@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.