I'm home! An introduction
From: Mary-Ann Karaganis (mekjjk@earthlink.net)
Mon Jan 21 19:12:55 2002
My name is Mary-Ann and I live in the Chicago area. (NW suburbs for
those
who know the area.) I've had eight abdominal surgeries over the past 13
years. (Three of them brought me my four beautiful children, so I can't
really complain about those.) The rest of them were to correct numerous
gynecological problems, including a dying endometrium which led to a
hysterectomy, and poly-cystic ovaries (several burst cysts before the
ufectomies (sp?)). I say I'm home because this e-mail is the first one I
received and I laughed out loud when I read it. I've never met anyone
else
who can casually throw around things like "my third surgery" and "the
pain
did not come back as quick as the other surgeries." When a doctor's
laurels
lay on how long until the pain comes back, I've found where I belong.
I'm in the throws of a terrible bout of pain, again. I had surgery in
September to remove my right (and only remaining) ovary after it
exploded.
Once inside, the new surgeon was shocked at the amount of adhesions
found
inside. (My ob/gyn, however, was not. He'd been there before.) He
couldn't
find my sigmoid colon because it was tucked up near my gallbladder, my
bladder was twisted and turned due to the adhesions, and he decided that
my
appendix must have come out at an earlier surgery because he just
couldn't
find it! (It was turned under the colon and hidden in the adhesions.)
Luckily, my ob/gyn didn't give up, because the appendix was enflamed and
infected, a surprise to all. I hadn't noticed because of the pain I'm
always
in. They cleaned everything up, including cutting a portion of my colon
off
the wall of my abdomen (again), and closed me up. Two months later, the
pain
was back. I knew what it was, but somehow the doctors know better.
My surgeon told me that adhesions don't cause pain. It's just not
possible.
(Yeah, okay.) He sent me to a gastroenterologist to find out what's
going
on. The gastro mentioned IBS but backed off that when I threatened him
with
a punch in his face if he completed the thought. (I'd been dxed with
that
numerous times over the years, and remarkably, never once did they find
any
irritation INSIDE the bowels.) He also informed me that I can't possibly
know where the pain is, as abdominal pain is just a general feeling, not
specific. (*sigh*) Two new meds and instructions to make sure I eat
three
meals a day later and I'm in worse pain than ever.
I quit the meds, stopped eating three meals a day (back to one a day,
and
Slimfast the other two), and started taking Ibuprofin today. Then I
decided
it was time to join this list. (I found the site shortly before my last
surgery, but didn't join then because I didn't think I'd have time.)
My history is much more colorful and gory than that, but I have a
feeling
that it mirrors many of you so I won't bore you with the details. What I
will ask is what can I do? My internist wants to give me shots in the
hip
for inflammation, and my ob/gyn wants to do surgery again to disconnect
everything. I want left in peace to wallow in self-pity. (I know, I
know,
bad idea, but I'm getting really tired of this.) I guess I'm saying that
I'm open to any and all suggestions.
Mary-Ann
>----- Original Message -----
From: measureup01@hotmail.com
To: "Multiple recipients of list ADHESIONS"
<adhesions@mail.medispecialty.com>
Sent: Monday, January 21, 2002 7:21 PM
Subject: Re: Please help finding a Dr. or info on SSI
> There is a doctor in the dallas area that is a surgeon. His name is Dr.
> Steckler. He is a very fine doctor and not one to do surgery just
> because. Depending on your situation, he will have you see another
> doctor in Dallas for second opinion, but he is a great surgeon. He did
> my 3rd surgery. But the pain did not come back as quick as the other
> surgeries
>
> Good Luck
>
> Mary
>
> At Tue, 15 Jan 2002, Heather wrote:
> >
> >I recently moved to Dallas ,Tx., from Louisiana. After 10 years of
> >surgeries, treatment, and unknowledgable/unresponsive Drs. I was told
> >Dallas is the place to go. Well, here I am and scared to just take a
> >shot in the dark (tired of being poked in every hole at each initial
> >visit-lol) then to find out, theres nothing they can do. Anyway, hope
> >someone can suggest a good doc. Also, I applied for disability 1 year
> >ago, was turned down and waiting appeal. Anybody made it yet? If so,
> >PLEASE contact me. "Desperatly Seeking Surgeon"
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