Complications after Nissan Fundoplication - abcess & perforated ulcer within wrap

[123esthere]

On 11-15-06 I had laproscopic Nissan Fundoplication to correct chronic bronchitis & hiatal hernia. I had seen pictures over 20 years showing a hiatal hernia.  On day of surgery, dr said I did not have hernia.  Where had it gone? 2 days later had severe chronic bronchitis and cough.  Went to ENT for 6 weeks. In 1-07 had two major "flu" and missed work. In 27 years, first time I missed work from "flu".On 4-14-07 while on vacation in Orlando, had emergency exploratory abdomen surgery. almost died. Surgeon found abscess in wrap around esophagus with a perforation.  Top half of abodmen cavity filled with yeast and lower half with pus.  Temp 99.1  Physician told me he had to undo wrap and I no longer had nissan fundoplication wrap. I burped and thru up which I could not do with nissan fundoplication.I feel like the surgeon who did inital surgery was neglent and tied hiatal hernia in wrap causing abscess and perforation.  What can I do?  What should I do?  I feel he owes me for my sick days I lost, my spoiled vacation, and severe suffering and pain.  It will take me years to get back to where I was. He offered to re-do the nissan fundoplication.  Why would I since the other one did not fix the original condition -  chronic bronchitis.  He is being difficult and does not want me to have a copy of file. Where do I go from here.  Thank  you

[ron530jon]

does anyone who has had Nissan fundoplication surgery feel like they are drowning on their own siliva?? my father has had the surgery and although he doesnt have heartburn any more he is on meds still to keep him from drowning on his spit. he is always clearing his throat and nothing seems to help .. he has gone back to the doc and the doc said there is nothing wrong with his wrap.. they tired the ballon thing to loosen it up and my father would feel better for a day or so then it would go right back to the same thing.... they did the ballon thing like 3 times already... dad still thinks it might be too tight but docs say no its fine... any advise???

[Chuck1125]

FYI for your medical records Grandma died of Colon Cancer.

All our best

[coughting]

I have chrons and you need to see a gi dr.  There is a test to show if you have chrons, it is a genetic test.

I also had reflux, but my symptoms were only a cough, I would cough when I laid down and then wake up at night and cough until I spit up.  After loads and load of tests, I had the 24 hr ph test and it showed that when I had reflux I then coughed.  I had the Nissen done in Oct. 08 and so far it has been wonderful.  Your surgeon should not have perofrmed the nissen if you really have poor motility.  My surgeon said that if motility was bad he would not do a nissen on me.

[alvinrenee]

I had Nissan fundoplication surgery back in Sept 08 and everything went well.  I was recovering and feeling great for about a month.  Then my original symptoms of Chest Tightnes/pain and numbness and pain in the left and right side below my rib cage, started coming back.  I went back to my G.I. doc and he did another Endoscopy and all looked good except a little redness near the juncture of the stomach and esphogus. He is now referring me to a pulminologist and a cardioligist. I use to have shortness of breath but since the surgery it has not been that noticable.  My question is since I have poor motility of the esphogus could the contractions or lack of contractions of the esphogus  be causing my chest tightness?

[CalGal]

IBS and IBD are not similar. IBS is a diagnosis of exclusion. If you got through ALL the tests and nothing is found (AND you ask your doc a HECK of a lot of questions they don't want to be asked), then you can be diagnosed with IBS.

IBD is an inflammatory bowel condition. Organic things ARE found. There are a couple of different forms, but the most well-known are Crohn's and Ulcerative Colitis. But there are also microscopic colitis (2 forms), and any other condition that causes inflammation within the intestinal tract - and that can include problems resulting from the ingestion of antibiotics.

Make sure when you have the colonoscopy that they take biopsies. Many docs won't if they don't 'see' anything on the surface. But things can be going on under the surface where it can't be seen. So if you come out of a colonoscopy with a doc saying 'all is fine and we didnt' do any biopsies' you've got a lousy doc. Yes, doc's can have a problem justifying biopsies to an insurance company, but if you're having the test, make SURE your doc is good AND does biopsies.

If you're worried about IBDs and you have a family history, if the colonoscopy shows nothing, make sure to have blood testing done - something along the lines of the Serology 7.

Also, start a food diary. There can be a number of conditions in which foods can make a lot of difference in how you feel. Or it's possible you could be reacting to foods - it's not unknown. My husband found out a couple of years ago that he can't handle either gluten or casein (the major protein in dairy), and it cleared up a number of problems for him when he changed his diet.

[spawn747]

You don't have cancer, Its just pain signals going up to your brain and making your life miserable. whatever you do, don't let them talk you out of trying the patch for a year. They will tell you a bunch of bull **** about how the patch will shorten your life by a few years but a smart doctor finally told me that he himself was on the patch and that it is better living 60 years without pain then 70 years with constent pain and misery. Just don't take no for an answer. These doctors don't care about your pain. They have no clue what your going through. All they want to do is get you to keep coming back for more tests. Forget tests and get on with your life. Trust me you won't ever be healthy again but you will be able to relax again and enjoy the simple stuff you use to take for granted. Just go to a pain doctor and he will understand the situation. The problem is that most doctors don't understand that we don't have just regular heartburn. Our esophegus is broken for life. The best thing that might happen in the future is that a company called medtronics will create a gatekeeper to stop the acid from coming up. I just want you to be able to feel free from pain and that is the most important thing. Don't let them down size the situation and send you home back to hell. If anything get a ppo and go directly to a pain doctor. Forget the other idiots and there tests. Your just a number to them......Also eat healthy for life and forget all the ****. Food isn't everything. Eat healthy and stay away from everything. Just eat toasted turkey sandwishes without cheeze. Food plays a big part in your pain as well. Probably the biggest. Stay away from meat. That will send you to your grave faster then anything.

[spawn747]

I forgot to tell you that don't stop taking the PPI's but try Aciphex. It is the one that gives you the least side effects and goes perfect with the duragesic and xanax. You will one day thank me for this. Trust me I am 33 and I have had acid reflux since I was 18 years old. It never goes away and just gets worth. The surgery is one big joke and now that I anaylze it, it doesn't really make sense because all their doing is making the esophegus tighter but the acid can still get up there and then they won't be able to see the damage because its all wraped up. It a barberik procedure that never works.

[spawn747]

I had the same situation and I got to the point where I acepted the fact that test don't matter because there is no cures for these symptoms. My advice to you is to get on the duragesic patch for pain. At first you need to get used to it because it gets you sleepy but it does take away most of the pain during the day and lets you live a lfe without having to see doctors all the time. The faster you realize that pain is your problem the faster you will feel great and happy. The patch is also great because it doesn't go through your stomach. It is the best thing I ever discovered and gave me my life back. The mission is that your body adapts to the dose after a few years but thats easy because all you do is lower it for a while and then you go back up. You play with the dose and it keeps working and try taking a bit of xanax for the anxiety. I tried everything you can ever think of and this was the best option. Go see a pain management doctor. Good luck.

[Allen Patrick]

Hi, my name is Patrick. I am based in SW Washington, proudly to say an ex-Navy and Army veteran spanning from 1985-2003 off and on. I had always had acid-reflux disease for at least 3 decades. Then when I was in the Army, from age 35-38 roughly, I was diagnosed with a hiatal hernia via the MAMC in Tacoma,WA. I had been going through some very rough times withe the acid-reflux disease constantly. It got so BAD that my then wife had to call 9-1-1 on me twice. I think we both got scared, me moreso because I could tell that I was actually deteoriating inside from the acid-reflux disease since I had had it for a long, long time, especially since I was diagnosed with the hiatal hernia while I was on active duty. I did go through several types of testing and procedures necessary for the illness. But it just seemed like it wasn't solving my problems. Low and behold, after being honorably discharged from the Army in January 2003, I registered the the VA system in Portland,Oregon thereafter. I knew even before I was discharged from the active Army that I would probably be getting the help I desparately needed once I got out of the active Army, of which I did get-FINALLY too!! I need to let you know and everyone else know that I did make quite a few and several trips up to the Pdx VA Hospital for the following year and a half after that. To make a long story short, it took me to go through two ph probes procedures to "over-qualify" for the Nissan Fundiplication surgery via the Pdx VA Hospital system. I went through my 1st ph probe in early April 2004 and then again in early June 2004. I ended up being asked by my projected medical team if I would be willing to go through another ph probe procedure because my reading from the first one was quite high which read 200 of whatever reading it gives you whereas a normal reading was 20. I did agree to go through a 2nd ph probe in early June 2004. Would you believe that I got a higher reading from the second one which was a 226. Needless to say, I over-qualified for the surgery. I do believe that the medical team really knew I wasn't joking on how bad I really was. I knew I was bad but everyone else including my own biological family thought it wasn't as bad as they thought. I was actually fighting for my life at this time. Thankfully, I had a male friend who went through this with me and who gave me the moral support I was crying out for litterally that I wasn't getting anywhere else. His name is Robert. Rob is still my friend today after knowing him since June 2003. Amen to friendship.But anyways, I am going through another worrisome turmoil after being diagnosed with IBS-and I mean IBS to the max. I have chronic IBS and it has been effecting me every day. It just creeps up on me at a moments notice. It is actually getting me quite worried that I may have the IBD part that is sussecptical to colon cancer. It has even made me lose a full time job earlier this month that I had just started working for a credit agency. I am getting down to the nitty gritty about making a living like I really want to. I am 42 pushing 43 in late Sept 2007. I do have an appt. with my new Primary Care doctor at the Pdx VA Hospital named Allison Hopkins for the infamous 9-11-2007 date that we all can recall what happened on 9-11-2001. I did go to the ER a couple weeks ago and they diagnosed me with IBS and sent me home with a 30 day supply of immodiam and advised me to follow up with my PC doctor of which I am doing in just a few more days. But my question in point, "I know that IBS and IBD are basically similar but if you have either one, can you get cancer of the colon from the IBS portion"? It's been 3 years now since I had my double surgery Nissan Fundiplication surgery which was on July 16, 2004 and then I had to go back in for the second one where they had to perform an "open operation" on me. I ended up dry vomitting coming out of the anesthitics which is why I had to undergo the operation the second time on an emergency basis. They caught the acid-reflux disease along with my hiatal hernia just in time before it would have just been a couple months further, it would have started to erode my espophagus away which meant I would have died. I don't think I would have lasted much longer at all at that point. Now with the IBS it hasn't made me live a great quality of life like I had hoped I would after my Nissan surgery.  I am having trouble in all aspects of my life: professionally, financially, and sometimes spiritually. I have recently lost two immediate family members too since July 16th, 2006-a 42 yr old brother to alcoholism and then my 85 year old paternal grandmother on March 20th, 2007 which doesn't help the stress because I am still grieving from both losses. I get really feeling bad and really at a loss for "HELP" and it gets me to the point I get emotional. Please pray that I get the much needed help from my new P.C doctor Allison. I am definitely going to be pushing for a colonoscopy now because I have the terrible part of diahrea a lot and almost every day of my life. Can  you give me any pointers and advice. I am really getting seriously worried that I may have the "C' word. I won't know until I have my colonoscopy.

Signed: Worried in Woodland,Washington


Patrick Cofield

[Jaybay]

You are talking about bringing a lawsuit against the surgeon, right?  You'll have to hire an attorney to dig into the records and see if negligence can be proved.