I travelled to Pennsylvania to have surgery with Dr. Reich and Dr. Gerhart last August. As of today, I can say that I feel good. I know that it's only been six months and by no means can I say that I am "cured", but I am hopeful. I cannot say that I am completely symptom free, but I am pain free and digesting normally with the help of lactulose (this is an insoluable sugar). I had extensive adhesions and a few areas of hidden endometriosis. Most of the surgery was done without heat and this was significantly different than with any of my other doctors. Dr. Reich and Dr. Gerhart believe that the heat, like laser or cautery, cause more damage than they solve in the long run. The only place that they used heat was when they excised the endometriosis. I think that the little tightness that I feel now is near that area.
The reason that I am hopeful is this - I have leveled off. After the post surgical healing, thing just sort of stopped. I susect that there are some adhesions in there, but they must be situated in such a way that doesn't cause any problems. Most of my pain came because my colon was stuck in a "N" shape. Food just couldn't make the turns. I know that the sharp turns are gone. I use the lactulose to keep things soft, but I am as regular as a clock and have no pain. After my previous surgeries, I was much worse off at this point.
Again, I hesitate to say that I am cured until more time has passed. I also think that "cured" may be the wrong word to use. Maybe it is better to hope for long term relief of symptoms. I can say this, however. If I do ever need to have surgery again, I will travel back to Pennsylvania. They are, by far, the most knowlegeable about this disease and how to minimize its impact. And, just maybe, I have bought a few years until this Spray Gel stuff becomes available in the United States. For me, they ground up a product called Seprafilm (it comes in sheets) and added saline to form a gel. They squirted this gel in through the laparoscope opening. I don't know how much it helped, but so far, so good.
I try to watch this board every so often because it helped me greatly. I'll try to post again in another 6 month to tell how I am doing.
Hopefully I will still be feeling good.
-- Nancy