“Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” John 15:13
Julie, Butch and I spent Tuesday night in Birmingham since I had to be at my at my appointment for my CT Scan at 7:15am on Wednesday. It was so nice to have both of them with me. Julie keeps us laughing and since she has been my dearest friend since I was 10, there isn’t anything she doesn’t know about me. There is nothing like having that kind of friend. I don’t have to explain anything….she just knows. We have this thing, where we can just look at each other, and understand. It is truly a priceless gift…..a childhood friend. Butch treated us to Ruth Chris’…..I can’t wait until I can truly enjoy a meal like that again. But, just being there together with them was so enjoyable and comforting.
I appreciate so much the fact that Julie and Butch got up at the crack of dawn with me. They were so sweet …..Julie wouldn’t let them have a diet coke until I went back for my CT Scan since I couldn’t have anything. LOL;-) I told them it really didn’t bother me……but she insisted. She was so happy once they called me back! HeHeHe! :-) Everything went fine with the scan…and so we went up to the 5th floor of the Kirklin Clinic for my 8:30 appointment with Dr. Christein. His residence came in an discussed things first. I explained everything the best I could to her….answered her questions. It wasn’t until later, I realized that was really just for her….not me, she was playing doctor. LOL :-)
Dr. Christein came in…..I have heard from most everyone that has dealt with him that he has a very arrogant, cocky attitude. But, that he is a great surgeon and that I wouldn’t want anyone else doing this surgery. My first impression of him was more that he is very confidante. I am happy about this….you want someone that is about to cut your insides out really confidante that he knows what he’s doing! LOL! He explained that he talked with Dr. Ferrante about me for a long time. He said they both feel that I would benefit greatly from this surgery. He said that although some people benefit from having only part of the pancreas removed, I need the entire pancreas removed because my pancreas is diseased throughout. He gave us the details of how he removes the pancreas, the spleen, part of the stomach and duodenum and then how he will reconnect everything. He explained that he anticipates that I will be in ICU for 2 days and that I will have a total of 8 to 9 days in the hospital. I am a little confused on just how long the surgery will actually take. I think he said a total of 5 hours. But, everyone I have spoken to that has had this surgery, said their surgery was at least about 10 hours. Either way, it won’t matter to me….I won’t know. :-) But, I just want my family and friends to know so they aren’t concerned the longer it takes. He said that I will be able to come home once I leave the hospital. You usually have to stay really close to the hospital the first couple of weeks to a month…but, we live close enough, so that’s great! He went over all the risk involved with the surgery. One of the biggest risk is bleeding because they will have to give me blood thinners so that the islet cells do not develop blood clots. He doesn’t anticipate this to be a problem, but just wants me to know that there is the chance I would need a blood transfusion. Once I come home, he said I am going to be really sick and fatigued! DUH! He said I won’t feel like eating for quite sometime. But, I should improve greatly over the course of 4 to 6 weeks. He said the fatigue is going to be one of the biggest issues since I have been sick for so long…it will take time for my body to fully recover from this. I will be on insulin for sure for the first 2 months at least. This is to allow the islet cells to rest and become adjusted and rooted in the liver. 20% of people are eventually able to come off insulin completely; which means, 80% of people need insulin. Of that 80%, a large percentage of people only need one or two shots of insulin a day. He thinks that I will fall into that category. Butch asked once I have recovered will I be able to eat a normal diet? He said yes, that I will have no restrictions. :-) Of course, I realize in order to manage the diabetes my diet will be important…..also, I know a lot of people that digestion can be an issue as well. But, I was so encouraged and feel like I will actually be living again.
After we discussed everything, and he had answered all my questions (which included whether or not he could give me a tummy tuck since he was cutting my stomach open anyway ;-) he smiled and said no. Darn it!) …..he got his calendar to decide on a date. He first said he could do it this Monday……and of course, my heart sank…..:-) But, then he realized that he would be going out of town 2 days later. Not a good idea. He looked at the next week, and again, he would be leaving about 4 days later. He was ok with that….I wasn’t. I want him around for my entire hospital stay! So, it is scheduled for March 26th. They went ahead with pre-op stuff while I was there which was great. I was given some shots ( meningitis, pneumonia, and two others I can’t remember); answered some questionnaires; went to anesthesiology where they went over my history and did an EKG; and then went to the lab and had about 10 vials of blood drawn. There was a lot of waiting in between each of these things so I am so thankful to Butch and Julie for sitting through all of that. We were all ready to get the heck out of there once it was all over.
Dr. Christein said that UAB has done the second most TP/AITs. There may be some debate among the other centers that do this surgery with his statement. It seems they each want to be the leading hospital and have the best stats. Either way, Dr. Christein has done around 90 of these surgeries. In the world, there are only about 1000 that have been performed although that number is obviously continuing to increase. Dr. Christein has never had anyone pass from the surgery and only 2 have needed to go back into surgery due to complications. Life expectancy for someone who has had this surgery is expected to be normal. The quality of my life, is hopefully going to be greatly increased! :-)
Some things that I will be praying about are: 1. That the quality and quantity of islet cells they are able to harvest will be really good ~ this will determine the outcome of my diabetes 2. there will be no complications and no bleeding 3. that my nausea will be well controlled! I am very concerned about this……I’m allergic to so many nausea medications….and get nauseated easily. 4. that my pain will be well controlled 5. that my family will have peace and the time will just fly by for them
Hope all is well with everyone! Thank you for your concern, support and love! I love y’all!
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