Re: Going back to work : Chrissy

[Guest guest]

Thanks for the supportive words. It could still be post-op pain,

but I dont think so. I had a transdudenal sphincteroplasty, and

have an incision line from my sternum to just above my belly button,

nice looking incision I must say, he used the superglue instead of

staples, and had one of the residents do it; suturing is not the big

guys greatest skill. He also does not like to prescribe pain meds

and does so rarely, so he is not on top of his game with pain meds.

I was in his clinic one afternoon and we were going over the PDR,

huge huge book of drugs; trying to find the med I had heard of, cant

spell it, that sounded like... blahh blah; its an antispasmotic,,

blah blah .. found the drug; he wrote the script, took it to the

pharmacist and the drug did not exist... It was so funny, we all

laughed. So I try to figure a lot of that stuff out on my own. I

dont know how it is done in other hospitals; but most pancreatic

biopsies can be done with a fine needle aspirate and it is far less

invasive with an EGD I believe, they also use EUS and MRCP's.

ERCP's have changed a lot, thank God, since your last one. But your

right that the pancrease is a very sensative organ and doesn't like

to be messed with. I wish you had an easy way to test your panc for

Ca cells, the only true way is to biopsy. So its not to be done

lightly by any means. Your meal sounds fabulous. How did you make

your capers sauce, I cant imagine it would have a lot of fat.

Something I often wondered though, are Prawns different then just

big ole shrimp? I love left-overs, and would rather have too much

food for my guest then not enough. I am still not taking in a lot

by mouth, so I hoping things will ease up. I dont go back until

Friday and it should be really slow, so that should get me warmed

up. I'm just worried about it though, because apparently the sugery

failed and has made my pain worse, much worse then before. I have

gained weight like 11 pounds, since October, thats a lot for me. So

it did cure the steatorrhea but left more pain, If I could choose,

loose the pain, keep the steatorrhea, lesser of two evils, besides I

could stand to loose another 40 pounds any way. Wow I just realized

how big I was before I got sick, I was a hefty 280, lost well over

100 lbs. so gaining a few is probably a good sign, unfortunately. I

am so glad that you had such a wonderful holiday with your family.

How far are your sons from where you live? Do you have next week

off from work? I am trying to take it slow and easy, I husseled

enough last week, as did we all.

Love

Chrissy

> Hi again,

> I didn't realise the pain was that bad. I'm sorry. It all seems so

> unfair. Hope it's better by the time you actually start again. I'm

> not sure what you are and are not allowed to take when working.

> Obviously your work especially demands concentration on which so

> much could depend. Can your doc not sort something out? I'm not

> actually 100% sure what exactly your surgery was; it's not a

> procedure I know much about. Is it likely to leave you sore or

with

> post-operative pain? Sometimes I think that simply interfering in

> any way with the pancreas can cause problems for a time. It seems

> such a sensitive organ. One of the ways they could try to monitor

me

> for cancer is with ERCPs but the only one I ever had (1988)

> precipitated a really bad pain attack. (They would use the ERCP to

> extract some of the pancreatic " juices " which SOMETIMES show if

> there is a tumour. It's not totally reliable though.) The gastro

> said he thought that they could do more harm than good in the long

> run. Maybe your panc will finally settle down again. I DO hope so.

> The salmon was great! It's the first time I've cooked a whole one.

I

> cooked it with just lemon but served a caper sauce separately and

> another seafood sauce with prawns. Of course, I didn't have the

> sauces! It went down very well, I must say! It was more than was

> needed for ten people. As always, I overestimated how much of

> everyting we would eat so I'm left with too much food now.

Tomorrow

> afternoon my sons/daughter-in-law are going on their way again so

> I'll pack some of the goodies for them.

> Enjoy your last bit of freedom and I do hope the meds get sorted.

> Fliss.