Re: (to Bert) To Louie

[Guest guest]

Louie,

Cincinnati Medical Center has three top not surgeons that before

total pancreatectomies with islet cell transplant. I believe only

one doctor in the mollecular devision does the islet cell harvest. I

understand between 3 aftive surgeons they are now getting around 100

of those down a year with an exceptional success rate. A success is

someone who makes it through the surgery with much less pain, the

ability to resume to a normal life, and is not diabetic. Under such

scrutiny I am a lesser success. I do have well-behaved diabetes, but

it requires insulin, and up to four shots a day.

There are 3 Doctors doing the surgery there now: My doctor, Dr. Syed

Ahmad who is a very fun intelligent, utter professional...he is

young...a total wonderkid. Dr. (Steve ?)Lowey who is Ahmad's boss

does these, and there is one other person whom I have never met. I

belive this third person is also well known there for doing kidney

and pancreas transplants for diabetics on the donor weighting list.

I am 5 months out of surgery. I have had to make some life style

changes. But pancreatitis imposed more life style changes than we

often think of. Pancreatitis makes us become people that fear

committing to tasks and events and trips, pancreatitis makes us

carry around a lot of fear about when the next attack will happen,

and a lot of quilt because we contstant are backing down from things

we use to do without much thought. I could go on. The lifestyle

changes from surgery are mainly temporary ones, like no I cant play

tennis today cuz it hurts to jolt my mid-section, and then the more

permanent ones are just habits needed to be developed: when to take

insulin, making sure to always have plenty of enzymes with you

always so you can eat whenver your want, taking your diabetic

supplies with you, learning what a sugar low is and how to act fast,

and so on.

Yeah, I feel very blessed how well things have gone.

Love,

Bert