thanks for the prayers and support now doing excellent

[Guest guest]

Hello everyone,

I'm so excited to be back with you. I have been busy just going

about life feeling better than I have in the last three years, or

more. I have been out of the hospital now for a few days over a

month, and I had my last surgery to remove all tubes, etc. 1.5 weeks

ago. Since that time I have been off of all meds except viokase,

albuterol (for my asthma), aspirin (complications from having my

spleen removed), and 8 units of Lantus (insulin). I'm going to call

the doctor and see if I can reduce my insulin because my blood

sugars have been low. I think that I will be independant of insulin

in the next few weeks. I have been running for one week and eating

whatever, whenever without any pain for over one month now.

I am so happy that I was able to go to MN and have Dr. Sutherland do

my pancreatectomy with the auto islet cell transplant. I feel like

it was my cure. Don't get me wrong . . . it was rough at first, but

definetly worth every minute of recovery.

I have been thinking and praying for all of my friends here at PAI.

Hopefully, now that I've caught up a little bit on the things that I

had missed out on in my life from pancreatitis, I'll check my e-mail

regulary and be able to post.

Love to all,

Crystal Galloway

ID rep PAI

[Guest guest]

Crystal,

it's so good to hear from you! I'm so glad that the surgery

has had such a good result with you. Keep us posted on how

you continue to do. We've missed you.

Kimber

--

Kimber

Vallejo, CA

hominid2@...

Note: All advice given is personal opinion, not equal to

that of a licensed physician or health care professional.

[Guest guest]

Crystal

Hurray for your I'm so happy. I'm crying as I type, another sucess. I'm

glad your back and life is good. or should I say great. I keep mentioning

this procedure to Cassie's Dr's and they look at me like I'm from a different

planet. Because in there words " That's only for diebetics, get your facts

straight " . Cassie receives SSI so all her medical bills are covered by the

state great huh? At times yes but for me to tkae her out of state requires

referral from her PCP and both her GI's. Right now I can't get anyone to see

this as a solution for her. She goes to GI again on June 10 and my folder of

information is about 1/2 " thick right now. I'm going to print out your

e-mail and include this along with Peggys many e-mails on 's progress.

Again I'm so happy for you! good luck and welcome back, Hugs andlots of

love

Patty Hurst

Bangor, ME

Maine State Rep

PAI

[Guest guest]

> I'm so excited to be back with you. I have been busy just going

about life feeling better than I have in the last three years

Crystal Galloway

ID rep PAI

Crystal,

How wonderful to see you posting and feeling so good! We've

thought of you often and was nice enough to keep us up to

date as much as he could about your progress with the

pancreatectomy and auto islet transplant.

Yes, if you're having those low blood glucose readings with only

8 units of Lantus, it may be that you need the dosage lowered,

and that there's hope in the future that you could get along

without it entirely, only time will tell.

It must feel great to be back running again and getting your life

back together as it was before. Keep us posted on your

progress.

With hope and prayers,

Heidi

Heidi H. Griffeth

Bluffton, SC

State and Regional Representative

Pancreatitis Association, International

Note: All comments are personal opinion only, and should not

be a substitute for professional medical consultation.

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 5/14/2003 10:45:24 AM Eastern Daylight Time,

golightly18@... writes:

> Since that time I have been off of all meds except viokase,

> albuterol (for my asthma), aspirin (complications from having my

> spleen removed), and 8 units of Lantus (insulin). I'm going to call

> the doctor and see if I can reduce my insulin because my blood

> sugars have been low.

Crystal, I am so happy for you. Isn't it a miracle to have the TP/ICT and in

no time your life is so much better. You did great Crystal and I thrilled

that you can eat all that you want and what you want. I am sure you will be

off the insulin soon. I hope to meet you at the symposium with all of the

other members and the people who had the TP/ICT.

You mentioned in the paragraph above that you take aspirin. I was told by

the doctors in MN not to take aspirin since it thins the blood and that would

not be good for the islets. I think they don't want the blood to become thin

and risk the chance that the islet might flush out of the liver. I don't

like taking Tylenol because of my liver disease but I take it when I have to

instead of Aspirin. I don't want to risk loosing my islets. Take care

Crystal. Love, Shirley