diaphragmatic hernia

[rdf711]

I am a 58 year old male.  Two CAT scans show a diaphragmatic hernia on the left side.  My stomach is basically under my left breastbone.  I have some breathing issues but thought most of those were due to being about 30 pounds overweight.  Other than that I had no idea this problem existed.  The surgeon said surgery will be through the back, cutting the muscle and putting in a material to hold everything in place.  He has only performed 4 or 5 of these surgeries in his 15 year career.  Otherwise, I am in good health--no regular medications walk 10 to 15 miles weekly, cut the grass regularly and shovel snow as needed.  My last surgery was having my tonsils removed in third grade!  I would like to communicate with anyone who has had this surgery.  Do some hospitals or surgeons specialize in this area?  Are other surgery methods available?  Thanks to all who respond or lead me in the right direction to some expert advice.

[hava]

These pranayams will exercise your diaphragm.When you can do the anulom vilom and kapabhati for more than 20 minutes, you will notice that your symptoms start to decrease. When you reach this point, you can delay any surgery for 6 months, and then reconsider the options, but continue the pranayam.
Build up your timing gradually.If you feel tired or dizzy, stop and resume after one minute.
Kapalbhati -(Do it before eating) Push air forcefully out through the nose about once per second. Stomach will itself go in(contract in). The breathing in(through the nose) will happen automatically. Establish a rhythm and do for 20 to 30 minutes twice a day. Children under 15 years – do 5 to 10 minutes twice a day.
Not for pregnant women. Seriously ill people do it gently.
Anulom Vilom –
Close your right nostril with thumb and deep breath-in through left nostril  
then – close left nostril with two fingers and breath-out through right nostril  
then -keeping the left nostril closed  deep breath-in through right nostril
then - close your right nostril with thumb and breath-out through left nostril.
This is one cycle of anulom vilom.
Repeat this cycle for 15 to 30  minutes twice a day.
Children under 15 years – do 5 to 10 minutes twice a day.
You can do this before breakfast/lunch/dinner or before bedtime or in bed.Remember to take deep long breaths into the lungs.You can do this while sitting on floor or chair or lying in bed.

[jasinkler]

My husband also has this condition. He's 56 and stomach and other internal organs are up into his chest and actually have moved his heart over to the middle and now is having shortness of breath and his voice is hoarse, we believe from throat being pushed on as well.  Up to this point he has had no symptoms until a year ago when he went into the hospital with chest pain and the same hoarseness of his voice.  We knew he had this condition about 5 years ago when he had a motorcycle accident and the scans showed the condition, but hasn't affected him until last year as far as breathing, etc.  He's actually been a high school basketball official for the past 35 yrs. and has never had a problem until a year ago.
We are meeting with the surgeon Tuesday so we're interested to see if he's done this type of surgery before and what he recommends.  Please let us know how you are proceeding...it would be nice to compare notes. We are told it's quite rare and could be caused by a tear in the diaghragm during an accident, head hit in football, etc., but with some other internal abnormalities he's had, he's probably had it since birth and I wonder too if it's just affecting him now that he's older and a little overweight (about 25 lbs).