Midwest Mary

For some, good health is given. For others, like me, it’s hard-earned. I exercise and maintain a healthy diet. I see my doctors and follow their guidance, for the most part. I also investigate alternative remedies that my body tends to tolerate better.

In my opinion, most American doctors today follow a set response to symptoms. They don’t think creatively. If our symptoms aren’t rectified by ticking off their particular list, we are out of luck, unless we can do some of the thinking for them.

For example, I had been seeing doctors and having tests for decades for chronic pain and illness, but no one picked up that I had a form of Lyme disease. It took a functional medicine doctor sending my blood to a specific lab for tick-borne illnesses. Her herbal treatments were difficult to get through because the tick-borne bacterias I carried were deeply embedded. In the end, I was tremendously better, at least with those symptoms.

My blood pressure was also high for nearly a decade, and the smallest amount of stress pushed me close to a dangerous point. Physicians told me I had to get it under control. The high pressure caused constant headaches, my kidneys were shrinking, and I was at risk of a stroke. I already had a series of TIAs (Transient Ischemic Attacks, or small strokes) while caring for my husband.

Medications and alternative treatments either caused an allergic reaction, reduced the blood pressure to dangerously low numbers, or were ineffective. Over the last year, I also struggled to breathe. I felt as if I was being smothered.

I went through a series of specialists–neurologist, nephrologist, cardiologist, and finally a gastroenterologist–all of whom took months to get an appointment with, ordered tests, and then recommended another specialist.

Throughout all of this, I continued to advocate for myself. I read everything I could find and begged physicians to help me figure out the root of my symptoms, to think beyond the typical protocol. I didn’t simply want another prescription and sent on my way, as was the way with a hiatal hernia that showed up on scans over the last ten years. Every doctor wanted to prescribe medication for acid reflux, which I did not have.

When I visited the cardiologist, he ordered an MRI of my kidneys, because the kidneys help control blood pressure. The test showed that the hiatal hernia had increased in size. Then I went to the gastroenterologist, and I pushed for an endoscopy to look further at the hernia. This was the turning point I needed.

The doctor who performed the test said my stomach was in my chest, pressing on my heart, and pushing my left lung to the side. I needed surgery as soon as possible. That got the ball rolling, and I had surgery on March 11^th.

There were a few risks for surgery due to my high blood pressure and a vascular disease that I have that restricts blood flow (fibromuscular dysplasia), as well as a long list of allergies.

In addition, the surgeon said that the situation was more severe than the tests showed. Nearly my whole stomach had attached itself to the heart and left lung, pushing the lung to my side. The Type 3 paraesophageal hiatal hernia was also entangled with critical nerves and arteries. (Note in the image below that the stomach should be below the liver and above the intestines.)

Amazingly, the surgeon was able to perform the surgery robotically, working through five small incisions and expanding my chest with CO2 gas to allow greater space to operate. I got through surgery without complications, and I immediately had relief with breathing. Every doctor told me that the hernia repair would not lower my blood pressure, but now it is perfect.

If you are not receiving answers for your health concerns, don’t give up. Do some research, seek other physicians, and push for different tests.

And if you have a hiatal hernia, have it checked periodically, especially if you have symptoms that disrupt your daily living. The surgeon said that had I waited much longer, I’d have required emergency life-saving surgery with an uncertain outcome.

**ACTA Publications is currently offering my book, Tranquility Transformation Transcendence, at a special price of $10. This is a great book to bring to a hostess, someone who is not feeling well, or add to a gift package with a little plant or pretty dish towels.

©Mary K. Doyle, 2026