The Whole Dang Pancreatic Story, Part 3

Part 1 Gallbladder, Part 2 Pancreatitis, Part 3 of the Whole Dang Story

Uh Oh, Not Again

June 2002 – I wake up in the middle of the night with a really intense pain that feels slightly familiar. Jason takes me to the ER and I have Pancreatitis again. WTF? From what? They don’t know. I spend a week in the hospital hoping I’ll be better in a month because I have a cruise planned.

Yes, we make it to our cruise to the Bahamas (July 2002) and had a blast. I return and a few weeks later find out I’m pregnant with #3. Pregnancy goes pretty good and other than the normal pregnancy sutff, I don’t have much pain. End up with emergency c-section in March of 2003.

Uh Oh, Not Again

When baby #3 is 6 months, I’m pregnant again. Gotcha…you thought I had Pancreatitis again, didn’t you?! Once again pregnancy fine until early labor and a scheduled c-section (and tubes tied) July of 2004.

Different Pains

About a year after the 4th baby (2005), I start having a lot of different pains. I have a year of heavy periods and constant pain and a lot more tests trying to figure out what is up. I have pain in my lower abdominal area and my Pancreatic pain is back, but still thinking it’s something to do with my Pancreas or Bile Duct. I go through a year of tests (2 ERCPs, Colonoscopy, MRI, CT, barium swallow tests, X-ray, swallow camera test, tests to see if I digest too slow, many ER visits and a few other tests I can’t remember) with a new Gastro  doctor who finally gives up on me and tells me that it must be in my head. He tells me I can not have any more Percocet too. He thinks I’m doing this to get drugs.

It is now the Fall of 2006. This was a really low time in all of this. I was starting to doubt myself. Maybe I’m just a wimp when it comes to pain. Maybe it is in my head. My Primary Doctor thinks I should see my Gynecologist to see if maybe this is not related to my Pancreas.

Pancreas 1. Stomach 2. Gall bladder 3. Common bile duct 4. Pancreatic duct 5. Duodenum 6. Pancreas (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Gynecologist Chapter

I see a new Gynecologist and she tries all sorts of drugs and tests and even puts me back on the pill. I get really really sick and my periods get worse on the pill. She tells me I need to give it 3 months. No way can I do that. This is when I decide to find out if my Gynecologist who delivered my first baby is practicing again (she took some time off to raise her kids).

I see her in August of 2007 and I go through the entire story of the past 2 years of pain and test with a Gastroenterologist and Gynecologist who don’t seem to want to help me. She wants to do one more test. That test shows us nothing so she schedules me for a total hysterectomy for October of 2007.

The hope is that my pain is due to Adenomyosis and cysts and that the upper pain is referred pain from the lower abdominal area. I have the surgery and after 6 weeks of recovery, I feel pretty good. The pain seems to be gone.

Not So Fast

Later in 2008, the Pancreatic pain comes back and I end up in the ER twice in the year. I switch to a new Gastroenterologist who vows to help me figure out what is wrong. He has had patients with similar issues and he believes that I have pain. He does a lot of the same test that were done about 2 years ago to see if there are any changes. Nothing. We did discover that I have 2 pains. One is near my Appendix and the other is closer to my Pancreas.

Part 4 tomorrow….