Scot back from surgery.

[Guest guest]

Hello all,

My name is Scot and I joined this group late last

year. I posted daily and received LOTS of GREAT help

from several people on this list. I have not been on

the list for about 3 months now. I am glad to be

back.

I had an acute attack back in 2000 that left me

insulin dependant and a 6 cm Pseudocyst. I went along

without any more attacks and minimal pain until May of

2003. I began having attacks every 2 weeks or so and

daily pain. I found a GI Doctor and finally was

prescribed daily pain meds in October. After several

visits to the GI and 3 surgeons I was instructed to

wait 3 to 6 months to see if my pancreas would burn

itself out. The doctors kept saying “you don’t have

any pancreas left”. I waited until March. On St.

’s day (picked for superstitious reasons) I was

scheduled to have an “Internal Drainage” procedure to

hook up to my pseudocyst to my stomach for constant

drainage.

Before the procedure my Surgeon decided to do a distal

pancreatectomy and splenectomy instead. He gave me a

70/30 chance for reduced or no pain. Good enough. Do

it.

I awoke that night with an 18” scar across my upper

abdomen and 60 staples. OUCH! The surgery took 6

hours and I had 1 blood transfusion. The Surgeon said

he had taken the spleen and 99% of my pancreas. He

said my pancreas was completely calcified, inflamed

and 2 times its normal size. The pseudocyst had grown

to 7.5 cm and he said the surgery was not a moment to

soon. Tough recovery.

I left the Hospital (Truman Hospital in Kansas City) 6

days later and 8 days ahead of schedule. I returned

to part-time work 3 weeks (3 weeks ahead of schedule)

and full-time work the following week. I quit all

pain meds when I went back to work. I had TERRIBLE

withdrawal symptoms coming off the Percocet. Body

aches, muscle aches, insomnia, and flu like symptoms

for 10 straight days. About 1 to 2 hours sleep a

night. It was BAD! I have not had pain meds since.

I still take about 35 enzymes a day and I’m still

insulin dependant. My diabetes is no worse than

before and I have good control.

My pain has faded almost completely. Eating is no

longer painful. Thanks to God, Dr. Helling,

many fine Health Care Workers, my friends and family,

and the great people on this list.

I’m back to share my experiences with whoever is

interested and help however I can. I will have to

sign off from time to time, but I expect to be here as

much as I can.

Scot

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