Re: I am an expert on abdominal adhesions as I've lived with them

From: michelle keefe (michelle.keefe@hotmail.com)
Sat Aug 29 14:03:16 2009


Bill I just came across yur post and I want to thankyou for it. I am suffering everyday with the same problem I can feel searing, tearing,twisting, bring me to my knees kind of pain just about every day. I want help and have searched it out as you have I am female so I have gotten a lot of it's in your head stuff from supposed proffesional but that's ajoke. I have never had this pain under control ever and I feel like just giving up the doctors all together but I have two Great boys who suffer along with me. There has got to be a better way I to live in the Boston area and have had no luck. I will keep you in my thoughts and know that I am not on this journey alone. Thankyou God Bless Michelle

At Thu, 14 May 2009, Bill Murphy wrote: >
>I was a healthy adult male, 37 years of age in August of 1994. Happily
>married, two children, coaching high school football, baseball, as well
>as coaching boxers as a certified USA Boxing Trainer. August 30, 1994 I
>was rushed to the hospital in what at that time was the worst pain I had
>ever experienced. After hours of debate a surgeon finally diagnosed
>appendicitis and scheduled me for surgery 12 hours later.
>When the surgeon finally opened me up he found the appendix had
>ruptured. From what we were told "off the record" by a neighborhood
>nurse who witnessed the operation, the surgeon panicked. He could not
>find the appendix and began opening me up all over the place internally
>trying to clean out all the infection as well as find my appendix.
>During this stay in the hospital the infection almost killed me. I also
>developed a bowel obstruction which needed to be corrected. A drain was
>inserted to help deal with the infected site. Three weeks later and
>after many "NG Tubes" and a and a "Canter Tube" I left the hospital in
>tremendous pain having lost 42 pounds.
>
>For six months I was in several abdominal pain that no doctor would
>address. It was at that time I was rushed into the hospital again with
>the same type of severe pain that caused my first emergency surgery.
>They found a small bowel blockage and dropped a Canter Tube in an
>attempt to resolve the obstruction. At about midnight my wife found mebe a
b >unconscious. My lips and fingers were blue and they could not find a
>pulse. I was rushed into surgery, adhesions were found to be causing
>the blockage and they were lysed. I again developed a post-op
>infection, another partial bowel obstruction, more cutting to lyse
>adhesions, and then left the hospital about a month later having lost 40
>pounds and again in severe pain.
>
>In an attempt to shorten this story I'll just say that more abdominal
>surgeries over the next 5 years one correcting a hernia while the others
>attempting to eliminate the adhesions, I still suffered from severe
>abdominal pain. The surgeon who performed the last surgery attempted
>laparascopic entry but had to resort to opening me up completely as the
>adhesions presented problems for the scope. Following the operation
>this surgeon told me to never again attempt to resolve the adhesions via
>surgery. He strongly suggested that I stop hoping for solutions and
>begin to focus on "this is your life" and how best to live given the
>situation.
>
>The next several years were spent receiving higher dosages of pain
>medication along with other trials on different meds while spending time
>with every reputable pain management center in New England. A couple of
>the best hospitals in Boston Massachusetts tried to provide relief via
>their Pain Management Centers only to come up empty handed.
>Again, in the end, I was advised to begin focusing on how best to live
>with my "condition" and stop hoping for a correction for the problem.
>In 2005 I was a frequent visitor to the emergency room at the local
>hospital. In addition to seeing counselors on a regular basis I was on
>160 mgs of Oxycontin three times per day, 8 mgs of Dilaudid every four
>hours as needed, and a whole host of non-pain focused meds. I tried
>every type of physical therapy in existence. I even saw a physical
>therapist for two years who would stretch me in severe, unnatural
>positions to the point bands of adhesions would actually tear during
>therapy. It was some of the worst pain I've ever experienced. Needless
>to say the adhesion problem simply continued to get worse.
>Due to my fairly consistent "zombie" state my wife divorced me. The
>woman who I had spent 30 years of my life with walked out as she could
>not take it any more.
>
>Jump ahead a few years. It is now 2009. I haven't made any progress in
>eliminating the adhesions. I still live with what my primary care
>physician refers to as "911 pain".
>
>On a positive note however and my real purpose for posting this comment
>I have made some progress in dealing with my pain, all based on my own
>research.
>
>First, I could no longer stand the state in which the pain meds left me.
>I worked with my doctor to slowly cut down on the pain meds even though
>it meant having to deal with more pain. To be honest, I'd rather be
>more alert and not have to deal with all the terrible side affects than
>deal with the quality of life the pain meds left me with.
>
>Second, I read a few articles on some people finding varying levels of
>relief using EMS (Electrical Muscle Stimulation) and TENS (some sort of
>nerve ending electrical treatment). I invested in these machines myself
>and use them at home at least several times per day. It IS NOT a cure
>but it definitely helps you deal with the more severe episodes of pain.
>I would strongly recommend everyone get off as much pain medication as
>they can stand. The side effects of these meds are worse than the pain
>! I would also strongly recommend everyone invest in EMS / TENS and use
>it religously. It's a struggle but if you stick with it and have much
>support from family you can improve your quality of life.
>I lost almost everything that was dear to me. My lovely wife, my job
>(I'm permanently disabled), my High School coaching positions in
>football and baseball as well as my career training boxers - something I
>loved with a passion.
>
>But I'm still here. I very rarely go to the hospital anymore as I can
>no longer deal with certain doctors who refuse to recognize the painful
>condition that can result from adhesions. I pray everyday that one day
>my ex-wife might give me a chance to be a friend to her. I live life
>one minute at a time never looking beyond that horizon. It may not
>sound like much of a life but it's all I have at this point so it's what
>I do.
>
>I'm 51 years old. I'm not sure how long I will live as my life is more
>of an existence at this point rather than *living*. I assume at some
>point I will take my own life. Until then however, I'll continue to
>live life one minute at a time, the only way I know how.
>Good luck to all out there who suffer from this misunderstood and often
>times ignored *disease*.
>Bill Murphy


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