
My name is Marjorie and i am a middle aged woman living in Australia.
I have just been diagnosed with a very large 'Hiaturs Hernia' which needs to be operated on in the next month.
I have been having really bad chest pains which i thought was from a 'Mitral Valve' replacement that i had 2 years ago, which would cramp me over and give me extreme pain for about an hour until i belched my way back to normality.
The surgeon informed me 4 just recently that the hernia is so big it has just about all of my stomach to rise into the chest cavity behind my heart and that i will need to have a large incision to have things put right as he is pretty sure that key hole surgery will not work.
I have read that some people have heart or lung complications when having surgery for a 'Hiatus Hernia" has anyone got any advise for me in this situation.
Also how straight forward is open surgery and how long is the recovery time? i would also appreciate any information of the diet for after my surgery, i have been pretty much living on protein shakes for the last 9 weeks.
It will be so good not to be afraid to eat anymore.