Erin Bowlus played semi-professional flag football for two years with a broken hip. The lighting-intense pain flashing through her leg? She just sucked it up. So, when started to experience crushing chest pain in 2016, she didn’t believe her first set of doctors’ suggestion that she was suffering from anxiety. Erin is tough. She can handle a lot. And she knows that anxiety doesn’t turn breathing into a conscious act.
“It felt like they were just telling a woman, ‘You’re being emotional, calm down,” Erin said. “Those doctors were not listening. They heard the symptoms, but they weren’t hearing what was causing it. I couldn’t take a deep breath for three years.”
Erin had a history of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), but the GI professionals she saw in her hometown of Riverside didn’t know what to make of her symptoms. They asked her to change her diet, which she did; and they put her on a high-dose reflux medication, which she took dutifully. But nothing helped.
When one of her doctors suggested she take a powerful anti-anxiety medication, Erin had had enough. She needed a physician who would listen. At Hoag, she found an entire team of them.
Despite living a county over, Erin and her family had several positive experiences with Hoag. Erin’s hip replacement surgery was performed successfully at Hoag, and Erin and her wife, Sarah Ingalls, greeted their twins, Easton and Emery there.
So, when she met with renowned minimally invasive surgeon, Adrian Dobrowolsky, M.D., she said she wasn’t surprised by his thoroughness, thoughtfulness and professionalism.
“If you feel like you’re not being heard by your doctor, go to Hoag,” Erin said. “From the moment Dr. Dobrowolsky walked into the room, there was an air of lightness. You can tell that he’s not just hearing symptoms. He’s listening to you. That felt good.”
To determine the severity of Erin’s condition, she underwent a study that measures the amount of stomach acid refluxing into the esophagus, a defining feature of GERD. Her levels were off the charts.
“To qualify for the kind of procedure I did, they need to detect a certain level of acid while I’m lying down. I exceeded that standing up,” she said.
Dr. Dobrowolsky partnered with Erin to determine her treatment plan. She said she appreciated how he gave her all the facts about her options and let her determine which she felt most comfortable pursuing.
She chose a Nissen fundoplication, a minimally invasive procedure in which Dr. Dobrowolsky wrapped the top of Erin’s stomach around her lower esophagus, reinforcing the esophageal sphincter and making it less likely for acid to back up.
As soon as she made her choice, the Hoag Digestive Health Institute team went to work preparing her for surgery.
“He showed me a video of the Nissen procedure, and his team sent me follow-up information,” Erin said. “They sent me detailed information about my diet leading up to the surgery. The amount of information made me feel so prepared, during the recovery, it was nothing.”
Immediately Erin felt better than she had in years. She went back home to her then-8-month-old twins – and to a life of pain-free breathing.
“I feel so much better. I had given up red meat, greasy food, wine, eggs, yogurt and green leafy vegetables. I had felt like I was missing out on life,” she said. “I’m back to eating more things, still in moderation. It has lifted this weight off me. Everyone was so amazing. I couldn’t recommend them enough.”
