What it is and why I'm posting about it

I'm about to go into hospital to have a Nissen Fundoplication. Which is all very well and ordinary, nothing rare at all, except that when I consulted the Internet (the fount of all knowledge) to find out about my op, all I found was a lot of confusing advice (a lot of it too scientific) and very little personal experience.  So I thought maybe people who get to the same stage as me in the future might like to know what it is, what it feels like, what effects it has and whether it's worth it.  I've got a week to go and I'm counting down.

I'm in my mid-50s now and I've been having "heartburn" (a catch-all description of a number of symptoms) for years:  it's probably at least 20 years since it first started.  Indigestion was the first sign, but we all get that, don't we?  As the years went past, some foods and drinks became - well not exactly dangerous, but risky. Anything with onion in it, orange juice, red wine, carbonated drinks (anything over a couple of glasses), beer: all these things (and more) became a source of discomfort ranging from mild burning to downright pain.  Lying down after eating or drinking became a no-no - even small meals mean a minimum now of 4 hours before lying down, big meals even more.  Waking up at night and scoffing Rennie (a brand of antacid tablet - calcium carbonate) became a way of life.  In extreme cases, burning liquid rose up into my throat in the night while I was asleep and got breathed in down my windpipe - very, very unpleasant.

I'd been on PPI's (Proton Pump Inhibitor) drugs for some time, to keep my excess stomach acid under control, but despite trying several different brands, at increasing doses, my symptoms got worse.


So, I went to the doctor, and he sent me to hospital to have a gastroscopy.  For the unitiated, a tube with a camera on the end, stuck down my throat to take pictures of the area around the entrance to my stomach, to see what was happening.  The first time this happened, I was given the option not to be knocked out, and boy, do I wish I'd not taken the option up.  Believe me, the gag reflex is very strong.  But I survived it and they said I'd got a small hiatus hernia (the stomach bulging up through the diaphragm) and Barrett's Oesophagus (basically, scarring of the area just above the stomach).  They did a biopsy and I didn't have anything nastier (such as stomach cancer) - obviously, a relief.  They called it Gastro-Oesophageal Reflux Disorder, or GORD (they call it GERD it the States).  We kept the symptoms under relative control with drugs and I put up with them - they still were bearable and intermittent.


But I got older, retired, and spent more time eating and drinking stuff I enjoyed (this may or may not be connected), and gradually the symptoms got worse.  In 2010, they got so bad I went back to the doctor and I was referred to a specialist and then to a surgeon and this was the first time I heard of Nissen Fundoplication.

When I got home, my first stop, as usual, was Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nissen_fundoplication

More of my history to follow.  6 days to go.