Any nurses with Chronic Pancreatitis?

[tsalagicara]

Hello all,

My name is Cara and I'm a nursing student in Colorado. Right now I am going through an extremely tough time with my health and life in general, and it's affecting school. I'm a wife and mother of a 14 month old also, and I've been dealing with recurring pancreatitis for years. Now it's gone chronic and I've just about pulling teeth to get a doc to believe me (despite proof), work with me on a definitive diagnosis, and get a good treatment plan/plan of care going so I can get well, or at least to some level of wellness. I'm determined to do just that and won't stop until I have the care I deserve.

My question is -- are there any of you ladies or gentlemen out there who are nurses or nursing students, or pre-nursing students, who have chronic pancreatitis? If so, what area of nursing do you work in, or how does the school help accomodate your needs? How do you deal with your illness and workload/homework/clinicals? I want so badly to be a nurse and this has been a dream of mine for a long time. :heartbeat I don't want to give up, but I have been banned from clinicals until my health is much improved -- at least until this is under control. Otherwise my grades are very good and I've done well in skills lab. I want to persevere, but I have no idea how long I will be kept out of clinicals d/t the fact that I am in the midst of a pretty bad flare up. Also, d/t the economy and the poor medical treatment I'm receiving here, we are thinking of moving either back to Tucson or back to my home state of Alabama (either places we have a lot of family), if my husband can get a decent job in either of those places. Then, i would have to transfer to a different nursing school, and am worried they might not accept me because of my illness. In that case, I'm not sure what I should put on the application.

Any thoughts on this? I don't want my illness to stop me from being a nurse, and helping others out there. I have a special interest in pain management nursing and GI nursing right now. If anyone has any ideas on what I could do about nursing school, please feel free to share. And thank you so much for reading this. Hope all of you are well! God Bless and have a wonderful week!! and Happy Holidays!

~~Cara R.

[traumaRUs, MSN, APRN]

So sorry you are going thru this Cara. I think you need to focus on yourself first before returning to school. You need to be at your best. If that means moving closer to family and transferring schools - then that's okay. . Take care of yourself FIRST

[tsalagicara]

So sorry you are going thru this Cara. I think you need to focus on yourself first before returning to school. You need to be at your best. If that means moving closer to family and transferring schools - then that's okay. . Take care of yourself FIRST

Thank you! I am definitely doing all i can to get the care I deserve for this disease. I'm determined to get better. :) I feel like that part of the reason I am going through this is to be able to better empathize with patients who suffer from similar illnesses and chronic pain. If I do end up transferring schools though, I'm so afraid and anxious that they will turn me down or kick me out of clinicals d/t my chronic pancreatitis, even if it's under control (or as under control as CP can be).

But you're right, I have to be well to be able to take care of others. Wellness is what I am striving for. And I would definitely love to hear if any of y'all out there with pancreatitis, whether chronic, or recurring acute, etc, and have made it through nursing school.

[tsalagicara]

*bump* Still wondering if there are any nurses out there that have pancreatitis, or had it in the past? Mine is non-alcoholic pancreatitis and I will be going for an ERCP w/ manometry soon to check for Sphincter of Oddi Dysfunction and pancreas divisum, and probably also for an EUS (endoscopic ultrasound) to check the extent of the damage to my pancreas. Wish me luck!! :) I read about antioxidant therapy for chronic pancreatitis having promising results, so I hope to try that too.

[Lisa Atwell]

I am not sure but somehow I googled chronic pancreatitis and have made my way through to this group. In all truth I am a nurse. I graduate of IVY TECH'S 1988 LPN Class. I also have had chronic pancreatitis. I was symtpomatic for over 10 years, and most likely ill for my lifetime. My problems were considered congential... annular pancreas, pancreas divisum, no minor papilla, and SOD.

I suffered greatly for many years, had to stop working and actually pretty much planned my own funeral.

I started tube feeding myself in 2006 with no hope of ever eatting again. I found a surgeon on the internet who was willing to give me a chance. I had been to every big hospital that was suppose to be able to help people like myself with no answers. Most choose not to believe that there was a problem, despite the defects having been seen on an open surgery. I heard " your surgeon just didn't know what he was looking at" or the " we don't see any evidence that there is a problem from your CT". Any time I would try to eat something, I would end up in the floor rocking back and forth, the pain was unbearable. There was no medication that would help with this after eatting. I would wake up screaming every morning around 3-4am, I would wake to the sound of my own voice before my eye could even focus.

I had a total pancreatectomy with autologous islet cell transplant done at the University of Minnesota on 9-22-06. My pancreas, spleen, and part of duodenum were removed. I am very minimally diabetic. I am on daily basal insulin and my HA1C is 5.7-5.9. My j-tube was removed at the time of surgery. I can eat anything now, just small portions frequently.

Here is a link to the program at UM, http://www.fairviewtransplant.org/Adult/PancreatectomyandAutoIsletTransplant/index.asp

I am in no way saying that you need this surgery, I am telling you what helped me. I have been on boards for years trying to find something that would help. I have met countless others who have went the way of stints, ERCP's, sphincterotomies, celiac plexus blocks, most of these are temporary at best, and have no long term outcomes. I can say with certainity, that I have never met anyone with chronic pancreatitis to spontaneously get better, all just progressively increase in pain, and pain med tolerances. I would say that this is not a quick fix. Not what everyone wants to do, but some of us, have no other choice. Currently it is however, all that we have. I would be happy to answer any questions that you might have.

Lisa Atwell LPN