“It’s just a routine visit. Nothing to get excited or worried about, after all I’d been through this procedure countless times before.” Serene in that thought I innocently prepared for the hospital visit. Stupid me!!!! I should have remembered that nothing is routine about my medical conditions. Sadder but hardly wiser and more than a thousand dollars poorer I’m finally home (once again) from the hospital and still fighting to recover from the latest setback.

It all started when my pancreatic drain tube finally clogged and stopped draining. This happens less frequently than it used to and when it happens I have 48 hours to get to Interventional Radiology (“affectionately” called IR) for an operation to get a replacement drain tube.

The procedure usually is reasonably straightforward. Grandma Oddball transports me to the hospital where I get an IV (Intravenous Therapy) inserted into my arm. This often the most painful part of the process since my veins have become so scarred (or hardened) and spasmodic that I don’t have any place left to stick the IV (I routinely order a specialist for this but it doesn’t help much).

After the IV is inserted I get a CAT scan to determine the damage before proceeding. The hospital has a pretty slick database system so the results are available almost immediately. Unfortunately after 50-100 CAT scans I’ve developed an allergic reaction to the injected contrast dye so I have to be premedicated and work through the subsequent reaction each time now. As I mentioned this was starting to get routine.

After the CAT scan I’m carefully transported to IR where I get a new drain tube placed and I’m then sent home where after two or three days of feeling dizzy and sick to my stomach I recover and resume my “normal” physical therapy activities.

Well, it didn’t go so routinely this time and therein lies the tale, I guess. As I lay on the operation table a major conference of doctors gathered around my CAT scan results and discussed the best method of proceeding. It was eventually decided to try a new (to me) procedure where they would shove some instruments down my throat, punch a hole through my stomach and place an internal drain tube so that the pancreatic fluid drains into my stomach instead of an external bag.

So I was wheeled out of IR to a holding area where grandma Oddball and myself waited for most of the day until the specialist that does this new procedure had a time opening and could do the operation. If the new procedure had worked it would have been terrific but alas it didn’t so I had to stay overnight in the hospital and get my regular tube replacement done the next day. That’s when the latest setback started.

In performing the new procedure the abscess had been drained (a good thing) but the resulting cavity was now so small that there was a minuscule target for inserting an external drain tube (a bad thing). At first it appeared that the drain tube insertion was successful and I was sent home. That evening I developed a 102.5 degree fever and had to make a trip to emergency room. Five days later I’m finally home with low blood pressure, a return of my ascites, markedly weaker, severe headaches, and have trouble breathing without pain.

In short I’m about right back where I was a year ago. It’s a discouraging result! However, we’re moving forward again and I do want to thank you all for your support and encouragement.

Tags: medical update

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