I live in the Pacific Northwest. I am originally from Syracuse NY. I have 3 sons, all grown. It took my GP 8 months to send me to a RA doctor. During that period of time I was mostly bed-ridden and unable to stand or walk by myself. I had to sit on a chair to take a shower and I could not be alone at any time. When I have the Nissen procedure in 09, something went wrong and I ended up in ICU. Instead of being out of work 2 weeks it was 2.5 months, and I lost 40 lbs. I could not eat. I still can not eat meat or other substances that require a great amount of chewing. Food don't go down.