I went to the ER again for the 4th time since the last week in May in so much pain with pancreatitis. Each time, I've been hospitalized for about
a week, put on an IV, and my lipase goes back to normal. Then it gets high again the minute I start eating, even though I follow their diets they give completely. So after having been here all of the week before last and sent home Friday with levels good for two days, they were floored when I came back the next day and my lipase levels had, in 30 hours, gone from 50 to 3500
The high should be 300 MAX!
They've now concluded that it's not due to side effects of the Imuran or Asacol, since it's now been almost two months of that.
They ran tests that show that it's not an autoimmune reaction, and I don't drink alcohol. 90% of all pancreatitis is because of alcohol or gall stones. They'd done x-rays and CT scans but they didn't see any gall stones. There aren't any fistulas, either.
So this time they decided maybe the couldn't see any gall stones and on Tuesday they REMOVED MY GALL BLADDER.
And, to their astonishment and everyone's frustration, there wasn't a single stone. There was one place that was a bit smooth/indented or something that could have possibly had a stone that fell out, but that's it. AND my levels still didn't go down.
They're at a loss. The GI's, the surgeons, the family med dr's, all of them. So they've decided maybe it was virus I got in May the first time and we've just never given my pancreas long enough to heal. Therefore, they put in a FEEDING TUBE today, up my nose, through my stomach, and deep into my small intestine where they can give me a yummy yellow mush (blech
) for the next 4-6 weeks, hoping that that'll be enough rest for my pancreas.
And in two weeks I'm supposed to start my new job in a high school as a 9th grade math teacher. With a tube hanging out of my nose. I've missed almost all of the collaboration meetings and I really needed them, since I've only taught middle school math in a different state before. This is a classroom management nightmare waiting to happen.
Luckily, though, my husband still thinks I'm pretty enough to kiss.
And I've been trying to lose prednisone weight for a few months now, so I guess this is one way to do it!
Thought I'd try to include a picture (don't judge, I'm not wearing any makeup and my hair is in pigtails, my standard hospital hairdo). My husband gave me the lion this week to cuddle with since he hasn't been able to stay the night with me at the hospital. I named him Petey because my husband was called that in high school (his initials are P.T.) He had finals this week (his senior year of mechanical engineering) and his 15-year-old brother stayed with us for a few days after he went to a summer camp near where we live.
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