If you need surgery, investigate the LINX implant instead of the fundoplication.  It looks like a pearl bracelet around the esophagus at the stomach entrance where the pearls are little magnets.  When you eat the device pops open and then shuts when the food passes.  I had mine in Jan. 21, 2017 at University of South Alabama hospital.  It is a… Read more

I needed O2 at night before I needed it during the day.  My breathing was too shallow with my diseased lungs.  I had an overnight oximeter which recorded my dropping to 87 during deep sleep.  I did not know I had a problem.  The doctor was concerned about organ  damage.

My acute exacerbation occurred in June,2018.  My doctor immediately put me in the hospital.  I did not respond to the standard steroid and antibiotic treatment.  I was offered the experimental Duncan Protocol which stopped the exacerbation.  It is now in clinical trial.  They gave me 1 month to live before the treatment.  I went on O2 full… Read more

My doctor at UAB Birmingham told me that too much o2 is not a problem.  In my case I can maintain low 90’s without o2 (sitting) but my pulse rate is elevated.  When I use o2 my pulse drops to the low 90’s.  Your body only takes in the o2 that it needs so the excess is just breathed back out.  Stressing to obtain o2 also is asking for the onset… Read more

I had many years of acid reflux / gerd and was on the maximum dose of Prilosec. In January, 2016 I was recommended to have surgery. I discovered a new treatment involving a magnetic reinforcing band around the esophageal sphincter. It is called LINX. Dr. Richards in U South Alabama performed the surgery along with a hiatal hernia repair. … Read more

I had an acute exasperation this summer but was lucky enough to be at UAB where they did the experimental treatment with the 9 plasma exchanges, 2 rituximab infusions and 4 IVIG infusions. My June scan was highly ground glass and the August scan had most if it cleared up. I am on oxygen but able to cut my grass and do other normal activities. … Read more