Leah B.
Humble Servant of All
I suffer from both GERD/LPR and COPD. One condition is aggravating the other. I waited three months to see a surgeon for TIF procedure with hernia repair. At that appointment, the surgeon was literally looking at his watch. He told me to check with the ENT and to make another appointment to again talk about surgery in three more months. Two days later, I saw the ENT. He scoped my throat and found redness and irritation due to stomach acid in coming up into my throat. I thought this was in a way a good thing because it would make me a better surgical candidate. Then today I picked up the report. He wrote down that I drink caffeine several times a day even though I told him I was drinking low acid decaf. Has me with "congestive heart failure," which I do not have. Then he went on to say he counseled me on all the GERD protocol, which he did not. I had a friend in there with me who knows he did not. Also he said he advised me about WEIGHT LOSS for GERD. Total lie, and why would he? I'm not the least bit overweight! The upshot? Instead of this report building a case for why I should get the TIF surgery, this man just HURT my case instead! Understand this: I had a prednisone-induced flare-up of GERD that put me in the emergency room a while back. I had to take the prednisone for a COPD flare. Guaranteed I will have to do that again. I also have to use steroid inhalers on a daily basis. These relax the esophageal sphincter, which also causes GERD. I am having asthma attacks because of GERD. I lost my voice for two weeks after the prednisone. I lived on brown rice for two weeks. The diet for somebody with GERD/LPR to the degree I have it is soul-crunching. I don't even want to go to Easter dinner with my family this year. I can't eat anything except the bread. I'm a gourmet cook who gave up cooking. On top of that, the side-effects for those proton pump inhibitors I take are horrendous: B12 deficiency, calcium deficiency, osteoporosis, kidney failure, dementia. Just on that basis alone, I want the surgery. My feeling now is that these doctors do not care about me at all, especially the ENT. They want to make money off me but discourage surgery because insurance doesn't want to pay. [Maybe not the surgeon. I am reserving judgment.] I am canceling this six-month follow-up appointment with the ENT. That man is not making another nickel off of me. I just don't know what else to do -- Should I formally ask for corrections of that report? Should I just give the surgeon the page about the stomach acid in my throat? Should I just let it be? Anyway, in Jesus's name, I pray for guidance as to how to handle this. Part of me wants to write this ENT a scathing review, but that could backfire in my face. Okay. The rest of my prayer in Jesus's name: I have an appointment with my pulmonologist on April 6. I plan on showing him the reports and trying to enlist him as an ally to get that surgery. I have several nodules on my lungs, one that is irregular and possibly [though probably not] malignant. I believe these nodules are indicative of ongoing respiratory reflux, where I am microaspirating stomach acid into my lungs. I believe strongly that I should be on the short list for the TIF surgery. Please in Jesus's name pray I can enlist my pulmonologist as an ally. I am very angry and worked up. Pray I can calm down. I can't sleep. Please also in Jesus's name pray I do very well on my pulmonary function test, either that I show improvement in my longstanding baseline or else at least no deterioration from baseline. Thank you for praying.
