I'm and 82 Y.O. male who was able to eat and drink most things during my life, but I did have a lot of stomach acid and I ate a lot of tums for years. Age has a funny way to sneak up and show your health problems you didn't know you had. About 114 days ago, 5 of my buddies and I were playing our weekly card game. Of course, we drank some beer during the game as usual. After the game, I ordered a pizza to take home. After eating just two fairly small pieces of Pizza I developed a severe stomachache. My wife drove me up to the local ER and after many tests determined I needed immediate surgery. My stomach had grown up thru a hole in my hiatel hernia into my upper chest cavity between my lungs and rib cage. The surgeon pulled the stomach back thru the hole back where it belongs and used part of the stomach to do a 360 degree wrap to close the hole in the hernia. The reason given by the surgeon for the 360d wrap, was so that I wouldn't have GERD after healing from the surgery. The surgeon went on to tell me that had the stomach burst, I probably would not have made it. (Nice news, right?) For 5 days following the surgery I was in considerable pain and couldn't eat or drink anything, so they went back in to cut the two Sucher's holding the wrap, but inflammation didn't allow them to get to the wrap, so they inserted a feeding tube into my stomach which I've had since. During the second surgery they determined the wrap had slipped down a little but there was nothing they could do about it because of the inflammation from the original surgery. As of today, I'm still taking Jevity 1.5 twice a day and just recently starting to experiment with soft foods and juices. The message here, is DO NOT wait to see a GI doctor if you are experiencing any issues with acid reflux. Had I done so, they could have corrected the hiatel hernia issue and I would probably be completely healed, which I am not yet. The surgeon said we will just have to have patience to see how it heals. My quality of life has changed for the worse because I was too stubborn to see a gastrologist. Suggest you take heed if you are experiencing any stomach issues.

Jump to this post