Hiatal Hernia
Hiatal hernias are more common than what most people think. Fortunately, most people that have one has a sliding hernia which rarely, ever causes problems. I have a paraesophageal hernia so I've known about it for years and it's also caused me problems for years. Only about 5% of people with a paraesophageal hernia has complications with it and I am one of those 5%. As excited as I am about the RNY, I truly think I'm looking more forward to the hernia repair (my RNY will actually be secondary to the repair). It has wreaked havoc in my life and in the past two years it's gotten worse. It's already a large hernia and it's grown even larger since 10 months ago (according to the x-rays). Anyway, don't fret your hernia . . . if you didn't know it was there before than more than likely you are just one of the many that has one but if not for this surgery, you would have never known about it.
I have a small one, and even with open RNY they didn't bother to do anything with it since it has never caused a problem. Seven years later, it has still not caused any problems.
As someone else already mentioned, it is fairly common to have these, especially small ones, but only find out about it because it shows up during an internal procedure or on a CT scan (as mine did).
Lora
14 years out; 190 pounds lost, 165 pound loss maintained
You don't drown by falling in the water. You drown by staying there.