Hi everyone

May 28, 2005

My name is Sandy and I used to be here a lot.

I had the whipple back in '01 and have been trying to live my life

the best I could. It was good for a little while but lately it's

been an up and down road, not wanting to let

my health regulate my kids' life or my hubby's. Now I am faced with

yet again another ercp (I've had a total of 15-20 over the yrs) due

to dilation in the panc duct and pains

coming back just as bad as before the whipple. I have been given

the options of either stenting " if it's possible " , living with the

pain for the rest of my life, or going to see Dr Sutherland.

I was wondering if any of you have gone thru the

removal, it's been so long since I've been here that I've forgotten

a lot of your stories, and I apologize for that. I really don't want

to go thru the stenting, the nurse told me that it would have

to come out in 2-3 weeks and I have never had a good experience with

the ercp's, they have to use general anesthesia or i just can't

tolerate it. Plus the fact that I have to travel 4hrs just to go have

it done from where i live. I'm also trying to find out if there is

any place besides the liver that they can put the islet cells if i

decide to go the removal route, I also have autoimmune liver disease

and I'm not sure it would be a good idea to put them someplace that

would have to be removed at a later date due to cirrosis. Any info

would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks to all, and here's to a pain free night.

Sandy

reno

May 28, 2005

Hi Sandy

I am I have been diagnosed with CP in Feb of this year 2005. Since then

I have been in and out of the ER several times and hospitalized twice. I have

been out of work since April 12th and don't know if I am gonna go back. I have

had 2 ERCP the last one the DR put in a drainage stent in my pancreas. I have

calcification pockets on the outside. Mine was due to drinking beer over the

past 30 years and finally got me. My liver and other organs are fine. I need

to go back in the hospital in a few weeks to have the stent removed. I am not

lookoing forward to it. My chronic pain comes and goes. I get an attack and

then am ok for a few days. The pain pills I am on ( MS Contin, & Vicodin )

do help, but they constipate me and don't know which pain is worse. The gas

pains, or the pancrea pain. It sometimes so bad that I can't breathe normal.

The only way I get relief is to lay with my head up about 30degrees and lie

still. It hurts when I burp, hiccup, or take a deep

breath. I am sometimes afraid to eat because food and beverage can trigger

it off. I have been living on light, soft foods, clear liquids and been

drinking tons of ice water. I am going back to the dr on the 6th of June for

anotherr follow up appt to determine whether or not I can return to wrk. I

don't think so. I have applied for public assistance and am getting my rent

adjusted down. My Dr said that a transplant or removal of the pancreas for me

is not likely. Don't know too much about that yet. Please keep us informed. I

will do the same on my progress and what the DR says as I go along.

I am so glad for this group

Sandy wrote: