Message from Dr. Gnome's Office

Do I get to Pay with Mushrooms?

Had a message on my answering maching from Dr. Gnome's office when I got home from work today. I'm to call, and I hope setup an appointment. I'll find out tomorrow. Wonder if Dr. Gnome rides a fox to work, or comes in by raven?

I think I'm a bit of a gnome myself, so perhaps I will get myself a big tall red hat and stand around the garden on the lookout for slugs, snails, and other varmints. I wonder if Smurfs are a variety of gnome or a creature unto themselves? I wouldn't mind being a Smurf either since they are such a lovely blue color and are just three apples high!

Kinda goofy this evening. The Belly is complaining but The Headache is behaving. Got quite a bit of work done today but have a lot more to do tomorrow. Having a hard time sitting still, but need to get to sleep!

ERCP Gnomes

Yet Another Specialist

Before The Headache, I had problems with pancreatitis. The problems started in 2006, got worse in 2007 and then I had a pancreatic and billiary sphincterotomy for papillary stenosis (Sphinter of Oddi Dysfunction Type I) done by ERCP in November 2007. I came out of that procedure with The Headache, but the pancreatitis seemed to resolve itself.

I was hospitalized this month for acute pancreatitis, and now am told I need to see the ERCP specialist again. This is my third bad flare up of pancreatitis in less than a year, and my second hospitalization, so I guess something needs to be done, but I'm not looking forward to another procedure. I was hoping the pancreas would calm down after I quit taking the indomethacin and the toradol, but no such luck. I'm not sure what can be done at this point. When I had the sphincterotomy I was told that 100% of these would need to be redone at some point. Just wondering if I have gotten to that point....

The ERCP specialist (nickname Dr. Gnome) is very well-respected and skilled. From the demerol drugged memories I have of him from 2007 he looked like a little yard gnome - apple cheeked, happy, with a cute little curl on his forhead. I was sitting way up in the air on a flouroscope table so he is also foreshortened in my memory, making him yard gnomishly small. He had a surgical hat on, not a big red pointy hat, which was a disapointment. I sure hope I didn't tell him how cute he was, but knowing me and demerol I'll bet I did! My brother told me that Dr. Gnome was not short at all, but I just can't get that image of him standing there in his fluoroscope apron with his tidy surgical garb on looking like he was about three feet tall, out of my head. He was soooooo cute!

Dr. Gnome's office is supposed to call my gastroenterologist's office to get this scheduled. The last time I went to see Dr. Gnome I thought it was just a consultation but nope, the next day I had the ERCP and pancreatic manometry and the sphincterotomy done. I wasn't prepared for that, but this time I am going to ask more questions about the appointment.

I'm not as down this week as last, have just a little more energy and not quite as exhausted. Wasn't able to work yesterday, but worked today, and hope to work a full day tomorrow and the rest of the week. I'm just sick and tired of being sick and tired.

The Headache is behaving itself so far this week, with every day having some painful jabbing spikes of pain, but overall pain levels are way way way down. Wishing I could say the same for The Belly.

Gracie

Puppy Power

My sister and her husband got a new puppy as a gift from my brother and his wife. Her name is Gracie and she is a Boston Terrier. My brother's family dog Chewie had just had a litter of new puppies, and the family wanted my sister and her husband to have the "pick" of the litter.

People get new pets every day, but what is extraordinary about Gracie is that my brother-in-law, who suffered a devastating stroke two years ago, rode four hours away to meet my brother's family and help pick out which puppy should be theirs. This is the first time he has made a trip of this length and the first time he has eaten at a restaurant since the stroke. He was so excited about going that he was able to overcome a lot of fears that have been almost as disabling as the stroke - fear of strange places because he can't see well, fear of falling in unfamiliar terrain, fear of pain from riding so long.

My brother-in-law seems to be talking more and is more animated just in the last day since Gracie came home. Gracie seems to be able to tell that his paralyzed side is more sensitive and sits quietly by his good foot, waiting to be picked up. He says she already likes to watch football with him. Their four cats are not so sure they like Gracie yet, but are keeping their distance and watching.

It is amazing what a difference a small little puppy can make. I hope this is a not a one shot try on traveling for my brother-in-law and my sister, and they will be able to take on a few challenges like riding to go visit his daughters and his grandchildren, and maybe an occassional outing to a restaurant. These may seem like insignificant freedoms but when you have been homebound for so long it opens up an entire world of possibilities.

So I'm saying "Goodnight Gracie!" to baby puppy and sending loving vibes her way, hoping she keeps muddlin' through!

FUNHOUSE DANCE Gracie Allen Fred Astaire
by NilbogLAND

Me and My Toilet

Quiet Saturday

Up late tonight, feeling very nauseous and have managed only to throw up once, but lying down makes it worse, which tells me it's not The Headache causing the nausea, but The Belly. I tried introducing some food today into my diet and think perhaps The Belly isn't really ready for food.

My friend The Toilet and I have been busy getting reacquainted this week. The Belly just is not cooperating with anything. I am very extremely tired, but because The Belly hurts worse when I lay down I am not getting much sleep.

The Headache calmed down and has been behaving its self. Which is good news, because The Belly and The Headache both at once at extreme levels of ouchiness was almost too much for me. I'm feeling down this weekend. I am so tired and I have been so excited that The Headache is semi-behaving itself and going back to work and then BAM something else happens. This is my eighth year of BAMtastic health, and I am worn out. I guess I should be thankful that I do not have fatal ailments or completely disabling conditions (although my family says I should give up and try for disability).

I just don't know how many more bizarre problems I can bear to have. One thing breaks after another. I feel like Einstein looking for the unified field theory - surely there must be one overriding ailment that is causing all of this, but there probably isn't. I fear that my health issues are becoming so complicated that they will become an impossible tangle of interwoven symptoms and treatments that just feed off of each other, and I will get caught in an even worse tangle of specialists than I have currently.

I've lost a bit of weight this week which is a bright spot when you can't eat anything. Fasting is one sure way to kick off a weight loss plan. Just 10 more pounds to lose before I get back to my pre-steroid pre-hemicrania continua weight. Yeah!

Bad Headache Day #40 2009

Pancreatitis Attacks Again

Haven't been feeling too great since last week. I thought it was just overexertion, going to a client's location, flying to and from Cleveland, and still being able to do chores over the weekend. Monday I was feeling just kind of blah, and Tuesday started out that way too. By noon Tuesday I started having stomach spasms and by 2:30 I had to call it quits at work, and head down to urgent care.

I asked them to check my lipase levels because I had been having chest pain and back pain for several days in addition to the spasms I was having that day. Sure enough my lipase came back high - at least 4 times higher than my regular high lipase levels, and so what I thought would be a simple urgent care stop so I would know that it was or was not pancreatitis (if pancreatitis you go NPO [nothing orally], if indigestion you take something like prilosec and liquid Maalox) and know how to proceed. I didn't have a clue it was as high as it was. I went from urgent care directly to the hospital.

I don't drink alcohol, I don't smoke, I drink very little caffeine, I eat a low fat diet (for the most part) and I quit the medications that I thought were giving me pancreatitis. The Belly just decided it wanted attention because I have been very careful not to aggravate it. I wonder if the episode a few weeks ago where I went to the ER and was vomiting for hours was really pancreatitis and not kidney stones. No way to tell now.

My reaction to The Belly pain is similar to my reaction to The Headache - I got very cold and my blood pressure dropped. The hospital room was glacial and my roommate had just had surgery so bless her heart she was hot, so they even brought in a fan to make the cold air colder. I froze to death while waiting for the enzymes to go back to normal and the pain to dissapper. No matter how many covers I had I couldn't get warm. It felt like there should be icicles dripping off my hospital bed.

The Headache transformed into a whole head monster headache yesterday. I think this is a side effect of having pancreatitis. Every bad episode The Belly has given me a horrendous headache occured, even before I got The Headache in 2007. I spent almost five hours yesterday just throwing up stomach acid (I had nothing to eat or drink) before I got a requested change of medication. One big dose of benedryl and phenergan and I was able to drift off to never vomit land and get a little sleep. I had been getting dilaudid for pain management, but I think The Headache didn't like dilaudid so well. Sometimes dilaudid will put me out for hours but The Headache decides to keep on rolling and I wake up in very bad shape - like yesterday. I told them no more dilaudid, a request they seemed surprised to get.

I am still in quite a bit of pain, but was able to hold some food down today, so I got sprung from the hospital. Woo Hoo! Now I am at home, comfortably warm. The Headache is still hurting quite a bit but I have the occipital stimulator on high and have been taking benedryl and phenergan and trammadol to knock back The Belly pain. The facial pain has been very bad this episode.

The gastroenterologist that took my case says that the biliary sludge I had when I had my sphincerotomy done is a life long problem, and wants me to follow up with my pancreas specialist in St. Louis. The gastro doc also said that I could have had a stone or sludge gumming up the works, since I don't have a lot of risk factors for pancreatitis.

I am tired of 2009 already. I want it to be 2010 - a new year without these old problems.