Re: Hope

From: jenny low (jenklow@hotmail.com)
Wed Mar 21 19:53:20 2001


Dear Janet,

Thank you so much for your words of Hope. That is truly what they are. You are so precious and dear to my heart. I am so grateful that you are finally getting the fullness in life that you so much deserve. You are such an inspiration to me. You have really been a true friend and have kept me going. Thank you so much for being there for me and all of us here on the board.

I love you! Jenny

>From: "Janet Karam" <jkaram4@home.com>
>Reply-To: adhesions@adhesions.org
>To: Multiple recipients of list ADHESIONS
><adhesions@mail.medispecialty.com>
>Subject: Hope
>Date: Wed, 21 Mar 2001 12:04:58 -0600
>
>Dear All,
>
>I was inspired by one of our new IAS members, Missy to share my story with
>her this morning, and decided I would like to share it with you all too,
>and to any new member who finds this site in desperation as I did last
>December. If my story can give hope or help to even one person somewhere
>down the line, I will be glad enough for that...I woke up at 5 am with
>hunger pains so strong and rushed down to the kitchen for Cheerios(I can't
>tell you how happy this makes me!)
>
>My twin sister Kathy flew in to meet me at the airport the night before
>last to stay with me for this week after my undergoing an extensive
>laparoscopic surgery last week that removed 4th stage endemetriosis, a
>diseased gall bladder and some adhesions(not really that extensive but very
>obstructive and painful).
>
>Prior to my sister coming, my mom left my dad behind in Texas, and came to
>stay with me and my boyfriend for 3 weeks while I walked though the last
>couple weeks before my surgery, she then flew with me to PA with me for
>surgery, while I endured a horrible obstruction on my way out...my bladder
>not emptying at all, and throwing up green bile with every sip of water or
>ice cube I took in. I have come to need, love and cherish my family and
>life more than ever before, this has been the most precious gift of my
>illness.
>
>The story of my illness begins with pre-cancerous polyps that began to
>cause pain and obstruction in my colon in August '98, and a diseased gall
>bladder causing pain. They say I was born with endemetriosis. I had
>symptoms for most of my life, living with what I thought was normal (or not
>so normal), just believing that I had quirks in my system like everyone
>else.
>
>The polyps were finally detected via a colonoscopy in March of '99, I had
>surgery days later, with a 9 inch vertical midline incision that makes a
>quick curve around my navel, 18 inches of my ascending colon removed.
>
>I had a surgeon begrudgingly perform an adhesiolysis 7 months after my
>surgery for adhesiolysis of adhesions, neither surgeon detected my
>obviously disease gall bladder, or 4th stage endemetriosis that completely
>covered my pelvic floor, meshing my bladder, uterus and rectum altogether,
>even though I indicated pain and dysfunction in these areas for months. (I
>was even sent for psychlogical testing before my second surgeon would
>perform my adhesiolysis to prove that my pain was valid).
>
>I have spent most of the last 3 years debilitated by pain, medicines and
>disease...not able to eat solid food, enjoy life and activities, sunshine
>and rain. For many months I have laid inactive, while those around me have
>suffered the pain of helplessness of not being able to ease my pain.
>
>I have never really had much excess weight, but because of my inability to
>eat solid food for so long, I lost too much weight and became excessively
>weak and undernourished.
>
>I searched the internet many times without finding hope or answers, until
>finally I found the IAS site last December. I was completely desperate and
>knew I needed surgery. The only advice I got from the doctors in Denver was
>to take Metamucil, I was diagnosed over and over again with IBS, and
>doctors who did not believe my pain or complaints were anything more than
>chonic constipation and a hypersensitivity to gas.
>
>I honed into the mention of an Adhesion Center in PA, with Dr.'s Reich and
>Redan, and immediately began contacting people who had been helped by these
>doctors and had the first hope in many moons.
>
>I waited 3 long months to get in for surgery with these doctors, and boy
>was it worth the wait! I had surgery last Thursday March 15, I have been
>freed of so much pain, and am beginning to eat and enjoy life and my
>friends and family again. I feel a brightness for my future again,and am so
>excited that I will be able to carry out my dreams after all. I feel the
>youth and energy that I should feel at my age, and am so grateful I have
>been give back the hope for starting a family and looking into the eyes of
>a child of my own.
>
>Oh, I do feel blessed, and the fight that you mentioned has stayed alive,
>however dimmed it may have gotten at times, because pain does take its toll
>on the spirit.
>
>I feel very fortunate to have found these very skilled surgeons in PA who
>have given my life and myself back to me. I did have to ask for financial
>help from my family, as I have not been able to work for quite some time
>now, and they do require a pre-payment between 3-6 thousand dollars. My
>experience was worth more.
>
>I didn't intend to write something so long, I hope I didn't bore you. This
>is the first time I have shared my story since my surgery, and I am eager
>to pass on my hope and experience to those who may benefit from it.
>
>I would love to be your friend, you inspired me with your story to
>open up and share, I thank you for the opportunity to share.
>
>Love,
>
>Janet
>


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