If any has had this surgery, I would like
to hear from you. I am considering
having it done and I would love to hear
how others have faired with it!!
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jewlzz2
New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 22 Apr 2005 Posts: 6 Location: Peck, KS
My Husband Has Chronic Pancreatitus! Posted: 04-22-05 23:55pm
What kind of surgeries are these? We are
looking for something to help my husband.
We have almost lost him 3 times due to
kidney failure brought on by the excessive
vomiting brought on by flare ups. His
tolerance for pain meds is getting
outrageous.
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ReeAnn
New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 02 Jan 2005 Posts: 15 Location: Virginia
Ict/tp Posted: 04-23-05 09:57am
Islet cell transplant and total
pancreadectomy (sp?).
They harvest islet cells from the pancreas
when they remove it and transplant them
into the liver, it hopes of avoiding
brittle diabetes.
I noticed by another of your posts, your
husband is going to a pain clinic to see
about having something done with the
nerves. Sounds like he is going for a
celiac block. This can be done with an
eus or fluero guided. It doesn't always
help. I know one lady who had over a
dozen of them with varied results. I had
one done, but after some complications
from the procedure, not willing to try
again. It worked until I under went a gi
mortility study (tube through the nose to
the stomach) and the heaves displaced the
meds from the block.
Reeann
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jewlzz2
New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 22 Apr 2005 Posts: 6 Location: Peck, KS
Re: Ict/tp Posted: 04-23-05 22:23pm
Why did you have to under go a gi
mortility study (tube through the nose to
the stomach)?
Where there complications with the
procedure itself or just the complication
caused by the study?
Did the block help before the study?
How long did you have the block before the
study?
Yes, celiac block would be the correct one
they mentioned.
reeann
wrote:
islet cell transplant and
total pancreadectomy (sp?).
They harvest islet cells from the pancreas
when they remove it and transplant them
into the liver, it hopes of avoiding
brittle diabetes.
I noticed by another of your posts, your
husband is going to a pain clinic to see
about having something done with the
nerves. Sounds like he is going for a
celiac block. This can be done with an
eus or fluero guided. It doesn't
always help. I know one lady who had
over a dozen of them with varied results.
I had one done, but after some
complications from the procedure, not
willing to try again. It worked until
I under went a gi mortility study (tube
through the nose to the stomach) and the
heaves displaced the meds from the
block.
Reeann
|
ReeAnn
New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 02 Jan 2005 Posts: 15 Location: Virginia
Gi Mortility Study And Celiac Block Posted: 04-29-05 06:31am
Hi jewlzz,
a bit of a story to answer you questions
and I guess it is best to start with
giving you a bit of history......
For years I had been telling ever doc I
saw that I thought I had gall bladder
problems. In hindsight I believe they
were pancreatic attacks. To go back even
further, I beleive my first attack
happened when I was 8 yrs old and
hospitalized for 3 weeks - diagnosis
"intestinal disorder of unknown origin".
All my life I had attacks that fit the
description of gall bladder attacks -
didn't know about pancreatitis until after
the surgery. Anyway....
I saw my first gi in aug 1999 because of
blood was found in my stool. I told him,
just like every other doc, that I thought
I had gall bladder problems, so he decided
to do an edg at the same time as the
colonoscopy. He found I had a hiatal
hernia, severe reflux and my esophagus was
ulcerated. He recommended the nissen
fundoplication surgery at that time, but I
opted to try the life style changes first
instead. This included a ppi, wathcing
what I ate, etc. Etc. Etc. I found the
more positive changes I made, the worse I
got. I sometimes wonder if it was
because I was learning to listen to my
body.
So finally I relented about the surgery
when I found even plain pasta was causing
reflux. So when I went to see the
surgeon, I gave him story. He asked if
anyone had ever checked my gall bladder -
no. I am sure he was seeing $$ signs
with possibly more surgery. The
ultrasound found stones. So april 15,
2000 I had the dual surgery - gall bladder
out and nissen fundo. (interesting to
note that no stones were found) this takes
the stomach and wraps it around the bottom
of the esophagus to fix the hernia and
make a new "valve". Though valve is not
the right word as it neither opened or
closed.
After the surgery, I had several problems.
One I could not swallow solid foods -
they would get stuck at the fundo site.
Second I still had what felt like gall
bladder attacks. This is when
pancreatitis was first mentioned to me.
In august 2000, on a friday, the gi did an
ercp and sphincteromotry and had a really
bad attack following it. I have never
been one to go the er so first thing on
monday morning I called gi. He told me
with scrapping out the common bile duct
and the sphincteromotry it would be at
least a month before I felt better. For
the swallowing problems I had several
dilations at the fundo site and eventually
a botox treatment, but still have problems
swallowing.
Well I never got better with the
pancreatic problems either. In nov 2000
did a fecal fat that was over double what
it should be. This test measures how
much fat in your stool - considered the
gold standard in judging pancreatic
function. I progressively got worse
until may 2001 when I was escorted off the
job for being sick. Wound up homeless,
no insurance, and no gi care for more than
2 years.
When I remarried after being a widow for 7
years in 2003, I finally got health care
coverage and go through the full battery
of tests again. The gi mortility test
was (2nd time for this one - first was
done before the fundo surgery) done
because of the swallowing problems -
pressures were very high in the esophagus
- diagnosed with nutcrakers esophagus as a
result. It was done about 6 weeks after
the celiac block which had given me
marginal relief. With not being able to
throw up (from the fundo surgery) I would
get the dry heaves instead. The tube
caused the heaves and it is theorized that
the heaving shifted the medication from
the block, thus negating its
effectiveness.
Hope that answers your questions.
Probably more information than you wanted,
but the circumstances listed are needed as
explanation.