Update on Valerie
As many of you may know, Val (coined the word "fluffy" here on pa OH) has been having some major issues with her health/pouch/intestines lately. She originally had trouble finding a surgeon who would take her....and is now a patient of Dr. Brader. She was supposed to have an endoscopy done but then had problems getting a doctor who works w/ Brader and the insurance issues and what not. She has also been to a few ERs in the past few weeks due to pain and vomiting that would not stop. Today she had an appointment with a GI doctor in Lancaster. I just got the following email from her husband, John, who said it would be OK to share the info here on the boards. I'm sure all the prayers, good vibes, and support that the pa forum is known for will be quite handy for her and John right about now....
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It's John Valerie's husband. I just wanted to let you know what's going on. She had an appt. with the Dr for the endoscope today. After meeting with the Dr she was admitted to Lancaster general. She is scheduled to have the scope done tomorrow morning with Dr. Brader there
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Hopefully the scope will reveal the problems in detail (they already know she has intestines which have herniated into her pouch, ulcers which have eaten through her intestines completely and are believed to be healing, and poor emptying capacity of her pouch and intestines to the point where barium she had was still visible in her intestines, "pooling" over a week later) but they need the scope to be able to see the exact extent of the damage and to formulate a plan to help her heal.
Love to Val and John!
Pam
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It's John Valerie's husband. I just wanted to let you know what's going on. She had an appt. with the Dr for the endoscope today. After meeting with the Dr she was admitted to Lancaster general. She is scheduled to have the scope done tomorrow morning with Dr. Brader there
******************************************************************************************************
Hopefully the scope will reveal the problems in detail (they already know she has intestines which have herniated into her pouch, ulcers which have eaten through her intestines completely and are believed to be healing, and poor emptying capacity of her pouch and intestines to the point where barium she had was still visible in her intestines, "pooling" over a week later) but they need the scope to be able to see the exact extent of the damage and to formulate a plan to help her heal.
Love to Val and John!
Pam
Instead of complaining that the rosebush has thorns, be happy that the thorn bush has roses. 
Ok...so I just got off the phone with val (9:45pm Thursday evening) She said that she met with the GI doc this afternoon - and the gi doc took one look at her and said "I can't believe you are sitting in my office" Val went through the whole story...with all the doctor appointments and what not...all the er visits...the visits with brader. Now apparantly it was brader who initially said the scope needed to be done on a monday as that was when he normally had scheduled time or whatever....
However....the gi doctor had her girls call braders office and as per HER she said she was not going to send Val home and make her wait four more days and to let brader know if he wanted to be in on the case with her....he needed to be there tomorrow. Brader is available as it turned out so both surgeons will be there.
In the meantime they have her on multiple iv drips...nexium iv...fluids...zofran for nausea through the iv...and dilaudid for pain. The dilaudid isn't doing anything as of yet...and the zofran is working very minimally.
The way they explained it to her, is part of her intestines are "pinched" which are also causing "bubbles" in her intestines...so as food/fluid/barium/whatever is trying to make their way down her intestines...they get stuck in those bubbles. Val believes as part of the endoscopy tomorrow they will be able to go in with a balloon and stretch out those strictured parts. She's not entirely sure, though.
And in the ever hysterical val fashion...she also said that if they find a stricture by her pouch she would prefer them to leave it alone...she doesn't want them to "stretch it to much" and "go back to 300 pounds, I didn't have a life then...and I'm not going back to that" I started laughing and told her that if it was a stricture it needed to be fixed...and she said "well...maybe just a little bit...." Too funny - here she is unable to keep anything down for weeks in unbearable pain and all she is concerned about is her stoma becoming to big and her gaining weight....sheesh
So...there's still a lot of unanswered questions....which will hopefully be solved as tomorrow. Her and John send their thank you's and appreciation to all the well wishes out there and want everyone to know how appreciated they are.
Pam
However....the gi doctor had her girls call braders office and as per HER she said she was not going to send Val home and make her wait four more days and to let brader know if he wanted to be in on the case with her....he needed to be there tomorrow. Brader is available as it turned out so both surgeons will be there.
In the meantime they have her on multiple iv drips...nexium iv...fluids...zofran for nausea through the iv...and dilaudid for pain. The dilaudid isn't doing anything as of yet...and the zofran is working very minimally.
The way they explained it to her, is part of her intestines are "pinched" which are also causing "bubbles" in her intestines...so as food/fluid/barium/whatever is trying to make their way down her intestines...they get stuck in those bubbles. Val believes as part of the endoscopy tomorrow they will be able to go in with a balloon and stretch out those strictured parts. She's not entirely sure, though.
And in the ever hysterical val fashion...she also said that if they find a stricture by her pouch she would prefer them to leave it alone...she doesn't want them to "stretch it to much" and "go back to 300 pounds, I didn't have a life then...and I'm not going back to that" I started laughing and told her that if it was a stricture it needed to be fixed...and she said "well...maybe just a little bit...." Too funny - here she is unable to keep anything down for weeks in unbearable pain and all she is concerned about is her stoma becoming to big and her gaining weight....sheesh
So...there's still a lot of unanswered questions....which will hopefully be solved as tomorrow. Her and John send their thank you's and appreciation to all the well wishes out there and want everyone to know how appreciated they are.
Pam
Instead of complaining that the rosebush has thorns, be happy that the thorn bush has roses.
Pam Thanks so much for the update and that sounds very much like Val! lol I could see yesterday when I mentioned her name to Dr Brader that he was concerned - he just said that "she is being taken care of" of course because of HIPPA. I'll call her this afternoon and see how she is doing.
She and John will be in my thoughts and prayers today - I have been so worried about her!
Liz
She and John will be in my thoughts and prayers today - I have been so worried about her!
Liz
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