Living with Chronic Pancreatitis

This post is for those curious about Chronic Pancreatits & its effects on me and others. There are loads of entries on this on my chronological page. I normally wash over this topic because i began this blog for RA. In fact, I thought if I mentioned both diseases that it would get too confusing for everyone. Just in case you’re just joining my blog I have loads of stories about getting a pain medicine pump in Feb 07 that literally saved my life. [Me&My Pump I/Me&My Pump II]. Pancreatitis is more immediately life threatening to me then RA will ever be. I suppose that’s why I began this blog about RA… it is more manageable, more understandable, and far less painful. Sure – it makes it so I cant walk from week to week – but it’s pancreatitis that scares the living shit out of me and makes me get on my knees and pray.

So this blog entry is entirely about pancreatitis and looking back to what I’ve been through by myself and with my Jax …I recently received a touching comment that said : Hi Sasha, Thank you for your blog; it is the first I have seen on living with CP [chronic pancreatitis] . I’ve been ill with CP since 2004. Most recently I had a Whipple procedure, but since half the pancreas was left behind, it was a bit of a crap shoot. Before the surgery, the extent of the CP was not know. Now we know my pancreas is riddled with it.

The Toughest Week & Best Advice

A CARETAKER NO MORE

The toughest week is coming to a close.  Unbelievably, I am actually happy now.  I’ve eaten designer cake shaped as an underwater sea/still life and I am full.  I am dressed to the nines and have on my dancing shoes.  I bought a polka dotted cane (literally) this week and feel on top of the world.  Of course I’m not on top of the world.  I’ve bounced 2 checking accounts while trying to pay for all of my medical bills.  I was seconds away from splitting up with Jax, the man of my life and the potential father-to-be of my so far non-existing kids.  I cried so much this week that I filled drought-ridden countries with an endless water supply.

CARETAKERS NOTE:  The irony of being a caretaker is that if they can’t get out of that role fulltime then the relationship will evaporate before everyones eyes – but yes, there is a correct and incorrect time for all of this… (Read on). So what I did was this:  I realized that Jax wants change.  He’s finally breaking out of the caretaker mold that he created for himself.  He decided he needs to stop being a martyr.  He realized that he MUST take care of his needs also or we will never last.  I’ve been trying to tell him this info for a year or more.  He needs to go out and get drunk with his buddies and play games and let me stay at home.  He has to do these things to take care of himself or else we will implode.  I’m not kidding or trying to be funny here.  I truly believe that if he continues depriving himself of living then we will both be miserable anyhow.

The reality is that I don’t have time for self-pity.  In an even harsher focus of reality – I won’t even have enough time to fit in all the things I love to do before I die.  I need to have

Week’s Web Highlights

This week’s awesome mentions on other sites PLUS GREAT articles/blogposts/sites: Sites mentioned include: Atomic City, Help My Hurt, Bluefingers, Life With Chronic Pain, my blogroll and Medlinks… Click for the Full Scoop & All the Links.