Guest guest Posted January 9, 2012 Report Share Posted January 9, 2012 Just be sure this Dr. is right for the surgery and right for you. I had a HM in November 2010. I didn't help me one bit. After I went back to the surgeon. He said, " Well 95% of the people it helps, but you are one of the 5% that it doesn't " . He referred me to another surgeon about taking my esophagus out. That was pretty scary stuff to me. I would be sitting here today without one if I took their advice. I decided to see if I could get by on dilatations. I finally got with a Gastro doctor who gave me the right balloon dilatation and I'm now 5 weeks post that. I have not had to regurg any food at all in that time. Eating is pretty much a breeze for me now. I can eat anything I want. Yesterday I enjoyed a nice steak at Applebee's. I'm not saying don't have the surgery, I'm just saying be sure. I wish I had been able to talk to some other patients of this surgeon, before my surgery. I asked him about that, he said it wasn't possible. That didn't surprise me. He and his Nurse Practitioner both seemed very competent and sincere before and immediately after the HM. FWIW, Greg ________________________________ From: puddleriver13 <puddleriver13@...> achalasia Sent: Monday, January 9, 2012 8:32 AM Subject: Re: Q's for surgeon Hi, Jenn ~~ I found this list somewhere on this site, but can't find it again, so this is what I saved: might want to discuss: * for this procedure, what are the pros? the cons? * how many of these procedures have you performed? * can I speak to your former patients? * how will the peristalsis be affected? will it improve? no change? * how long after the procedure before I see changes in eating abilities? * what kinds of changes should I expect? what degree of improvement? * what symptoms would indicate a problem? * under what conditions should I not hesitate to contact you? * is the surgery a one-time-only procedure? if it is unsuccessful, what is my next step? * what will the pre-op preparation consist of? * how long does the surgery take to perform? * how many incisions will I have? where located? stitches to be removed? scarring? * how long will I be hospitalized? * what will my diet be like post-operatively? for how long? * what will be my post-operative limitations? * what kind of care should I require at home? * how long before returning to normal activities? * what kind of activities should I avoid post-operatively? for how long? * what will my post-op pain control be in hospital? at home? * what kind of post-op testing or check-ups will you require? when? A lot of it is actually likely already covered in handouts you'll get from them. Hope it helps. xox, (WV) > > I am working on a list. What all should I be asking him? > > Jenn > Sent from my CrackBerry® powered by Virgin Mobile. > ------------------------------------ As a member of this group, you are invited to join the HealthShare Groups community center located at http://healthsharegroups.org. The community center brings together members from over 1200 disease specific support groups for sharing of information and support. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 9, 2012 Report Share Posted January 9, 2012 It was a 30 mm. I'm told that they can go larger, up to 40 mm. It's still all good. My wife got some encouraging news this afternoon so we went out afterwards and I had chicken fried steak. The last time I tried that, before the balloon I got in big trouble and had to go into an emergency dilatation, with impacted food. Greg ________________________________ From: Blondie <bagwoman52@...> achalasia Sent: Monday, January 9, 2012 7:02 PM Subject: Re: Q's for surgeon Greg, I was like you, had the HM and could not eat much. You mentioned you had a dilation. Do you mind sharing the size of the dilation? Thanks. Barb > > Just be sure this Dr. is right for the surgery and right for you. I had a HM in November 2010. I didn't help me one bit. After I went back to the surgeon. He said, " Well 95% of the people it helps, but you are one of the 5% that it doesn't " . He referred me to another surgeon about taking my esophagus out. That was pretty scary stuff to me. I would be sitting here today without one if I took their advice. I decided to see if I could get by on dilatations. I finally got with a Gastro doctor who gave me the right balloon dilatation and I'm now 5 weeks post that. I have not had to regurg any food at all in that time. Eating is pretty much a breeze for me now. I can eat anything I want. Yesterday I enjoyed a nice steak at Applebee's. > > I'm not saying don't have the surgery, I'm just saying be sure. I wish I had been able to talk to some other patients of this surgeon, before my surgery. I asked him about that, he said it wasn't possible. That didn't surprise me. He and his Nurse Practitioner both seemed very competent and sincere before and immediately after the HM. > > FWIW, > > Greg > > > > > >> > Jen ------------------------------------ As a member of this group, you are invited to join the HealthShare Groups community center located at http://healthsharegroups.org. The community center brings together members from over 1200 disease specific support groups for sharing of information and support. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 9, 2012 Report Share Posted January 9, 2012 Greg wrote: > > ... He referred me to another surgeon about taking my esophagus out. > ... I finally got with a Gastro doctor who gave me the right balloon > dilatation and I'm now 5 weeks post that. ... Eating is pretty much a > breeze for me now. ... > Any idea why the surgeon didn't suggest a referral to a GI for dilatation, or suggest a myotomy redo? Going right to esophagectomy seems extreme unless you were something like end stage already. Even then it is often worth trying something before the ectomy. This goes to that Q in the list of questions that asks, " If this treatment fails what is the next step? " If the next step is not a good one it may be good to seek another doctor who may have a better alternative next step before proceeding with the first step. notan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 9, 2012 Report Share Posted January 9, 2012 Well technically he did suggest a dilitation, but I don't think he had a whole lot of hope in it. The thing for me was the doc that was doing my dilatation's at the time wasn't doing the balloons. He semi retired and handed me off to a colleague who was. Part of me would like to go back and " brain " the first doc for not referring me a long time ago. But that's history. What matters is I can now eat great. The doc who did the balloon expects that we will need to redo it at intervals, but he has no idea what that interval is. If you haven't had a balloon, by all means talk to your Gastro doc about one. If it works, it's a lot less pain, strain, stress and trouble than a HM. it's over in a matter of minutes and a lot less costly. My doc told me I could try solid food the very next day. I did and couldn't be happier. Sent from my iPhone On Jan 9, 2012, at 8:57 PM, notan ostrich <notan_ostrich@...> wrote: > Greg wrote: >> >> ... He referred me to another surgeon about taking my esophagus out. >> ... I finally got with a Gastro doctor who gave me the right balloon >> dilatation and I'm now 5 weeks post that. ... Eating is pretty much a >> breeze for me now. ... >> > > Any idea why the surgeon didn't suggest a referral to a GI for > dilatation, or suggest a myotomy redo? Going right to esophagectomy > seems extreme unless you were something like end stage already. Even > then it is often worth trying something before the ectomy. > > This goes to that Q in the list of questions that asks, " If this > treatment fails what is the next step? " If the next step is not a good > one it may be good to seek another doctor who may have a better > alternative next step before proceeding with the first step. > > notan > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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