This is how it happened…. Part 2

After I finally got out of the hospital, I talked to the G.I. doctor again. He said that had I been at a “real hospital“ they probably would have taken my gallbladder while I was in there just to rule it out as a cause. They apparently will typically remove the gallbladder if there is no definitive cause of pancreatitis.

So we talked to a surgeon and got it set up to remove my gallbladder on December 15, 2023. That surgery went well, but revealed that the gallbladder was not a contributing factor to the pancreatitis.

The G.I. doc ordered an MRI. This time I could actually breathe so we were able to get it done on December 28, however this is one of the IV from hell stories. They did the MRI with and without contrast. When they do contrast, they have to put in an IV and then inject the contrast during the scan. The nurse had to use a special machine to find a vein to get the IV in. It took her 2 tries, and she got it in my right arm. But the contrast injection machine was on the left side, so they strung the IV tube around the top of my head to connect it.

As they were inserting me into the MRI machine the IV tube got caught on something and started pulling. I was able to get them to stop before it was ripped out. They checked it and said it seemed to be ok, so we proceeded with the test. When it got time to do the contrast, they said they were injecting it…. and I felt wetness all over my arm. I told them and they said, “yup, we got no contrast”. So they came in and adjusted the IV and said we’re good to go. They get started again and say, “here comes the contrast” and once again I felt wetness on my arm. They said, “no, we’re good, we can see the contrast”. I’m like… ok…

When the test was done, they came in and pulled me out of the machine… and there was blood all over the place. They might have gotten the contrast in, but in the process it squirted blood everywhere.

The MRI revealed a “masslike abnormality within the pancreatic tail”. Turns out it was a pseudocyst. So next step: endoscopic ultrasound and biopsy on January 4, 2024. Thank you Jesus, it was not cancer! So the G.I. doc says next step would be to do surgery to remove the affected part of the pancreas and likely also the spleen because the splenic vein was compromised by the mass.

Problem: We were moving out of state 2 weeks later. The doc was concerned and told me to follow up immediately with a G.I. doc at UAB Hospital in Birmingham. I tried. I really tried. But they initially told me they had no openings till September. I told them I couldn’t wait that long. They said they would contact me if they had a cancellation. and could get me in.

In the meantime, I was not about to wait 9 months to follow up with a new G.I. I established a local primary care doctor (best doc in the world, btw) who referred me to another G.I. doc. This doctor looked at all the records (presumably) and decided to do some additional testing. CT's MRIs, etc. (yes, more needles too).

This doctor decided that surgery was not necessary and that we'd check it every 6 months or so for changes.

While the rest of 2024 was essentially uneventful, I did have a few times where I thought the pancreatitis was coming back, but they never got severe and only lasted a short time.

Everything was going pretty smoothly till March 2025.

On March 12, I was supposed to go to dinner with family. We went to one restaurant, but it was closed, so we were talking about where to go instead. I hadn't been feeling great, and I suddenly felt really bad. I told everyone that I was going to go home.

I went straight to bed, but then started vomiting blood that night. I woke my wife and we debated about going to the emergency room. Since I started feeling better after emptying my stomach, we foolishly decided not to, and went back to bed. When I woke up the next morning, I felt pretty bad, and as the morning went on, it got worse. It got to the point that I felt faint and had no energy. I could barely walk across the room without sitting down to rest. My wife had already left for work, but my parents were visiting, so I had my dad take me to the emergency room. Turns out I had a bleeding ulcer and had significant internal bleeding. I got to spend 4 days in the hospital. Yep, even more IVs and blood draws. We think it was caused due to the Meloxicam (an NSAID) that I was taking for back pain.

I know, that's not directly related to T1D. But it's important to know because this hospital stay maxed out my insurance deductible. I had great insurance at the time. It was a $2000 deductible, and once the deductible was satisfied, the plan covered nearly everything at 100%. This brings up the point, KNOW YOUR INSURANCE PLAN! Read it, understand it, know the fine print and details. Know how it works.

Having that deductible maxed was a blessing for what was to come.

(Tis post was not AI generated)