To Chrissy

[Guest guest]

The same also goes for Australian Hospitals and the Medical System.

It has changed since I left Australia, but I used to have private

health insurance. It cost me $130 a month, and I had no excesses to

pay. If I needed something done, I would go to a private hospital,

no waiting, no bills sent to me, all I would have to pay for was any

phone calls I made. But at the same time, I could go to a public

hospital if I wanted to and not be asked if I had private cover or

not. It was usually best for me to attend a private hospital because

I wouldn't have to wait as long.

My understanding now is that nothing is an emergency unless brought

in by ambulance these days...(that is slightly sarcastic). My

brother needed an ERCP to check if a polyp in his duodenum was

turning cancerous...he had to wait 6 months to have the procedure.

My sister tore a ligament in her knee and needed knee surgery. She

had to wait 18 months on the public system, or take out private

cover and wait 12 months as it was a preexisting condition..she

chose the latter and has kept up her private cover now. My father

needed hip replacement surgery and he had to wait 12 months.

When I go back to Australia, if I need to be hospitalised, I can

still use the free public system until 2005, but chances are the ER

will just give me pain meds and send me on my way. And even though

my mum's doctor (who will treat me if I have a flare up of

pancreatitis) knows my history and has my surgical notes from over

here, he would have to put me on a waiting list just to have a stent

placed. That would be a 3 month wait...absolutely ridiculous, so I

have taken out travel insurance to guard me against the waiting list

and will use it just so I can get immediate treatment if i need it.

Not to mention the lack of doctors these days. Many can't afford the

increased premiums to cover them for insurance these days due to

some outlandish malpractice law suits, and so are quitting their

jobs. Half of the hospitals in Adelaide have had to close their

maternity wards because most ob/gyn's have quit.

I whinge about the insurance companies over here, and well I should

at their outlandish coverages and denials of some things, but at

least I can still have a procedure done immediately when it is

necessary.

[Guest guest]

Chrissy wrote:

> Thanks for the kind words of support. I have worked only 2 full days. I dont

know if this is going to work or not.

Chrissy,

I worry about you trying to do this, and have from the start. It may be that

it's

just too much for you to handle so soon after your surgery. The surgery itself

was a major undertaking, and you know by your nursing experience that it

takes a long, long time for a patient to fully recover from a serious surgical

procedure.

Perhaps you just had too high expectations for so soon? I know that you will

do what's best for yourself as you need to. But spending a whole day in bed to

recover from one work day, only to return and have to try to endure and work

through the pain the next isn't what's best for you. You have been in my

prayers often these past days, and I hope that whatever happens, there will

be a positive resolution.

love,

Heidi

Heidi H. Griffeth

South Carolina

SC & SE Regional Rep.

PAI

Note: All comments or advice are based on my personal opinion or

experiences only, and should not be substituted for a professional medical

consultation.

[Guest guest]

Hi Chrissy: I wanted to first thank you for your very warm thoughts

especially given the fact that you are feeling so poorly yourself.

It's 3:48 am now on 5 August and here I sit at the computer unable

to sleep...I surely hope it's just the opposite for you!! I hope

you're sleeping soundly and getting the rest you need. I'm also so

worried about my job that I'm actually checking my work email on the

other computer (right next to this one so I can sort of work both at

the same time) but there are so many newly arrived msgs in my

outlook-based email that it's saying there are 28 mins remaining

just to receive them, never mind read them. Don't know if you're

familiar w/outlook email but I have " auto preview " set up on my work

email so I can sort of see the gist of the msgs w/o having shown to

the people that sent them that I've actually read them...if you get

my drift. I'm really stressing about my job right now as you can

tell. And stress is not a good thing.

I guess I just have some questions for you that I wanted to write to

you with respect to how you felt about your treatment in Cincinatti

and also to inquire about your docs at MUSC. I live in RI so a trip

to SC wouldn't be too far a stretch and would also give me an excuse

to see that brand new grandson of mine in NC (Gastonia - near

Charlotte from what I understand) that I haven't seen yet due to the

fact that my son doesn't want to come up here while I'm feeling so

poorly. No convincing him that that beautiful grandson of mine

would help warm my heart...that in itself can be a healing of sorts

if only for a short while.

Why, if I may ask, was the doc in Cincinatti not convinced your pain

was NOT pancreatic in origin? It seems rather a stretch on his part

NOT to think so in my humble opinion with the obvious history you

have. What in the world did he think it was if not pancreatic?

As you stated, the fact that the the exterior of my panc is so far

not damaged is actually GOOD news....didn't occur to me I guess.

Can't see the forest for the trees or however the saying goes I

guess. I'm still just so infuriated with him though that I can

hardly put it into words. As I said before, his thoughts at the

first visit on how in ANY disease things occur first on a

microscopic, cellular-level just made so much sense to me that I'm

just floored that his post-procedure comments were so utterly

inexplicable and so contradictory to his prior comments!! Anyway,

I'm trying to get over my initial shock and looking to " going

forward " as they say.

I've got a call in to Dr Lehman's office in Indiana and hoping to

hear back from them...if need be, I will travel if we can possibly

afford it and the BIG IF - that health insurance will somehow cover

it being out of network and such. I just don't want to waste

valuable time and panc tissue (as someone else said) in looking for

a local doc if at all possible. Not to mention the loss of health

insurance altogether if my job is now in jeopardy.

Anyway, I can't seem to think of anything specific to ask with

respect to the docs in Cinci....it's now 4:15 am and I'm a bit fuzzy

so will sign off for now. But if you don't feel comfortable talking

about the docs in Cinci in this forum please don't hesitate to email

me off-line as it were.

Hope this finds you feeling better and able to finally get some food

into your system. I haven't eaten much in the past few days

myself...I ate more tonight or should I say last night...than I've

eaten in the last 2 or so though....finally got hungry enough for

that old bowl of cereal w/banana and 1% milk. I have always done ok

with dairy products for some reason...but not meats of any kind.

Anyway, I'm rambling now.....take care

[Guest guest]

Chrissy, I am happy to hear that you have decided to get the TP/ICT. It

is a big decision to make. Here are some answers to your questions: My

surgery lasted 10 hours. They cut me vertically from below the belly

button straight up to the sternum. (About 12in.) They first took out my

pancreas, and then my spleen and appendix. My spleen was removed only

because it was scarred real badly by the chronic pancreatitis. Dr.

Sutherland told me they only leave the spleen in if it is absolutely

perfect. The appendix was removed because it is just another thing to go

wrong and is not needed. The islet cell transplant was next. This took

about 3-4 hours to do. They isolated the cells and then infused them

into my portal vein in the liver. They then closed me up and put me into

intensive care for 2 days. When I awoke the first thing I asked was how

many islet cells did they get! I do not remember any of this though.

They told me 105,000 and was very lucky to get that many with how the

pancreas looked. I was disappointed until I thought about it a little

more. If I would have waited another year or more they probably wouldn't

have gotten hardly any cells at all. Dr. Sutherland told me the 105,000

cell I got back will help me a lot. I was up walking the 2nd day after

surgery. I was in a lot of pain when I awoke from surgery and then they

got my pain under control. I have a very high tolerance to pain meds. I

was on dillaudid IV. They said the average person would be dead with all

the dillaudid I was receiving but not to worry. I was to use to use it

for any pain that I had. After 2 days in intensive care I was put into a

regular room. I was up walking 3-4 times per day now and the pain was

getting better by the day. I was on TPN through my IV. I didn't loose a

pound in the hospital in the 15 days I was there. I had some problems

with my central line in my neck. It was leaking and they had to put in

another one. They put in a new one and then I got an infection from the

second one. They then put a pik line in my arm. That worked fine and my

infection went away. They checked my blood sugars every hour by poking

my finger. My fingers were all bruised after all this. I only had two

fingers they could get blood out of in the end. They would adjust my

insulin pump hooked up to my IV for the changes. I got the tube out of

my nose when I started passing gas. This was the 8th day. It was good to

get that out of my nose. I was then put on a liquid diet. I tolerated

this well and moved onto solids. I didn't like the food so I didn't eat.

The nurses were mad and I told them I would rather not eat then to eat

this garbage. Dr. Sutherland came up and then said I could eat whatever

I wanted and tolerated. I had mashed potatoes and gravy, turkey and

bread. My stomach was so shrunk that I could only eat 1 or 2 bites and

then I was full, really full. They then unhooked everything on the 13th

day and I got to go home on the 15th day. It was nice to get home. I

didn't get any rest with them poking my finger every hour and also with

the roommate I had at the end. I got home and finally got a lot of rest

and am doing a lot better. Sorry this is so long! I hope this gives you

an idea about what to expect. I know I missed some parts and if you have

any more questions please feel free to contact me. I hope you are doing

well. Hang in there!!

Darren Olson

dmtolson@...

Darren

I'm glad your home now and am feeling better. You have had majjor

major surgery and it will take along time for your body to adjust;

physically as well as mentally. Are you sure you want to go back to

work so sooon? I have had 2 previous panc surgeries and after 10

weeks I was still not ready to work. You have a lot of healing left

to do inside.

I will be having the tp/ict in cincinatti on Nov 16th unless my

insurance co pulls out. That would be just my luck. Can I ask what

kind of incision did the doc use? Did Dr. Sutherland say whether or

not the 105K islet cells he did implant would produce some insulin?

What kind of TPN were you on? How long were you in the hospital?

How long did the surgery take? Did they implant the islet cells

while you were still in the OR or did they isolate them first then

implant them later? Were you in an ICU? I'm sorry if the

questions are personal and you dont have to answer, I'm just

curious.

I know your son is so happy to have his Dad home. 4year olds are at

a great age. They are so much smarter then we give them credit

for. My kids are a little older; 18, 14 and 9; old enough to be

scared for their mom. But 4 year olds have the purest minds and

hearts; you will miss it one day. I think my son, 14 has multiple

personalities and none of them are clean..lol.

I'm glad to hear from you; I had wondered about your for awhile. I

saw where you wife had posted and that you were doing well. It was

good to hear. Please dont rush going back to wwork; its going to

take awhile to get back to being yourself; your new self.

Warmly,

Chrissy

[Guest guest]

Here is a link where you can get the accessories for your Glucose Meter.

http://www.accu-chek.com/products/meters_advantage.jsp Hope this helps.

I'm glad to see you are doing so well!

Darren