1 step forward, 2 back

I feel like I'm back to square one, but at least my doctor is doing something now....and no, i don't mean the surgeon who fixed the para-esophageal hernia. I went and saw my family practice doctor this past Friday.

I had the upper g.i. on Monday, the 13th, per the surgeon and it came back normal (surprise, surprise--yes, I'm being sarcastic).  It amazes me that since this began, over 2+ years, every test has come back normal.  The doctors haven't seen a thing wrong, but then the surgeon gets in there and finds a big problem.  Am I surprised that this test came back normal too....not at all.  When the surgeon tried to push me off onto a pain clinic last week (rather than try to figure out what is actually wrong), I decided it was time to try a new tactic.  So I called my family doctor and although she couldn't explain why every test keeps coming back normal, she is doing something.  She refilled all of my prescriptions, scheduled me for an chest x-ray, an aortic duplex, and a gastric emptying time scan.  These will be over the next couple of weeks.  Although the thought is scary, she said it is possible I have something completely different going on that no one is seeing, since they haven't looked.  Its a possibility I could have mesenteric ischemia, or even gastroparesis. Neither is a good thing, but all of my symptoms fit, and with family history to consider, plus all of the past abdominal surgeries, she wants to rule these out.

I'll keep you posted in this never ending saga.
I just want my life back.

Reoccurring?? I hope not.

Hi again.  Well, ended up seeing the doctor early...Friday (Feb. 3rd), instead of the appointment that I was supposed to have today.  I learned a few things between the appointment and what I could find researching.  The bulge that popped out when I vomited is in the exact location of the sutures where the doctor closed up the hernia.  Although the doctor didn't really want to admit it, its a possibility I broke the stitches and mesh, and my stomach has returned to my diaphragm.  I'm scheduled for another Upper GI on the 13th and they'll know for sure, then he'll decide what they are going to do next.  The surgery for a para-esophageal hernia has a 35% failure rate and it appears it might have failed and they'll have to figure out how to get it to stay fixed.  The hardest part is they could not do a Nissen Fundoplication, because of my previous gastric bypass.  With this procedure they normally take a portion of the stomach and wrap it around the esophagus, therefore making the stomach stay in place and unable to move upward, like it did into my diaphragm.  Although I truly don't want to go through the surgery again, having it be a re-occurrence is better than it being something else, since then it means I am back to square one and they didn't fix it at all.   Not sure where I stand now, except in a lot of pain and back to no driving...even walking or standing for more than 10-15 minutes starts the pain up...fun, fun.  Anyways, will keep you all updated.