home from the hospital again

[Guest guest]

Well guys - I went to the hospital on Wednesday to have another ERCP. The GI

was going to cut the bile duct to help with the sphincter of oddi

malfunctioning. Because I've had a gastric bypass, the GI can't get to the bile

duct that way he would with a normal stomach. My sweet and wonderful surgeon

even drew me pictures showing how the GI would have to go in my newly routed

intestines. I was supposed to go home Wed after the procedure.

Well, I ended up throwing up and having dry heaves for hours after the ERCP. I

was also having a tremendous amount of pain. However, the pain was not really

the same as with an attack. Even though the pain was in the same area, it was

different. It's kind of hard to explain but it felt more like surgery type pain

- someone's messed around with my insides pain. They ended up keeping me in the

hospital. I was pretty miserable til the middle of the night.

The GI said he was not able to safely cut the bile duct because of having to get

to it a different way. He put a stent in the duct. He said the stent will last

maybe two months. He said if I don't have any more episodes, we'll know that

the sphincter of oddi is the problem. The GI said he'll have to have the

surgeon go in surgically and cut the bile duct. He said if the stent does not

stop the episodes, he'll still need the surgeon to do a laparotomy and look at

the pancreas and pancreatic duct (since the GI can't get to them through ERCP).

It now seems that the GI is in agreement that my pain, elevated liver enzymes,

and sometimes elevated panc enzymes are definitely being caused by the panc

and/or sphincter of oddi.

The GI sent me home with more pain meds and instructions to call him immediately

if I have any of the severe episodes.

So, anyway, it looks like I will be having surgery in a month or two. I'll

probably have a two for one deal. I discovered that I have a hernia a few weeks

ago. It has gotten bigger jus in the few weeks since I discovered it. The

surgeon told me that I will have to have surgery to repair the hernia within the

next two months. He had already told me he could repair the hernia at the same

time he goes in to look at the pancreas and/or cut the bile duct.

Thankfully, my GI has now acknowledged my pain and is very willing to work with

my surgeon to get me well (or at least better).