No Snake Eyes!
I got lucky again. Yeah, I know, most of you (except maybe Dan and Drizz) are thinking, "WTF, she is sick all the time, how did she get lucky?"

But the thing is, every time I've been diagnosed with a life threatening disease, I make my point somehow. Like when I got cancer. Yeah, it was bad, but when they tested my lymph nodes, liver, brain, bones and lungs to see if it had spread, I came out clean. So I was lucky in a way. Chop off the boobs and I'm home free.

Well, it looks as if I may have gotten lucky with the Pancreatitis, too. See, lots of people never find out what gave them pancreatitis. It could be a ton of things. In my case, they have said it could have been chemo, stomach surgery, gall bladder surgery, etc. I will probably never know.

The important thing is knowing what is causing the attacks at that time. About 40% of people with chronic pancreatitis never find out what the cause is, and that is horrible for them, because there is no cure. Gastroenterologists treat the source of the pancreatitis, not the actual disease itself.

So I went down to Tucson with feelings of anxiety, excitement and dread. On Wednesday, we arrived at the hospital at 1pm. I was supposed to have surgery at 2:30. Well, that came and went. There was some kind of emergency which took the anesthesiologist to another OR and I was put on the back burner, along with another patient of Dr. Cunningham. They asked me if I wanted to stay and maybe start around 6pm, or if I wanted to come back the next morning. I chose the next morning. I'd rather have my surgeon fresh, instead of sitting around all day angry because they took every anesthesiologist at a huge hospital like UMC.

We came back the next day. I was considerably less anxious, possibly due to taking a Temazepam before we left the hotel.

I told everyone and their pet dog about my two other recovery experiences at the hospital. I made sure they all knew how I had been under treated and was screaming my head off in recovery. They said that is the reason I'd been moved to this OR, instead of the radiology's OR. I still wasn't satisfied, so I kept pressing it to everyone who passed my way, including the janitors ;)

I told them that if they planned to treat me with something like .5 mg's of Dilaudid like last time, just forget it. I get 4 mg's in the ER when I have an attack. So obviously .5 is not even going to touch surgical pain. Finally they kept a promise, and my recovery was much better.

I was hoping that by virtue of the fact that the surgeon was going to use the hole in my stomach for the ERCP versus going endoscopically, I would be somewhat protected from having an attack. The number one side effect of an ERCP is a pancreatic attack. Unfortunately, Cunningham said that my chances were just as high, but that he found that putting a small stent in the duct before finishing up reduced the incidents of pancreatitic attacks to a fraction. He was right, I didn't have an attack. Got lucky again!!

And my very best luck came when he clearly saw that my sphincter of oddi was completely shut. That is what he thought after the testing I'd had all summer, and he was right. So he did a sphincterotomy. He cut through the duct in order to open it, then sewed it all the way around to keep it open.

Unfortunately, he found another place that shut off. My main biliary duct was stuck closed as well. And he couldn't open it. He said he tried and tried for over an hour, but couldn't get it open. He said that hopefully the oddi was causing my pancreatitis, not the biliary, and I wouldn't have any problems in the future. If, however, the biliary starts to cause pain and attacks, he said he will go through my side and cut that one open. He said it was no big deal, and likely I wouldn't have future attacks.

Also, my pancreas showed no signs of permanent damage. That means I have acute pancreatitis, not its more dangerous cousin chronic pancreatitis. So I got lucky there, too! Good luck all around.

I just stayed one night at the hospital this time. I couldn't wait to get out of there. I'd forgotten just how horrible it is, even though this time I had a private room. I begged to be let out early, and since I'd tolerated three meals (two liquid meals, one soft food meal), they let me free. We stayed two more nights at the hotel before attempting to drive home, then we headed home on Sunday. It took us about 7.5 hours this time, due to frequent stops, but I made it pretty well, having kept myself drugged up so that I wouldn't be in pain.

Now it's Tuesday, and my stomach is still doing well. They didn't take out the feeding tube, just in case it was the biliary duct and I have another attack. That way I can still survive if I'm no longer able to eat again. They also left the PICC line in, just in case.

The stent is supposed to fall out on it's own and be digested. I will get a stomach x-ray in three weeks, and if it's still there, I'll have to have it taken out via surgery again. But most times they fall out like they are supposed to. If it is gone, I'm supposed to go see Cunningham again in a month and he will take out the tube and sew me up for good.

So there is my story of rolling the dice and getting extremely lucky. I almost feel guilty, because there are so many people suffering with chronic pancreatitis that never goes away, and they cannot find the source. These people live on pain medicine and pancreatic enzymes. They have trouble eating and some have permanent feeding tubes. Their lives are horrible, they are homebound and in incredible pain. Someday I hope doctors can find a cure for this awful disease.

As for now, I'm being cautiously optimistic.

I hope I stay lucky!

Felicia :)