Added 11/17/02
Hi Gene,
My name is Ginnie, and both my son John (11), and my daughter Emilee (13) had fundo's on Aug 16th 2002. My son's (who had the worse prior medical history) is fine so far, but my daughter's post-op course has been a real nightmare so far.
The short version is that she has been hosptialized both long and short stays 7 times since the first fundo. In fact I am writing this at Jackson Memorial hospital. Emilee has been a patient here for a month now, and was in another hospital for over two weeks before being transfered here! Her Fundo had to be redone (the 1st surgeon wraped the center of her stomach instead of the top portion) she is on TPN, and may need a GJ tube... She is unable to eat or drink, and her weight has dropped by 35 lbs.
Thanks for the venting time
Ginnie
Added 11/17/02
There is only one thing I need to add to what I wrote at that web site. The
Gastroenterologist assigned by my HMO to do the Upper GI Endoscope Exam
required to check the surgery one year later had not done it before and did
not know that this surgery can be fragile. He ended up poking through the
area of the surgery, stretching the opening and totally destroying the value
of the surgery.
I am on Nexium now. At least I had one good year that was
free of acid reflux problems without medications. Not only do you need to
make certain that your surgeon knows what he is doing, check-ups must be
done by Gastroenterologists who understand how easy it is to damage the
benefit of this surgery with improper use of the Endoscope.
Robert Lessman
_Gene
