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Nissen Fundoplication
I am a Mayo Clinic patient (past or current).
Your interests: LAPAROSCOPIC NISSEN FUNDOPLICATION Your experience as a Mayo Clinic patient (if applicable): Today is one week since surgery at the Jacksonville Clinic. It was a positive experience, in that the care was excellent. Now home in Boca Raton, I am 7 hours by car from my doctors. Although I have a local doctor at home, I feel the need to connect with others who have had this surgery. Anything else about yourself: The main symptom I suffered with was chronic cough. I also have been diagnosed with Asthma. Last summer I became a patient at National Jewish Health in Denver, CO, a hospital that specializes in Respiratory disease. I was diagnosed with Bronchiectosis, probably caused by GERD. I had been on the GERD diet, proton pump inhibitors, inhalers, antibiotics, cough meds, the works. Turning over every leaf possible, I was led to the Mayo Clinic. Somewhat cynical about the outcome, I chose to have the surgery. This week has been difficult. I experienced low grade fever, and belching every few seconds for hours on the fifth day out. This has finally stopped and I am now on soft foods, really I'm clinging to blended still. I would like to hear from others that have had this surgery.
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Hello @kdubois: I read about your Nissen Fundoplation Surgery in October. How are you feeling? and how did the surgery go
Let me know. I too might be having the surgery. Carees
@caress
I'm so glad I had this surgery! Mayo did an awesome job... they answered my questions before I was even able to ask them every single time. They made sure to take extra special care with anesthesia and pain care because I don't properly-metabolize so many medications.
One of the reasons we did this surgery is because I also don't properly-metabolize proton pump inhibitors and H2 antagonist medications, so this surgery allowed me to stop taking these drugs for the first time in 12.75 years. Eventually, these drugs would have caused me to have liver damage/failure.
I haven't had any GERD or heartburn at all! I can now sleep laying down like a normal person. I can eat dinner later at night now because I had to finish eating before 6 p.m. before. I don't have to worry about drinking a glass of water when I'm working in the garden and then bending over and having it come right back up my esophagus again. Eventually, the GERD issue could have caused esophageal cancer.
The worst part of the surgery is actually the pain you get in your shoulders afterward. During the surgery, they fill up your belly with gas to help them see what they're doing. (I think they use CO2.) The gas ends up rising to your shoulders and slowly dissipates from there. This hurt more than the five abdominal incisions did. Since I can't take pain drugs, they got me a heating pad to put across my shoulders. That helped a lot.
The diet afterward isn't as bad as what other hospitals post on the Internet. As long as you follow the instructions they give you, you'll do fine.
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1 ReactionThank you kdubois for your post, it has helped with a lot of questions I had. Unfortunately I won't be able to travel to any Mayo Clinics
I'm so weak, I'm losing blood from this hernia and its hard for me to think about any travelling....I should hear from my gastroenterologist
today about my barium-xray test I had yesterday. Thank you again and all the best to you.
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1 ReactionUgh... yeah, I have a 4 cm hernia. Horrible to live with. They do nissens all over the place, just be sure to have an doctor who's done a ton of them before, and a thoracic surgeon will be better than a general surgeon. Good luck!
I just googled surgeons at Hackensack Medical Center in NJ that do nissen fundoplications for hiatal hernia and I found one that does robotic
surgeries, did you ever hear of that?
I have a feeling they would tell me to lose some weight, I'm only 5'1 and over 200lbs. So to protect me
I know they would rather me lose the weight. Again thank you so much for all the valuable information.
See above for some answers to these questions. And you are very welcome!
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1 ReactionThey don't know why I have the pains. With that said, it's definitely getting better with time. It doesn't worry me at all, and it doesn't prevent me from normal activities.
You never know regarding the weight... you and I are different heights and have different circumstance, so they may be willing to perform surgery. Never know until you ask.
Interestingly, I literally just spoke with Medicare today regarding insurance, and I also obtained some Medicare/Mayo payment info from Facebook last week when I saw that someone else asked about Medicare and Mayo answered them.
I have two insurances. I have Medicare Part A as my primary for in-patient hospitalization, and my secondary insurance is via my husband's employment. Mayo is billing my in-patient, hospital stuff from October to Medicare Part A first. Anything not covered will then be billed to my secondary insurance, which Mayo has always accepted despite that I live in Western New York. The Medicare Part A deductible for 2016, when I had the surgery, was $1,288, so I will owe that amount to Mayo. (The Medicare Part A deductible for 2017 is $1,316.)
Based on your age, I assume that you have Medicare Part A, which would be used toward the surgery & hospitalization; Mayo would submit your claims and Medicare will reimburse them directly. With that said, you should be aware that Mayo is a non-participating provider under Medicare Part B, which is used to cover out-patient visits, etc. This means that Mayo sees Medicare Part B patients, but they do not always accept assignment for payment. When this happens, per Medicare, Mayo submits the claims for Part B claims to Medicare, then Medicare pays you, and you would be responsible for reimbursing Mayo.
Some info: http://www.mayoclinic.org/patient-visitor-guide/billing-insurance/insurance/accepted-insurance/medicare
I believe what you want is a thoracic surgeon.
Have you been to Mayo before? They will likely want you to meet with a GI doctor first, and they will then order testing and maybe some labs. You usually don't get to choose which doctor you get, but that's okay because they are all great.
I see Dr. Jeffrey Alexander in GI. He then finds a thoracic surgeon. My thoracic surgeon is Dr. Francis Nichols.
I first met Dr. Alexander in January 2016.
I had a follow-up with him in August, and at that time he said that I was now a candidate for the surgery because I had lost some weight, was healthier, and they had also learned that I cannot take PPIs due to genetic issues. He asked if I could stay a week longer to do the testing and have a subsequent follow-up with him and the surgeon because I lucked out and another patient had just cancelled all of these same appointments I needed.
At the follow-up, I met with him again, and then he pulled a thoracic surgery PA and Dr. Nichols into the room. We talked everything over, and Dr. Nichols then pulled his schedule/calendar up on the computer screen and we picked a surgery date.
Yes I had that test, it wasn't too bad. I have no idea the size of the hernia, my gastroenterologist never told me
and I never thought to ask. Did they tell y ou why you're getting small pains in your abdomen and what is it from, will they
go away.