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.
Reeann
