A life-altering procedure

For some people, heartburn is a mild discomfort to occasionally deal with during taco night or a stressful day at work.

For Christine Wolford, heartburn was ruining her life. Christine’s symptoms were much more severe than mild annoyance when she ate spicy food. It was daily pain that was brought on regardless of what she ate.

For years, she tried eating different types of food, different portion sizes and at different times of the day.

Experiment after experiment failed and usually resulted in severe pain and occasionally waking up in the middle of the night coughing and vomiting blood. She only found relief by eating one small meal daily and sleeping in a chair.

Eventually, she was diagnosed with a paraesophageal hernia that was so big it was compressing both of her lungs. When she heard the news, she knew she needed to see Joshua K. Moore, D.O., Fellowship- trained and Board-certified General Surgeon at the Genesis Center of Surgical Excellence. 

“Dr. Moore was so personable. When describing the procedure, he made the complicated seem simple. I felt safe with him as my doctor.”

Trusted, ongoing care 

The previous year, Christine’s husband had seen Dr. Moore for hernia surgery, which turned out to be a double blessing. While preparing for his hernia surgery, the doctors at Genesis identified a heart condition her husband had.

During preparations for heart surgery, her husband had a heart attack and was successfully treated with a pacemaker at the Genesis Heart & Vascular Institute. After recovering from heart surgery, her husband returned to Dr. Moore for hernia surgery.

Christine and her husband were impressed by Genesis and the care they received.

“Everything about my hernia procedure was wonderful,” said Christine. “Dr. Moore was so personable. When describing the procedure, he made the complicated seem simple. I felt safe with him as my doctor.”

Dr. Moore said the minimally invasive hernia procedure uses small incisions and pinpoint precision. This method reduces the recovery time for patients, without the need for open surgery.

“Christine had a severe case of heartburn that had gone untreated for too long,” said Dr. Moore. “It had caused part of her esophagus to erode. To treat her, we performed a robotic-assisted laparoscopic paraesophageal hernia repair with toupee fundoplication. We reduced her stomach back into her abdomen, restoring normal anatomy and then wrapped part of her stomach around the lower part of her esophagus. This reinforces the anti-reflux valve.” 

Return to favorite foods

After Christine’s procedure, she spent a few weeks working her way back to solid foods. About a month later, after she was released to eat what she wanted, she decided to celebrate with pizza. She had loved pizza all her life and had not been able to enjoy it in seven years.

After her celebratory dinner, she said the meal was delicious, but the rest of the night was even better as she didn’t have any heartburn. 

Learn more at genesishcs.org/heartburn.