Guest guest Posted December 14, 2001 Report Share Posted December 14, 2001 Hello new members, I have been cured of chronic pancreatitis. I had pain in my pancreas from 1985 and I started having pancreas attacks in 1994. I had all the usual procedures that we all are put thru. I had attack after attack after I had my first ercp and stint. I have had 15 or so ercp's and I have had countless stints to no avail. All of the ercp's and stints just made my pancreas much worse. I could not eat anything without tremendous pain therefore I lived on tpn most of the time. For six and one-half years I could not eat. I just couldn't stand the pain so I gave up eating and went on tpn. I also had tubes put in my nose and down my throat to feed me but they gave me attacks. I had j-tubes but they also made me very sick. Those of you thinking of having a j-tube put in I will tell you that the surgeon told me that it wouldn't work for me even before he put it in but I was so desperate I had it done anyway. It made my pancreas upset too. The surgeon said to me that anything going thru the digestion system will affect the pancreas and cause it to get inflamed. Due to having ports I had two very serious blood infections which kept me in the hospital for 23 days. I had a temperature of 107. I have had two ports and one pick line in my arm. I was literally starving to death when I would go off tpn. After so many years of being on tpn I could hardly tolerate it. It helped to destroy my gallbladder and it was making me sick from my liver. TPN is very hard on the liver. While being on tpn I was so sick due to it's effects on the liver I could do nothing but lay around and be in pain and feel terrible. I accidentally ran across a web site from a woman named Sue Rebello and she told her story of being cured of chronic pancreatitis. I read the entire story and when I finished I knew that that surgery that she had was for me. I had had many surgeons and GI's tell me different surgeries that I should have but I didn't want any part of their so called cures. I had heard too much from others who had these surgeries and I knew that they didn't work. In fact they in most cases made the patient worse in my opinion. Every surgeon I went to had a different surgery that he knew would cure me. Of course that made me very skeptical. I went along with the ercp's, stints, x-rays of my intestines and bowels, feeding tubes, medicines to help dry up the pancreas etc. Nothing really worked. But after reading Sue's letter I started doing my own research on Dr. Sutherland and the surgery that I knew would cure me. I found out from reading about that surgery that it would be a complete cure of cp forever. Dr.Sutherland has been doing the pancreatectomy and islet cell transplant since 1970. I called Dr. Sutherland's secretary at The Fairview University Medical Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota and started the process of getting approved for the surgery with his secretary helping me to get approved. The surgery consisted of removing the sick pancreas and harvesting the islets from my pancreas that control the blood sugar in the body and putting them in the portal vein of the liver where they multiply and keep one from being a diabetic. Dr. Sutherland operates on diabetics also all the time. He does more pancreas transplants than any other surgery. The surgery that I had one year ago this past Dec. 8 was the removal of my pancreas and the transplanting the islets into my liver. I can tell you that I am completely cured and I am able to eat all I want and what I want. To me it is a wonderful miracle sent from God. That is how I feel since I know the hell I went thru going from doctor to doctor trying to get help and a cure and being told all sorts of things that I knew to not be the truth. Doctors don't tell their patients about the pancreatectomy and islet cell transplant because #1. They don't know about it #2. They don't understand it therefore they don't want to suggest it to their patients because from not understanding it they are afraid it will harm their patients. #3. They don't want to lose their patients. #4. They don't really care or realize what hell you are living with. Just pay your bill and good-bye. Sorry to be so blunt and crude about them but I know from years of experience. I have heard it all. It is in your head. It is your bowels, it is esophagus. I will give you some web sites to read and from reading them you will be so much more informed about the surgery that cures pancreatitis. But be prepared for your doctor to warn you away from the surgery that cures. I was told so many different things from doctors about the surgery. Negative points of view. But since I had done my homework it didn't work on me. I came back at them with my questions and answers. Good luck and if anyone would like to ask more questions about the pancreatectomy and islet cell transplant I am happy to help. Shirley Sue Rebello's web site http://www.insulin-free.org/stories/rebello.htm Dr. Sutherland web site http://www.insulinfree.org/isletcenters/fairview.htm Dr. Sutherland would be happy to talk with anyone with questions about the surgery and their pancreas illness. His secretary's e-mail address is papas001@... I have Dr. Sutherland's e-mail address in my notes someplace but I don't know where but Anne Marie his secretary will be glad to give it to you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You are posting as a guest. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.