Re: Colo-rectal Surgeon tomorrow
From: Christine M. Smith (smithy@maine.rr.com)
Wed May 19 22:44:47 1999
At Wed, 19 May 1999, Helen Dynda wrote:
>
>Chris,
>I hope that your appointment with the colon-rectal surgeon will go well
>for you. You have done a lot of research and a lot of sharing at the
>forums, so I hope that you will be well prepared.
>
>I do want to caution you about MRIs and CR Scans! Neither of these will
>diagnose adhesions for you!! There is only one way to diagnose adhesions
>and that is with a diagnostic laparoscopy.
>
>It is our enemy adhesions and its mysterious power over our abdominal
>organs that cause a person so much pain, so much indecision, and worst
>of all adhesions...adhesions have a way of controlling and changing our
>lives...not for the best!
>
>Believe in yourself. Trust your feelings about the pain you have and
>tell it like it is. Don't let any doctor tell you that the pain you are
>having is all in your head!! You are deserving of being listened to and
>being treated with respect. Now set your anxities aside and take
>charge!! I hope that your doctor will have a compassionate way with his
>patients an that he will help you to feel comfortable in spite of the
>pain which you have.
>
>At Wed, 19 May 1999, Christine M. Smith wrote:
>>
>>Well, tomorrow is the day I see the colo-rectal surgeon and I am getting
>>nervous. I am sick of going over the same story. I sure hope I am not
>>going to hear the same thing! I am praying that he will suggest doing
>>something positive, not necessarily surgery, something like CT Scan,
>>MRI, something!!!!!Now I am not even 100% convinced my problem is the
>>adhesions!After all, the small bowel adhesion released at the first lap
>>had NOT reoccurred by the second lap. Maybe the relief of pain after
>>the first lap was just a coincidence. It happens, stranger things have
>>happened in medicine I'm sure. As good as this might sound (that the
>>problem is not really adhesions) it puts me back to the beginning asking
>>"what is it?" Well, I'm rambling. Good thing I have to go to work
>>tonight. Keep me in your thoughts please.
Hi!
Thanks to those of you who wrote wishing me luck. Helen, the reason I
mentioned the MRI and CT Scan is because I'm beginning to think that
maybe my pain is not due to the adhesions I have. It could very well be
a coincidence that my pain was relieved for 3 months after the first
lap. There could have been something about the procedure that had this
effect. Strange things happen in medicine. The reason I think this is
because the small bowel adhesion that was released at the first lap had
NOT reoccurred by 6 months when the second lap was done, nor did I have
any significant amount of *new* adhesions. The adhesions still there at
the second lap were there at the first also. The gyn just didn't do
anything with them!
One thing I am thinking about is some type of hernia. I have been told
that hernias are often very hard to diagnose in women and this is
something my surgeon also told me. He thought of that before he did the
second lap.
Also, the reason I am going to the colo-rectal guy and not a surgeon is
because I am interested in the effect the adhesions have had on the
location and configuration of my colon. This could possibly show up
with contrast studies.
I'll see what he says. He's supposed to be very friendly. He met my
friend in the ER between surgeries to see her and she was a new patient!
That sounds encouraging.
I guess I'll find out for myself tomorrow.
Chris