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Hello, I just joined this group about 15 minutes ago! Hoping I can find an answer to my questions. Seems I have some problems with my esophagus. Flap doesn't close properly, have acid reflux, esophagus has slowed down in moving food to the stomach, sliding Hiatal hernia, chest pain (so bad last July sent me to hospital for 5 days, they insisted it was a heart attack, was not!) I am still pre-op and am going through two more tests in 2 weeks. All the reading I have done shows that these can be repaired at the same time as surgery (from surgeon himself) but after these two upcoming tests, if they find anything else to be concerned about, will this cancel my surgery all together? My second group class is tomorrow morning and I know I won't get a straight answer since it is the nutritionists and psychologists. I just want to know what I may be facing. After I was put on hold after the "heart attack" last July until released by cardiologist on December 26th. I really don't want to go into a holding place again, and this is my biggest fear. Has anyone had a problem like this with their esophagus? I would love to hear from you. Thaks

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HI Pam,

I had ulcers in my esophagus and that postponed my surgery till the ulcers were gone.

I also had the hiatal hernia and the awful GERD and that was taken care of during surgery.

I can't be sure but It doesn't sound like you need worry about anymore cancellations.

Good Luck!

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7 hours ago, Pamela R. said:

Flap doesn't close properly, have acid reflux, esophagus has slowed down in moving food to the stomach, sliding Hiatal hernia

Well, take this for what it's worth...

  • "flap doesn't close properly" is called an incompetent lower esophageal sphincter (LES).
  • "slowed down moving food" is called low esophageal motility

I would think a surgeon contemplating gastric sleeve would consider these 2 conditions a possible contraindication for the sleeve gastrectomy. Reason being: if you have an incompetent LES then gastric juices can easily come up into your esophagus (reflux). If you have low esophageal motility, that slows any food down and compounds the issue with the LES. It can also be quite uncomfortable.

The hiatal hernia, sliding or not, can easily be repaired during the surgery. I'm sure it's causing you some discomfort and making the other conditions rather miserable...hence the chest pain.

Sleeve gastrectomy patients are at a higher risk for GERD anyway. I would STRONGLY encourage you to discuss your medical history and ask about your personal risk for intractable postoperative GERD with your surgeon before you move forward with sleeve gastrectomy.

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My hiatal hernia was repaired at the same time as bypass. My endoscope before surgery showed a Barretts polyp that had to be removed and doc made me wait a month before surgery so that it was healed. Endo several months after surgery showed all esophageal issues resolved. No more esophagitis or any sign of Barrets! And no more GERD!

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The motility issue should impact on the type of surgery you have. An RNY is probably a better option than a sleeve.

How bad is the problem? If it’s really bad you may need further treatment

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    • Alisa_S

      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
      · 1 reply
      1. LeighaTR

        I hope your surgery on Wednesday goes well. You will be able to do all sorts of new things as you find your new normal after surgery. I don't know this from experience yet, but I am seeing a lot of positive things from people who have had it done. Best of luck!

    • Alisa_S

      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
      · 1 reply
      1. summerseeker

        Life as a big person had limited my life to what I knew I could manage to do each day. That was eat. I hadn't anything else to look forward to. So my eating choices were the best I could dream up. I planned the cooking in managable lots in my head and filled my day with and around it.

        Now I have a whole new big, bigger, biggest, best days ever. I am out there with those skinny people doing stuff i could never have dreamt of. Food is now an after thought. It doesn't consume my day. I still enjoy the good home cooked food but I eat smaller portions. I leave food on my plate when I am full. I can no longer hear my mother's voice saying eat it all up, ther are starving children in Africa who would want that!

        I still cook for family feasts, I love cooking. I still do holidays but I have changed from the All inclusive drinking and eating everything everyday kind to Self catering accommodation. This gives me the choice of cooking or eating out as I choose. I rarely drink anymore as I usually travel alone now and I feel I need to keep aware of my surroundings.

        I don't know at what point my life expanded, was it when I lost 100 pounds? Was it when I left my walking stick at home ? Was it when I said yes to an outing instead of finding an excuse to stay home ? i look back at my last five years and wonder how loosing weight has made such a difference. Be ready to amaze yourself.

        BTW, the liquid diet sucks, one more day and you are over the worst. You can do it.

    • CaseyP1011

      Officially here for a long time, not just a good time💪
      · 0 replies
      1. This update has no replies.
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