Hi Janice,
I must have lived on Mars , as I always felt like an alien and
did not know that these Specialists existed in Southern CA.
Reason being, I did not have much of a problem all these years
with my K- Pouch. I have always considered myself very lucky
to have had this OP in 1980 because it was in the early stages.
I was referred to a Dr. Alex Gerber in the Alhambra Hospital, who
had learned this technic in Sweden. He retired soon after and has
long passed away. Except for enlarging the stoma and a time of
Anemia, oh and retrieving a Plum pit, I had no problems and
acted like nothing ever happened because I was able to do all
the sports that I was used to doing. 5 months after the OP you
could find me on the mountains skiing.
When I finally did have some problems years later, pouchitis, none
of the doctors I knew were around. I had heard though, if it does
happen, get Flagyl. Ever since, I was only treated by a GI doctor
and since I am on Scan Health Insurance with a very good doctor
but nearly no knowledge of the K-Pouch. I feel like I am teaching
him because I have been living with this for 32 years.
After having low abdominal pain for a month, went to the doc.
had a CT Scan and finally after 2 1/2 mos. he found the courage
to look into the pouch with my encouragement. Made a big deal
about it and probably costs lots of money in the hospital, he saw
pieces that looked like stones. I told him about the plum pit and
he got a bigger scope and basket and fished out 3 stone like
creatures but by that time I was pretty sore. I had chosen no
sedation because I wanted to be alert with this fishing expedition.
He stopped and everyone was at WOW. Well, there are two more
Stones to fish for. After the soreness calmed down, I felt somewhat better. I finally had some of my energy back that I
had missed out on for almost 3 mos. and living on Ensure and ground up food. Needless to say, I lost a few pounds and I don't
need to lose weight, I only weigh barely 100 pounds.
MY QUESTIONS IS. DO YOU KNOW OF ANYONE THAT HAS HAD
THIS PROBLEM WITH THE STONES? I do hope that I will be well
again but I will check into one of the doctors near me that you
had on your list. Any recommendation?
I WOULD SURE FEEL A LOT BETTER WITH A DOCTOR THAT HAS
EXPERIENCE WITH K-POUCHES.
THANK YOU FOR DOING THE WORK TO FIND ALL THESE SPECIAL
DOCTORS.
little eagle barbelq@yahoo.com