...and
> for what? Just to be told we will not do surgery on you JUST for pain.
> They used those words.
>
> I realize that we have to be very careful about the surgeons we choose
> to deal with. We need to make sure that they know what they are doing
> with adhesions. But, like you, I can't, by no stretch of the
> imagination, afford to go to Drs. R & R, or Dr. Korell.
Dear friends,
I have been following the list for about a week or so. I am a cancer survivor who has had three abdominal surgeries for cancer and three for adhesions since my last cancer surgery. I also had significant lysis of adhesions during that cancer surgery. Since the dilated bowel in the CT-scans and barium enema masquerades as tumor recurrence, surgery is often the only route to rule out cancer.
In both of the last two surgeries, I have had material put into the site to reduce adhesion formation -- both times pain has returned, the first time resulting in complete bowel obstruction.
My surgeon and I feel that the more surgery, the more scar tissue. I wonder what non-surgical alternatives there are. By the way, both surgeons have completely ruled out laparoscopic surgery due to the extent of adhesion, scar tissue, and bowel obstruction.
My surgeon has just started me on three times a day Advil to reduce inflammation and I am eating a much lower residue diet. This seems to have reduced pain quite a bit over the past couple of weeks.
I do understand how debilitating pain is -- I have been pretty much housebound over the past nine months awaiting one surgery and then the second, emergency surgery for obstruction. The incision in that case became infected and I have been waiting for it to heal for nearly three months.
So, I don't think surgery is the cure-all for this very difficult disease and hope that you have some other tips.
Kate
-- Kate Murphy katemm@mindspring.com