was upset that more doctors didn't offer that method versus the more invasive surgery. He was frustrated that he had to learn about and request the laparoscopic option by doing his own Internet research. He was in some pain and had some side effects (hiccups etc.) for a few days, but he is fine and back at work now after the having the surgery last Tuesday. I hope your recovery goes well, and that you continue to feel better.

[SusanL]

kaygee1 - you got it!!

Andrea_2 - thank you for that perspective. Did he have the procedure done Aug 4th or the Tues. before that? I am fortunate that I didn't have any other option, laparoscopy was my only choice - this group seems to be on top of things. You are right, it would have been much worse with the invasive surgery! Just put my "poor me" away. I do feel better each day. Since I am not taking the pain killer, I can start driving today, short trips. Sitting is not comfortable yet. Thanks again, just interested when he had the surgery.

[Andrea_2]

Susan - My dad had the surgery on 7/28. He definitely had some pain at first (was taking Tylenol with Codeine etc.), but he is feeling much better now. We live in the Chicago area, but he ended up traveling to Kentucky to have the procedure there. No one seemed to be willing to offer him the laparoscopic option around here. :confused: That is great that your doctor was able to do the procedure close to home!

[sneezles]

Susan,
Glad to hear you had the procedure and things went well. I hope your recovery goes well also. Keep us posted because I would love for DH to have this done. Between the GERD and the sleep apnea nights can be very scary around here!