6 Nissen fundoplication!

I had GERD (gastroesophageal reflux disease).
 And as some of you know, my road started with the hope of living a more normal life, especially with a hope of a more normal diet and less pain.
And as Orison Swett Marden said:“There is no medicine like hope, no incentive so great, and no tonic so powerful as expectation of something better tomorrow”. This is so true for everyone in the health care system.
I asked the doctor in advance. What could I expect. What was worst case scenario etc. I have always believed that when it comes to surgery, we in society today take it to lightly. And I do know that something can go wrong.
My doctor told me that I had a 1 % chance of something going wrong, and the worst case was that i Couldn't eat for a week.
Based on that I took the chance. And today with the laparoscopic procedure it is even a smaller chance of infection, and a faster recovery time.

And of course everything went wrong. I couldn't eat for 3 months. I was through lung surgery, and I was in the hospital for over 4 months.
When I came home we started to look through the internett. My doctor had never heard of esophagus spasms with nissen fundoplication. I Googled it one time, it took me 5 min to figure out that spasms can occur with nissen fundoplication.
I quote: "Our findings suggest that patients who undergo laparoscopic Nissen fundoplication for gastroesophageal reflux disease are at risk for the development of esophageal motility disorders, including
secondary achalasia and DES (esophageal spasms)."1.I think that says it all..
I quote again: "Other complications in this group included two intra-abdominal abscesses, one pleural effusion, one gastrocutaneous fistula, and one right vagus nerve injury."2.
What is the most disturbing to me. is that my doctors at my local hospital saw a density on my right lung over a month before I was put on a respirator, but they didn't do anything about it.
Even to this day, they try to pin this on the botox, even thought I had the botox twelve days after they saw the density on my right lung. I guess they don't want to own up to giving me a Pleural empyema, and almost killing me.
I think that in a country like Norway they should only do this procedure in one place. This because Nissen fundoplication is a complex procedure, and they requires advanced laparoscopic skills.
Again I quote: "complications are directly related to the surgeon’s experience level."3.  At the hospital where I did it, they only did about ten operations a year. And that is to few!
All and all, I do understand that people out there want to get treated for GERD, and I do know that I am probably a very worst case scenario, and nobody wants to become that!



To read more about Esophageal Motility Disorders After Laparoscopic Nissen Fundoplication:
1.   Secondary Achalasia and Other Esophageal Motility Disorders After Laparoscopic Nissen Fundoplication for Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease.
To read more about Mechanisms of Gastric and Esophageal Perforations:
2. Mechanisms of Gastric and Esophageal Perforations During Laparoscopic Nissen Fundoplication
To read more about the Approach Nissen Fundoplication:
3. A Stepwise Approach to Laparoscopic Nissen Fundoplication