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Mucus and bad breathe when your not sick!
Ear, Nose & Throat (ENT) | Last Active: Oct 27, 2023 | Replies (18)Comment receiving replies
@capausz I had surgeries to repair the sliding hernia. I had a nissen fundoplication in 2001. It started to fail almost immediately. I had a repair in 2007 which failed and had added pain because of mesh placed in a place it should not have been placed. In 2013 I was sent to the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville .. to quote this last local surgeon “the doctors there fix other doctor's mistakes”. An honest surgeon. The surgeon at the Mayo did an undo of the Nissen wrap and repaired the hernia. Another immediate failure. Dealing with insurance mess it took me another year to have surgery for repair... the hernia had pulled my stomach into my chest for the third time. The surgeon that did the first surgery at the Mayo had moved on. I was blessed to get Dr Bowers for the 2014 surgery. He decided to do a gastric bypass.. which was created for the purpose of repairing these stubborn hernias. The side effect is weight loss. During surgery my esophagus decided to shorten. It pulled the hernia and a loop of intestines into my chest. It also caused a leak. This was no fault of the surgeon. Only 1% chance of it happening. My luck .. haha. I was in hospital for 3 weeks and too weak for the surgery to repair the mess. I was put on feeding tube. I was doing better for about 6 months and two more loops of my intestines pulled up into my chest and pushed my left lung against my ribs. I managed to get back to the Mayo Clinic pretty quickly. Planning and coordination with a thoracic surgeon took place and I had open surgery in May of 2015. Not much choiice.. either take a chance on the surgery or endure a short miserable life. I had the feeding tube removed the following October. Quite a journey it has been and is still going on.
I will not recommend if someone should or should not have surgery. I can only say research your options, if surgery is the answer pick an excellent surgeon. I failed twice in the surgeon department. None could be better than Dr Bowers in Jacksonville.
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@fourof5zs, thank you so so very much for your reply. Best info I have seen from a survivor of this journey. I had surgery in 2006 to repair a large sliding hiatal hernia combined with a volvulus stomach that was upside down and twisted. Stomach was also partially above the diaphragm and pressing on left lung. Surgery done by Dr. Jim Swain at Phoenix Mayo Clinic, who replaced the stomach, did a full esophagus wrap, etc. That surgery gradually came loose over time, resulting in a second large sliding hiatal hernia with 25 percent of my stomach above my diaphragm. Had surgery in July 2017 to repair. Thoracic Surgeon Ryan Macke of Banner in Phoenix decided to do only a partial esophageal wrap and repair due to amount of scar tissue from gallbladder surgery three months prior, migration of pelvic mesh from hysterectomy, etc. That surgery lasted only a year, when I began to have sudden onset horribly painful attacks in abdomen. Tests showed the hiatal hernia was back, some stomach was above diaphragm, but Dr. Macke felt the hiatal hernia was not causing the attacks. MRIs, CT scans, multiple trips to ER, could find nothing definitive and gastro specialist ruled “abnormal tissue of unknown origin” was possibly just fatty tissue and suggested wait and watch approach after I had had twelve of these horrible attacks that were so painful morphine did not control them. Each attack lasted from an hour to six hours. Last attack was February 4th, and CT in ER showed a grapefruit sized total obstruction in colon due to volvulus bowel. Emergency open surgery done by general surgeon who removed right colon, plus part of small intestine and cecum valve. After nine-day hospital stay, I am home recovering. Fearful because Dr. Macke told me another surgery to repair hiatal hernia is not an option and recommended gastric bypass, even though I am (was) thirty pounds overweight. Given my age (74) and other health issues (fibromyalgia, hypertension, diabetes, etc.) I do not like permanent weight loss surgery as a solution. Your history has given me incredible food for thought. As an aside, my sister died when her volvulus (aka twisted) stomach burst while she was awaiting emergency surgery. My surviving sister has a large sliding hiatal hernia that is causing blood loss and she is trying to determine if hernia surgery is her best option. I salute you for your incredible survival strength. Stay strong, thank you again for the good info, and please share any additional info you care to share. This site is such a blessing to so many. Best of luck to you.