I am glad that you have been pointed in the right direction for a great doctor, Dr. Reich. I live in Houston. I had gone to see a GYN here in December. My husband and I were explaining my long list of surgeries mostly for removing adhesions and mentioned wanting to go see an Adhesion Specialist. I had been talking with Dr. Gerhart in Scranton who works with Dr. Reich about going to Scranton for an adhesiolysis. My insurance company denied coverage though. Anyway, when we mentioned Dr. Reich's name, his eyes lit up. He asked if we meant Dr. Harry Reich. We said yes. This gyn told us that Dr. Reich is considered to be the "Grandfather of Laparoscopic Surgery". So he is very well known.
I did want to encourage you to consider pain management if it will be several weeks or months before Irene has surgery with Dr. Reich. Most pain management doctors will try several different methods before just giving you narcotics. Mine tried non-narcotics, anti-depressants, muscle relaxers, and even other things such as: a tens unit, deep pelvic massage, accupressure, chiropractic adjustments. I use heating pads non stop. My husband won a hot tub 2 years ago, and I get in it for heat therapy. So don't think that the pain doctor will just start handing out narcotics. Even when they do give out narcotics for the pain management, they start with a low doseage of whatever narcotic it may be and go on from there. If you are worried about getting addicted to them, then let me put your mind at ease. That was something I questioned my pain doctor about. He asked me if I had ever been addicted to prescription or non prescription drugs, or if I drank alcohol or was an alcoholic. He said generally if you do not have an addictive personality or problems in the past with drug or alcohol use, then you do not have much of a chance of becoming addicted to the pain medicines. And from talking to several of the people on this site, they have confirmed that to me. I was really bothered when my pain doctor put me on oxycontin. I had actually been on it for about 6 months when my husband came home and told me that a friend from work who is very knowledgable about pharmacology said that oxycontin is derived from heroine. That is what upset me. I ran searches on it on the net. I did read that it is called "Hillbilly heroine" and there was another nickname similar to that which I can't remember. My search also revealed that it is an opiate. It does have a high street value selling for $6-10 for one pill. It is one of the main drugs that pharmacies get robbed for. Anyway, when I asked people from this site about it and how about getting addicted to it, they replied that once their pain was gone, they didn't need the oxycontin and were able to stop the drug with no withdrawal symptoms. Another friend of mine who just had surgery and was on oxycontin just said the same thing. She stopped cold turkey with no side effects. I knew this to be true of other pain medicines from when I had been on medicine for a while, then had surgery. The pain was gone and I no longer needed the medication. And as far as not having any quality of life while taking pain medicine, in most cases it helps you to regain your life. When I am in alot of pain, I don't feel good enough to go anywhere or do anything. Taking the pain medicine I had no pain and felt good enough to go do more. I had been in bed for 4 months in pain before going to pain management. Once I started the pain management, I was up and out of bed. So it really gives you more freedom instead of being bound to a bed, or heating pad. So consider this even if it is just a short amount of time. You have to do what is best for you and your wife, but I just wanted to share this with you. I really hope that it has been helpful. You sound like a wonderful caring husband like my precious husband. I do not know what I would do without my precious Ted. He is my rock and has supported me so much. We just went through what you did with the surgeon telling me I need to talk to a psychologist to help me deal with my pain. I told him I have been dealing with it the last 5 or more years and the only thing that needs to be done is removing the adhesions. Then he said to come back in a month so he could see how I was doing. I don't know the purpose for it. I could be putting that money towards Germany. And so I will. I even told the surgeon that he should go with us. Anyway, keep giving your wife the support she needs. You just don't realize how much that helps us and shows us how much you love us. I am so blessed to have my Ted. Your wife is blessed to have you too, and you her. Take care and let us know how your visit goes on the 8th.
Love and hugs, Jenny
At Fri, 4 Apr 2003, I and J wrote:
>
>dear beverly,
>thank you for your concern . we must also thank the helpful and
>compassionate people on the message board.the reason i write " we '' is
>simply because this is irene's husband joe.i am totally amazed at the
>concern and responses that my wife has recieved. irene has posted a few
>times on the message board after we surprisingly came across it.
>unfortunately she has a difficult time sitting for any extended period
>which limits her research and greater participation. as for myself this
>site has given me a greater and much more indepth understanding of ARD .
>this wonderful place has relieved so much of my own anxiety due to
>irene's condition , and by the way it has also forced me to finally step
>into the computer age. irene right now is finally getting a chance to
>laugh a little at me ,watching me type an e-mail with my one finger. so
>unfortunately writing this will take awhile.irene cannot wait to call my
>office and inform my secretary and associates that i am finally coming
>out of the stone age. i am sure i will get some ribbing this coming
>week. but i will still stick to my guns and not get an e- mail address,
>i will sneakly use irene's.
>beverly over the last 19yrs. irene has been through the mill with
>doctors and hospitals. irene gave birth to our second child 21yrs.
>ago.both of our children had to be delivered by way of c-section.
>approximately 2yrs later irene developed a pain in the right side of her
>abdomin. of course we went from dr. to dr.for one year until an
>exploratory surgery was performed. the findings was that she had a
>tumor (benign thank god)on her liver. it was removed and the dr.
>thought that this was causing her pain. well he was wrong! two months
>later her pain was back.the gastro drs. decided she needed an ERCP .now
>they could'nt get into her bile ducts,and they seemed to damage
>something. they had to close down her pancreas. she was totally yellow
>even her eyes.these accomplished drs. decided to send us to the man
>whom either invented or was one of the pioneers of ERCP. so we flew
>from n.y. to wisconsin and the doctor had to attempt this twice.in his
>second attempt he managed to locate the ducts and stated that he had to
>stretch them. irene was also told that she had to stay on a high fiber
>diet.needless to say as i know yourself and every adhesion sufferer are
>aware that irene was besides pain suffering with bouts of nauseum and
>constipation.2 months later the pain was back . irene at this time was
>approx. 27 yrs. old .it took until irene was 34yrs. old and she could
>convince a surgeon to remove her galbladder she remained in pain.after
>an open surgery and the removal of the galblader irene was pain
>free.irene insisted she was correct it was the gallbladder the whole
>time. we had a wonderful life or so we thought for the next seven yrs.
>only once in awhile since that surgery irene would make what we both
>thought was acrazy statement,she would tell me that she was having the
>same gallbladder pain . we both figured it was just surgery
>pain.especially since the dr. informed us that the gallbladder was
>grossly diseased. unbelievable to us 7yrs. later the pain was worse
>than ever. irene was now unable to eat ,she could'nt hold food down
>most of the time and had bouts of (excuse my expression) diahrea.for the
>next 1.5 to 2yrs. it was test after test and dr. after dr. all with
>negative results. supposedly living in N.Y.with all the great drs.
>availibility to hospitals and the latest and greatest technology i
>thought for sure we would have an diagnosis. the drs. i felt were
>insinuating to me that maybe irene had a psychological problem and i
>should look into it.well i know my wife since we were kids we grew up
>together and i really had to keep my emotions in check for one or two of
>these drs. really deserved a good punch in the nose.finally after not
>being able to take the waiting of test result after test result and
>everything negative and especially literally waiting by the phone at
>times.i decided to get in touch with two dr. friends of mine out of
>town.my dr. friend asked me of irene's symptoms i told him and as a
>matter of fact told me that she must have adhesions,the drs. told me to
>bring her up the next day. irene was upstairs in bed and she did'nt
>even know i made this call to my friends. after i hung up the phone i
>actually broke down crying after 24 yrs. of marriage i thought my irene
>was dying of some kind of horrible disease. i had a glimmer of hope
>after speaking to this great dr.then i questioned myself and this drs.
>telephone diagnosis. i remember asking myself how could this
>dr.(surgeon)from a small town diagnois over the telephone without ever
>seeing her? i could'nt understand this . N.Y. was supposed to have the
>best! then i ran upstairs irene must have thought i was crazy (SHE
>ALWAYS KNEW I WAS BUT I WAS JUST CRAZY ABOUT HER!) i told her jubilently
>" you have adhesions! " hell i did'nt even know what adhesions were!. we
>took all of her test results out and her post-operative reports. for
>some reason i started to read the report of the gallbladder surgery and
>there it was "EXTENSIVE ADHESIONS". this was supposed to be laparscopic
>surgery but it had to be abandoned due to scar tissue.why did'nt some
>one tell us? why when irene inquired about scar tissue was it dismissed?
>two days later irene was in the hospital and ready for an open
>exploratory surgery.the surgeon did not want to give irene another scar
>so he went over the same scar that she endured from the gallbladder
>surgery. again dense adhesions. adhesions were removed from her small
>intestine , colon ,duodenum,hepatic area the surgeon also stated he had
>to pull her right kidney off of her ribs. a stent was placed in her
>right ureter since she has a double one there and scar tissue was found
>on it.about an hour later irene was out of surgery .the pain she had was
>from the stent which she stated was the worst pain of all. 3 weeks
>later the stent was removed. irene was feeling great.
>over the next year and a half we were making up for lost time.the family
>was doing great. then out of nowhere that "evil " pain (putting it
>mildly) was back.fortunately this time it was only in the right
>flank.this was this past october . so off to the
>urologist,nephrologist, family physician,and test and test and
>................ everything negative again. hospitilized november and
>january. still more tests. now we're told pain management.
>so back to my dr. friends out of town.our surgeon friend retired but
>came to have associates run some more tests. he is convinced the scar
>tissue is back ,but primarily on the kidney since irene no longer has
>the right front abdominal pain.i told him that i did not want irene on
>pain management .maybe i do'nt understand it but it means narcotics to
>me and with the pain killers now we have no quality of life.the dr. gave
>us some comfort in that he did not believe in this theory for irene's
>case either. especially long term. he insisted that with his help we
>would find some dr. who could deal with this ARD.i then told the doctor
>that i felt like i was imposing on him. what a great guy he told me not
>to be ridiculos. i felt a little embarrased to ask but i told him about
>this great web site out there ADHESIONS .ORG and this dr. named reich.
>i really hated asking one dr. about another. i could'nt believe his
>response at first he asked who ? like he did'nt understand me or hear
>me. then he said that's our guy! he apologized for not thinking of
>dr.harry reich himself.
>this family and espescially myself as a husband and a father am just
>realizing what a strain on our emotions this ARD is having on us all.
>it's been along battle, in which we really for the first 17yrs. did'nt
>know we were fighting. amazing huh?
>beverly i want to thank you again and everyone at ADHESIONS .ORG for
>taking such an interest in helping irene.you guy's have really helped
>with empowering our family and help in lifting the fear and anxiety we
>all have.
>please if anyone has any advice or can give us more insight we really
>would appreciate it.
>
> THANK YOU irene's huband joe
>
>p.s. this really took a long time. not bad for inputting with one
>finger. also sorry this is sooo long. i think i might even try to post
>it.