RE: Re: Stent pain/Biliary Tube - Nita

[Guest guest]

Nita,Hi!  I'm finally getting a chance to catch up and read through some of the e-mails and I saw that you said that you had a biliary tube for a year now.  I'm curious, I had one for a few months, but then it was taken out.  Did they give you any timeline for how long you'd need yours?  Is yours connected to a bile bag?  Also, I've since been told that having mine in was a mistake.  Do you know why the doctors want yours in?Hope you're feeling stronger and no longer in pain!  I remember what those tubes were like. Painful doesn't begin to cover it!Sandi in VA

[Guest guest]

Nita,Hi!  I'm finally getting a chance to catch up and read through some of the e-mails and I saw that you said that you had a biliary tube for a year now.  I'm curious, I had one for a few months, but then it was taken out.  Did they give you any timeline for how long you'd need yours?  Is yours connected to a bile bag?  Also, I've since been told that having mine in was a mistake.  Do you know why the doctors want yours in?Hope you're feeling stronger and no longer in pain!  I remember what those tubes were like. Painful doesn't begin to cover it!Sandi in VA

[Guest guest]

Hi Sandi,

Most of the time the tube isn’t painful – itchy,

yes. Slight pain if I breathe in too far. It has to be changed out every 2-3

months, and it’s tender for a few days after that. But the dr figures that

when I had a coughing spell the other day the tube irritated one of the nerves

going through there. I’ve been working from home this week, and it’s

getting better. So I think I’ll be able to go into the office tomorrow.

My tube was connected to a bag for about two weeks, until they

could increase the size. Now it drains into my small intestine. Last April I had

yet another nasty infection and was hospitalized. I think it took so long to

figure out what was wrong with me because I don’t seem to get jaundiced.

So by the time they figured this out, the main duct inside my liver was totally

beaded and the only way to keep it draining is a full biliary tube.

They started out with a teeny one, and that took 3 and a half

hours to put in. Dr Shires said that he watched part of the procedure, and some

of the areas Dr Dittman was going through were about the size of a human hair. Then

they changed it out every few weeks until they got it as big as it needed to

be.

Essentially, I’m on the tube until I get a liver. The

doctors all agree that if they pulled the tube my bile ducts would just close

back up and I’d be in deep trouble in short order.

Nita