Hi everyone,
I'm new to this website. I have had pancreatitis for 3 years now. I guess I'll start at the beginning. I found out that I had 2 gallstones in 2002, but I didn't get them out or get my gallbladder removed because I was living in Seoul, Korea at the time and my husband and I decided it was too expensive. I took all kinds of different medications over the next 3 years to try to alleviate the pain when my gallbladder would give me trouble. I came back to Canada in 2004. I went to see the doctor, and she told me that I would be on a waiting list for 2 years before I could have the gallbladder surgery. My body didn't wait that long. In March, 2005, one gallstone got stuck in the duct after it left the gallbladder. I was rushed to emergency that day, and they did an ERCP on me to remove the stone. Either from the stone getting stuck in the duct or from the ERCP, I ended up getting pancreatitis. I was in the hospital for 4 months. They did the regular routine at first, no eating or drinking for the first few days, then they introduce you to a liquid only diet. My body couldn't handle that, so they put a PICC line in me. After awhile, it became infected, so they put a PICC line in the other arm. After awhile, that one got infected too, so they put a feeding tube through my nose. After they released me, I was living on porridge and soup for about 2 months, and I was extremely weak because I had lost 50 pounds while I was in the hospital. After I recovered, I thought everything was fine until I ended up in the hospital again about a year and a half later. After my week stay in the hospital in 2006, I have been taking enzymes. I think I'm okay again as long as I take these pills. Not so. I ended up in the hospital again for a week, once in 2007, and for another week, this past Sept. I think I'm starting to learn that since I only go to the hospital once a year, that I get complacent and start thinking that I'm ok again, and then I go and eat something that is really high in fat. I told this to my doctor, and he doesn't agree with me. He is supposed to be the specialist, but I think he is crazy, because he tells me that I can eat whatever I want. If I listen to his advice I would always be in the hospital. Anyways, the end of my story is that I'm back to surviving on porridge and soup. One Godsend in all of this is that the pancreatitis book that I requested from the library more than a year ago finally came when I was in the hospital, and that is how I found this website, from that book. Reading everybody else's writings somehow made me feel better because I realized that there are a lot of other people out there all going through the same thing as me. If I had realised way back in 2002 what was going to happen to me in 2005, then I would have paid for the very expensive operation in Korea then and maybe that would have prevented me from getting this terrble disease. Some of your letters have scared me a lot because it seems to me that as time progresses, my pancreatitis is only going to get worse. Well, I'm just glad this website exists.
I'm new to this website. I have had pancreatitis for 3 years now. I guess I'll start at the beginning. I found out that I had 2 gallstones in 2002, but I didn't get them out or get my gallbladder removed because I was living in Seoul, Korea at the time and my husband and I decided it was too expensive. I took all kinds of different medications over the next 3 years to try to alleviate the pain when my gallbladder would give me trouble. I came back to Canada in 2004. I went to see the doctor, and she told me that I would be on a waiting list for 2 years before I could have the gallbladder surgery. My body didn't wait that long. In March, 2005, one gallstone got stuck in the duct after it left the gallbladder. I was rushed to emergency that day, and they did an ERCP on me to remove the stone. Either from the stone getting stuck in the duct or from the ERCP, I ended up getting pancreatitis. I was in the hospital for 4 months. They did the regular routine at first, no eating or drinking for the first few days, then they introduce you to a liquid only diet. My body couldn't handle that, so they put a PICC line in me. After awhile, it became infected, so they put a PICC line in the other arm. After awhile, that one got infected too, so they put a feeding tube through my nose. After they released me, I was living on porridge and soup for about 2 months, and I was extremely weak because I had lost 50 pounds while I was in the hospital. After I recovered, I thought everything was fine until I ended up in the hospital again about a year and a half later. After my week stay in the hospital in 2006, I have been taking enzymes. I think I'm okay again as long as I take these pills. Not so. I ended up in the hospital again for a week, once in 2007, and for another week, this past Sept. I think I'm starting to learn that since I only go to the hospital once a year, that I get complacent and start thinking that I'm ok again, and then I go and eat something that is really high in fat. I told this to my doctor, and he doesn't agree with me. He is supposed to be the specialist, but I think he is crazy, because he tells me that I can eat whatever I want. If I listen to his advice I would always be in the hospital. Anyways, the end of my story is that I'm back to surviving on porridge and soup. One Godsend in all of this is that the pancreatitis book that I requested from the library more than a year ago finally came when I was in the hospital, and that is how I found this website, from that book. Reading everybody else's writings somehow made me feel better because I realized that there are a lot of other people out there all going through the same thing as me. If I had realised way back in 2002 what was going to happen to me in 2005, then I would have paid for the very expensive operation in Korea then and maybe that would have prevented me from getting this terrble disease. Some of your letters have scared me a lot because it seems to me that as time progresses, my pancreatitis is only going to get worse. Well, I'm just glad this website exists.