Been along time since I have posted....

Jul 07, 2010

I was able to maintain my weight loss for almost 4.5 years. But last summer I was diagnosied with Malignant Melanoma and had surgery on my arm to remove it. I was off of work for 6 weeks with that surgery and regained 10 lbs. My employer was transitioning me back into patient care (YEP a nurse) and I was fit testing our unit for H1N1 respirators because we had patients that actually had active H1N1 and guess who came down with it....YEP right again me!!!! I ended up in the hospital but luckily never intubated~ And due to H1N1 and high doses of oral steroids I gained 30+ more lbs. Finally, I December life sort of returned to "normal".
In April of 2010, I kept having right sided abdominal pain but never went to the ER for intil one day I just couldn't take it. They did a liver function panel and my LFT's were abnormally high (in the 4000 range), normal is between 15-50. So, off on another medical oddessey... ran every known test on me all negative. I told them that I thought I was having spincter of oddi issues(because all the lab tests pointed in that direction). They attempted a ERCP on me at the end of April and wasn't successful. They can do ERCP's at some large medical facilities in the country but most hospitals can't perform ERCP's on RNY patients due to our complex anatomy. Just when you think it couldn't get any worse.....I am hospitalized for severe abdominal pain and vomiting. This time they find antegrade intussception of my small bowel and severely dilated anatomosis. So....two days later I am on the surgical table! They found that my last surgeon had left a huge blind limb of my deudoneum in (15-20 cm) commonly this is only 3-5 cm. So, I ended up getting a three way small bowel resection and a ERCP intraoperatively that proved that I had spincter of oddi dysfunction (so, I also had a spincterotomy also).
I have done well this last surgery.....and lost 20 lbs. I am working on the 30 more that I am wanting to lose but it is going to take alot of good ole fashion hard work!

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