Another frustrating doctor's appointment today!! Brief update on my history....I had a total hysterectomy with ovaries removed in 1997. Less than six months later pain was back in full force. So I went back to the doctor who did that surgery and she basically said "I told you there were no guarantees about the adhesions not coming back." (she didn't really focus on that at all before my surgery by the way) So she basically looked at me and said "consider it like having labor pains for the rest of your life!" Knowing that I had never had children and never would.....I couldn't believe she said that to me. So she then looked at me like I had leprosy and said she wouldn't touch the adhesions. So then in Nov. of 1998 after a colonscopy showed that my intestines were twisted a local surgeon here in Fort Bragg, Calif. did surgery on me. I had massive lower abdominal adhesions and a big cyst on my left hip. I had almost a year and half of relatively pain free life. What a gift!
Since this spring the pains are back and worsening. I have partial bowel obstructions all the time, nausea, stabbing pains and total tummy soreness. You all know the drill Well I've known that my intestine is twisted again....I can just tell. A couple of weeks ago I did some major yard work one day....then next day I had a pain so severe that it dropped me to the floor. Since then I've spent more time on my couch and laying in bed than I have at work or leading any sort of life. Pain pills galore... well, you all get the idea better than any doctor ever could. So my regular nurse practitioner thought I had a hernia and suggested I see my last surgeon.
I went to her today. I was in terrible pain during the exam and she couldn't find a hernia. She basically closed my file and said I'm not touching it again. There comes the leprosy feeling again. She said that she worked on me once and will not deal with my adhesions again unless it is an emergency. I felt like yelling at her "This is an emergency....I have no quality of life!" So I left her office in tears feeling lost.
I have made an appointment to see a specialist at Stanford next week. It is a 4 1/2 hr. drive just to get there which will be awful to start with. Being in the car does not agree with me these days. I'm afraid I will go there and they will say the same thing.
Something different has happened three weeks ago and it is not the usual course of adhesion pain. I truly believe something else is going on in there. Now I'm afraid of having to go through the whole battery of tests: CT scans, barium enema (the worst).
I just had to write this down and get it out. I have had a very teary day since leaving the doc's office. I feel so helpless, useless and tired. Money is a huge factor for me since we don't have much. My work place is thinking about changing insurance plans next year so that puts me in a panic.
I think about the docs in Scranton and Dr. Korell and wish that I had the funds to just drop everything and go have their expertise put to work on my mangled belly. I will starting saving for that in the future. But in the meantime I am trapped in this pain and struggling to try to work as much as I can and just keep going.
Thanks for listening! I know there isn't anything you can do but listen and offer a prayer....and thats just what I'm needing from the group today. My husband tries to be as comforting and supportive as he can as does my family and friends. But the ties that bond this online group together is that we TRULY understand what each of us are going through. Thanks for the soft shoulder today!!!
Healing hugs to all, Verna
PS...The doctor's name in Stanford that I'm going to see is Mark Vierra.....does anyone know of him?