Hi you guys,
hope you're all doing ok or recovering.
I am VERY worried and would really
appreciate any input on this...
A friend of mine has been hospitalized for
ONE MONTH now with Acute Pancreatitis
(!!!).
She has always been healthy, quite skinny
& fit, 32 years old and just the
sweetest nicest girl.
It started with gall stones, then a couple
of days she returned to the hospital with
bad pain... it was an inflammation of the
pancreas "head".
First she was put into only IV fluids (+
pain meds) for about two weeks, not eating
anything to calm down the pancreas. At
some point her stomach got inflammation
too but it then recovered.
Then they put a tube on her chest to feed
her some liquid food & vitamins and
some pain meds (plus every two hours
heavier pain meds injected on her leg).
Then into the 2nd week they OP-ed her to
remove a sample of the pancreas to test
for cancer... (of course came negative)
I would think "take a look at the
gallbladder!" since it was how it all
started and pancreatitis being a well
known complication from gall stones but
no, they "forgot" the gall bladder totally
and kept thinking "what could it be..."
letting time pass, her pancreas get more
and more affected, her whole body weaker.
They told her to eat and she tried a bit
for a while (together with the feeding
tubes). She's had quite a few horrible
tests including one with contrast stuff
and x-rays & all that's supposedly
possible...
Then they told her towards the middle of
her 3rd week there "oh it could be the
gall bladder" so they operated her and
removed it.
They told her the OP was a success and
that "yep, that's where the problem lay"
and that she (her pancreas" would be
recovering from then on.
Problem is, it hasn't!!!
She is now on her 4th week hospitalized
(having spent a couple of days at
intensive care) in much worse shape and
I'm desperately worried they're not gonna
find a way to save her!
I don't know all the details and values
but she told me today that the new blood
test says that now not only the pancreas
"head" but also the "tail" (?) is also
inflammated,
and that the pancreas "value" (I suppose
the enzymes) which should have a normal
value of 50 are now by her up to a 1000
(yes, a THOUSAND!), the highest in this
whole month of misery.
She is having trouble breathing now and
the doctors said there is water in her
lungs.
I am very very worried and the doctor
(supposedly one of the best in the
country, a "professor" with 35+ years of
pancreas experience) has told her on the
first week that in all his years of
experience hers has been the most
complicated (not quite encouraging).
It angers me off that for example, he said
"yeah we might have to remove the gall
bladder for that might be what's causing
the pancreas not to recover".... then
"let's think about that"... two days later
"yeah, let's decide after the next blood
test tomorrow morning", he comes late at
night and keeps saying "let's wait and
see" or never to have an action plan or to
know what's exactly could be wrong! It's
like it's not important / serious enough,
when from what I've been reading she can
just die from this! One month!!!
Last I heard they were going to start with
cortisone (something they mentioned over a
week ago but decided not to try for
whatever reason).
I don't know what to think of this and
wish I could help her somehow.
Have you guys heard of anything similar?!
Am I right for feeling desperate her or
not?!
Thanks & take care
Chris