To W - muddy waters!

[Guest guest]

Our post titles sound like we are talking about the Mississippi

River! I think that this could be a good chapter title for our book.

In fact, it even could be the title of the book! LOL. " Muddy

pancreas juice "

Boy what a story you just told us. I cannot believe what you have

gone through and I can understand completely about your

autoimmune issues as that is closer to my professional area of

knowledge than pancreatitis (pancreatitis is my private life area

of knowledge, unfortunately). Auto-immunity, while frustrating to

the patient, is a very fascinating area of medicine. It is very close

to the issues surrounding CP (the uncertainties, the gamut of

opinions, the waiting things out, etc) the only thing that

autoimmunity has that is light years ahead of CP is the

laboratory testing. At least there are many different tests

available that can point the doctor in the right direction.

Unfortunately, this is not so for CP.

Thanks for giving me encouragement - even when I may add

more to the confusion level. Clarification of murky issues may be

an exercise in futility but I believe that it is a valuable one as long

as we all realize that there is no one right answer and that every

opinion, as well as personal experience, is valid. And accurate -

at least to that individual. What I do take issue with though, is

when a doctor will present his position as the only true

one.......and leaves no room to discuss the controversies. You

nailed it completely when you said that navigating the health care

process causes you to give up your illusions: there is no

all-knowledgeable doctor who orders the correct, available tests

which allows him to accurately diagnose and humanely treat all

illnesses (or even most illnesses). The one thing I have learned

is that our system is miraculous when it comes to acute

problems - whether they be trauma, surgical emergencies, heart

attacks, etc. But when it comes to long-term diagnosis and care

of chronic disorders we suck. And I do not think it is altogether a

problem of Western medicine vs non-traditional (although there

is certainly some validity in that thought). I think that it is a

reflection of our society: the " worshipping " of science to the

exclusion of humaneness, the need glory and recognition, the

attractiveness of " glamourous " areas of specialization, the

desire for immediate gratification (trauma, etc care gives instant

feedback to the caregiver while treating chronic diseases may

not) and of course, the lure of money.

It is rare to find doctors who are willing to think outside the box -

or flowcharts to be more exact. So when a patient does not fit the

textbook view of the disease (let alone, the problem of the

disease not having a textbook view at all!) then they are left to

hang. Again, in the world of bell shaped curves, you are

considered a success if you are able to address those that fit

into the 90% area under the curve. The other 10% that lies on the

two tails....oh well! And I think that for most of us here, we are

that 10% " tails " - the ones that don't fit into any " average " or

" normal " picture of pancreatitis. And to add to the problem, there

may not BE any " normal " or " average " pancreatitis patient either!

That may just be a conveniently label for the sake of educating

students and residents.

Maybe the most valuable chapter of the book would be for us all

to brainstorm to elucidate what would be the ideal medical

experience as well as the ideal physician or medical team to

address all the needs of a CP patient....from the first awareness

that something is wrong to the management of the chronic and

dibilitating symptoms.

Laurie