More about Jodie

[Guest guest]

Hey all,

Well, I had to cut my last email short because of time. Well, Jodie

is up to 9 drains now. She got 3 new ones and had one old one taken

out. Jodie and I, especially Jodie, have been through a lot these

past several weeks. There have been times of worry, uncertainty, and

lots and lots of waiting. It seems that the plan for now is for

Jodie to heal from her surgery and for her to get back to 'normal,'

however long that takes. We don't know if she will just need time

and slowly get her strength back, or if she will need to spend some

time in rehab with help from OT and PT to get back to her normal pre-

illness level of functioning, which was perfectly fine.

It's so strange to see her so debilitated by this. One month we're

at the beach celebrating our 11 year anniversary, then the next month

she's in the hospital fighting for her life. I'd have to say that I

feel like we've been through the worst. I don't think that this is

going to be a long term thing, as in chronic pancreatitis. It's just

a matter of how many months it's going to take Jodie to recover from

this serious attack on her well-being. This seems to have hit 'us'

from out of nowhere, and perhaps that's what makes it the hardest.

All the sudden it seems like every day is a crisis. How did our

lives come to this?! For a long time it seemed like it would never

end, or that the only thing that would end Jodie's suffering would be

her death. Certainly something neither of us ever thought we'd be

facing when she is only 29. But, it's her young age that the doctors

constantly tell us is her biggest asset.

I guess my purpose for writing here is to find someone else who has

gone through something similar, just to see if what the doctor's are

doing seems to be appropriate or the best thing for Jodie. I can

share any more information if anyone has any questions. Thank you

for reading and for any help/advice you can share.

peace, melissa

[Guest guest]

Hi ,

FWIW, I was 44 years old, and I took 12 months to recover and about 18 months

to fully recover. But, remember we are all different individuals and recovery

will vary. During recovery there is a tendency to try to do too much too fast

and the result is generally a set back. I went through this several times.

patience is a good thing to have and the flexibility to completely control your

environment and activities is also good.

Good luck to you and yours,

Best wishes, Poncho - GA

[Guest guest]

Hey poncho,

Thanks for the response and info. I tried to respond to you before

but it wouldn't go through. Hopefully, this will. Anyway, Jodie is

29, we live in Baltimore, MD and she is at St. ph Medical Center

in Towson, MD. Her surgeon is Dr. Zalduondo.

peace, melissa