Last year when my daughter was three weeks old, she went in the hospital. It was during this time that I had my first gallstone attack. Only, when I went to the hospital complaining of stomach and chest pain, I was told I was having an anxiety attack. As time went on, my daughter was completely better, but I was not. I continued to have stomach pain, chest pain, and sometimes vomiting. I couldn’t understand why I was still having these “anxiety attacks”.
Around Easter of 2005, my best friend was admitted to the hospital with Pancreatitis. I went to see her in the hospital, and when she told me her symptoms I wondered if that was what was wrong with me. But I thought that would be too big of a coincidence that we would come down with the same condition, at the same time. So, I just brushed it aside.
After months of pain and vomiting, on May 5, 2005 I woke up in excruciating pain. I told my husband to call 911 because I thought I was having a heart attack. By the time the ambulance arrived, I was vomiting uncontrollably. I was admitted to the hospital with gallstones and an obstructed bile duct.
But, gallstones was just the beginning of my problems. One of the gallstones had traveled outside of my gallbladder and was blocking my common bile duct. This caused me to develop acute pancreatitis. My pancreas literally ate holes into itself.
The next three weeks would be grueling as I went through test after test. First I had an upper GI done to see if the stone had passed that had been obstructing my bile duct. While under anesthesia, I stopped breathing twice. Two days later, I had my gallbladder removed without incidence. Because I had stopped breathing during the upper GI, I developed blood clots in my lungs (pulmonary embolisms). On top of that , my IV infiltrated and I developed a blood clot in my arm. My doctor said that I should have died.
I was released from the hospital, however I was still not well. I still had a pancreatic pseudocyst. This pocket of fluid was the size of a softball and most likely would have to be drained via major surgery. My gastroenterologist put me on numerous medications until I was well enough to have surgery.
While on the medications, something miraculous happened. The pseudocyst was shrinking on it’s own! When the GI doctor saw that, he decided to wait on the surgery and see if my body would heal itself. He put recommended that I start an exercise program, and recommended Weight Watchers (because I not only needed to lose weight, but also eat low-fat).
Now a year and a half later, the pseudocyst is almost completely gone. And I have no more symptoms of pancreatitis as long as I maintain a low-fat diet. I am pregnant with my third child and am having no complications.
