Sharing My Story

[Guest guest]

Hi!

I wanted to introduce myself to everyone. I am Loretta Greer,

I am 30 years old and I live in Tennessee. I was diagnosed with

chronic pancreatitis on the 8th. I went to the Emergency Room with

back pain, assuming that it was related to my kidneys, but I was

thrown off. I have a bunch of pseudocysts in my pancreas as well. I

have been doing a lot of reading on this disease and have found out

much already, but I know there is much more.

I do not have kids, but have two poodles. I live with my Papaw, who

is 86 and disabled. I am not employed but have been on disability

since October 2002. I am a student in Paralegal Studies through

Kaplan College Online. I like to scrapbook but time does not allow

for much of that with classes.

I additionally have Von-Hippel u (VHL) syndrome, which I was

diagnosed with in April 2002. I had a quarter-sized tumor removed

from my brain base in April 2002, and two partial nephrectomies, one

in October 2002 and the other in January 2003. I feel like a jigsaw

puzzle at times. Luckily, the kidney surgeries did not have much of

an effect on me physically, however the brain surgery did. I

stagger a lot and have some dizziness because of it. I cannot ride

roller coasters, hills, stairs, or go swimming; but I manage. All of

this is related to VHL. The last few years have been a ride. The

pancreatitis is also related to VHL, but there is no luck with

finding anything out there. I feel more comfortable dealing with

those with experience in this itself anyways.

I have an appointment with a GI physician on September 9th. In the

meantime, I am just trying to be patient. I have learned that

sticking to the diet is the best thing I can do to control it, or at

least I hope so. Thank you for listening and have a good day.

Loretta Greer

town, Tennessee