W

[Guest guest]

I went in to talk with my PCP about where to go from here. The biliary

surgeon doesn't agree with the GI about my problems being caused by adhesions.

He said if it is adhesions that any general surgeon could take care of it and

I didn't need him to do the surgery. In other words, simple adhesions are

beneath him and not worth his time! He wants me to go back to my GI to 'see

if the GI can come up with other ideas on what's causing my problems' and maybe

remove the stent from the bile duct to see if I get even worse without the

stent. The biliary surgeon said if my GI can't come up with anything

different, we may just have to approach this from a chronic pain management

standpoint.

In addition to the episodes of severe RUQ abdominal pain that radiates through

to the back and nausea/vomiting, I have a hernia in the lower left quadrant of

my abdomen (about where my left ovary was). My general surgeon, Dr. DeWitt,

told me in August that I needed to get it repaired within a couple of months

before it gets much larger. However, he wanted to wait until after they do the

surgery to correct whatever is causing the episodes of the RUQ pain with and

without pancreas and liver enzyme elevation. The hernia is getting larger and

is causing increasing problems with both bowel movements and sometimes even

with urination. Last night I had a very difficult time urinating. I had to

press hard on the hernia and even then it caused pretty bad burning pain when I

strained to urinate. I also have lots of episodes where I can both hear and

feel liquid swishing around in the hernia when I am having a bowel movement.

My pcp and I discussed the possibility of Dr. DeWitt (the one that did my

gastric bypass in December) repairing the hernia and also taking a look at the

pancreas and bile duct laprascopically and maybe even doing a liver biopsy

just to rule out something going on with the liver. Dr. DeWitt was hesitant to

do surgery on the bile duct because he feels he does not have enough experience

in that area. If he is not willing to do the surgery, my PCP is going to refer

me to a local general surgeon.

In the meantime, my PCP has referred me to a pain management doctor but the

appt is not until Nov 12th.

Additionally, my husband and I have decided that I have no choice but to begin

the process for a disability retirement from work. I am sure it will be

approved as it was approved back in 2001 when I was having the same problems.

However, by the time it was approved, my health had improved, so I turned it

down. The problem is that it takes 3-4 months for the paperwork to get through

all the channels.

W