My Dr. called and said that I need this surgery due to the fact that my barretts has gotten worse and PPIs are not helping. He really did not talk to me about it and I thought that I had read enough about it, but now am finding conflicting articles, one said it was where they remove the bad part and reattach things. I thought it was where they wrap the stomach around the esophagus. What should I expect from this surgery? This will be the open surgery not laparscopic. How long will I be in hospital? Will I be able to swallow? How much pain is there? Surgery is a week away and I am getting scared.

My Mom is in the hospital right now after having this surgery on Wednesday. She though she'd be out yesterday but the doc said maybe today but probably Saturday. Yes it is some kind of a wrap on the stomach. She was out of her bed as soon as she got back from recovery. She is having trouble keeping even water down right now but that happens to her after any surgery. I'll let you know more as soon as she comes homes and updates me on how everything went. I don't think a hiatus hernia causes any "bad parts" so I'm unsure what the article is talking about.

Yes keep me posted as well. I will be having the same surgery on the 7th and am very frightened. Mine is also the open surgery, due to the mesh from hernias. I also have Barrett's Esophagus which has progressed to low grade dysplasia.

Koala,

I had my Nissen surgery in 98, I had this surgery because I had severe acid reflux and meds were not working at all. I tried several different meds for about a year and a half before surgery so this was definitely my last option. What I can tell you from my experience as far as what to expect is that I was in the hospital for 2 nights 3 days, they did my surgery with 4 little incisions and wrapped my stomach tight around my esophagus so that I wouldn't have the reflux. The incisions I had were about an inch long each and now you can hardly notice them. As far as pain I had pain for about the first week and then it gradually got better. Naturally the Doctor prescribed me medication for that but after the first two weeks I really didn't need it. Be careful what you begin to eat after the sugery, stick with soft foods so that it won't aggravate the surgical site. As far as swallowing I didn't notice any differences. My wrap was a little tight so I had to have it stretched a few times but that is rare that people have to do that. Unfortunately the Doctor that did my surgery was very inexperienced and I was one of a few that he had done. I by no means I am saying malpractice the wrap was just simply a little tight. If yours would happen to be tight more times than not it will losen as you are healing. I wish you the very best of luck and I was very glad that I had the surgery - getting rid of the reflux was wonderful! I know everything will go well for you and I will be thinking of you and keeping you in my prayers.

My Mom got out of the hospital towards evening tonight. Her throwing up was actually caused from the wrap being too tight so she ended up having day surgery this morning before she was released. She was only supposed to have 3 incisions (she thought) but she ended up with 5. I forgot to ask how big they were but she has staples. She is on a very strict diet for a month I believe. I think the first week or 2 is liquids only (not even allowed to take any pills that aren't crushed) and then she graduates to blender food. I'm going to see her tomorrow or Sunday so I'll find out more then and let you guys know. She is in a fair amount of pain but not unmanageable. She was also discharged with nothing for pain meds but she didn't ask for any so I don't know if that's standard procedure or not.

After spending the whole weekend throwing everything up she tried to drink, even small sips, my mom is back in the hospital. They readmitted her this afternoon but we still don't have any news on what is wrong. They are thinking of reopening her. All they are doing is giving her pain meds and pumping fluids into her through the IV. I'll let you guys know what went wrong when I hear more.

Hi Twisten, I went 3 days without being able to swallow not even my own saliva. It was around day 5 after the surgery I was able to keep a few sips of water down. My doc was going to go down with a scope to see what was happening but at the risk of breaking the wrap stitches. He was able to see the LES was extremly inflammed via an Xray and that was stopping anything from going down......I was told to walk a lot. I was walking for serveral hours a day. It was very scary not being able to swallow anything. I had some horrific thoughts going through my head ! I think in youre second post "she ended up having day surgery this morning before she was released" you are refering to them doing a scope or they tried to sctretch the LES ?

They did 2 things the day they released her. One was a scope but I'm unsure of the other one because I forgot to ask her what it was. It only lasted part of the day and the vomitting started again. All we know today is she'll probably be in there for a week and that if things don't straighten out by tomorrow they are going to open her up again and see what's up.

twisten, so sorry to hear about your mom. Keep us posted. My thoughts and prayers are with you. I finally got the guts to call my surgeon today and have an appointment this afternoon, to go over all my questions about the surgery. My husband is going along so maybe this will ease my mind a bit.

They operated again yesterday and loosened things by removing 2 stitches so hopefully that solves the problem. She is doing pretty good today so we have our fingers crossed. The doctor said she was swelling so bad that nothing at all could even get into the stomach so it's no wonder she couldn't keep anything down.

Sorry to hear they had to do more surgery, hope she is feeling better!

I went to see her today and she is doing better. She ended up having 4 small bowel barium tests done (some kind of an error shouldn't have been that many) in under a week and now the doc thinks the barium is creating a bit of a havoc with her system. No doubt!! She has lost between 15-20 pounds in a week and she really couldn't afford to lose that. Hopefully she will be home in a day or two. Thanks for the words of support, they are appreciated. I'll post more when she gets home.