Anyone who had surgery for gerd/hiatal hernia?

My father had it done - the one where a balloon is inflated in the esophagus - he was back to being a very active person within a couple days....didn't take any time at all for him to get back to normal life. He wasn't even prescribed a pain killer. I will tell you this though - it improved his life immeasurably. Don't let fear deter you if you have tried other things that haven't worked as well as you would like.