The first was with me. In Feb. of 1995 I was in ICU 4 times. I kept getting severe cases of bronchitis, asthma and pneumonia. I even broke a rib coughing so much. After running numerous test they determined I had reflux. I always had occasional heartburn. They did a Laproscopic Fundoplication and it was a disaster.
I had 9 holes instead of 5 and a chest tube that I was not expecting. I never got better. I still had the same problems. The doctors more or less just blew me off because they said I had already had surgery done and there was nothing left to do. I went another 1 1/2 years like this. Feeling terrible, getting bronchitis, asthma, and pneumonia's all the time. Finally, in October of 1996 I went to see a surgeon again.
I really felt like I was crazy and no one believed me. The surgeon even told me that he would do the surgery (open this time) but did not think it would help. That was encouraging. They did the surgery and he said it was the biggest mess he had ever seen. My stomach had just about completely herniated through the wrap. He said he did not know how I functioned all this time. I have been well since then until recently.
I have now started having awful heartburn, sharp pains in my stomach, and I have had bronchitis twice now in 4 months. I feel like it is starting all over again. I am scheduled for a ph probe test next week and then they are going to scope me. They said I would probably have to have surgery again. I dont know if they will try and do it lap or open.
I read all of the stories posted here about how great the lap is but I had a terrible time with it. I am almost leaning toward to open. I just want it fixed for good.
Feel free to e-mail (email address is below) with any questions or maybe you have some ideas.

When my third child was born (11/93) he had reflux from the start. It is common for newborn to reflux but they usually outgrow it by the time the start walking. He did not.
It was terrible, he would reflux all the time. He could actually bring everything up from his stomach on command. We tried all different kinds of medicines but nothing worked. They finally scoped him and found that his esophagus was in terrible shape. On the verge of barretts esophagus if we did not do something about it. So in September of 1997 he was scheduled for an open fundoplication.
All went well with the surgery but immediatly following surgery they put him on a regular diet. He immediatly started bringing everything back up. Even salavia. I kept saying he was obstructed but they told me it was just swelling from the surgery. We were in the hospital for 2 1/2 weeks. Everything was coming up. He lost 12 pounds (only weighed 34 starting) and we were feeding him formula through a gastronomy tube. It was the worst feeling in the world watching your baby suffer like that.
The doctor call radiology and told him that he had a "spastic" mom and thought there was something wrong with her baby, could he just appease me and do an upper GI but he knew it was just swelling. Well the radiologist had that very attitude. He said he saw nothing. We did two of them with the same doctor.
Finally six week out of surgery (we are still formula feeding him through a g-tube) I about lost it told him that it was no longer a surgical issue that I wanted to be referred back to gastro. Well the gastro doctor wanted to do another upper GI. I almost lost it. I told him that I would agree to one more but that is it. It was the same radiologist doctor also. I could not believe it. He said it was normal of course. I went back up to the gastro's office and he told me it was normall but we had to admit Brock because he was still loosing weight.
I really don't remember much after that. I really lost it. I went home to get his things and when I walked in the door the phone was ringing. It was the gastro doctor. He told me that he had gone down to look at the films and there was something there. They were going to admit him and take him to OR and scope him in the morning. Well you will not believe what they found (even after the surgeon came in and told me that there was nothing there) a grape that he had eaten his first meal. It had been there all that time. Part of me was happy and the other part wanted to kill someone. The surgeon never came back in to talk to me. His stomach was pretty eaten up from the acid and he had to be on Zantac for quite a while after that.
He is doing pretty good now. He still has alot of "dumping" spells where if he eats something sweet it makes him really sick and he gags and gets lethargic and then he usually has diarrhea and then feels better. That was the worst time of my life!!!

Shelly
Feel free to e-mail me with any questions.