Last Wednesday, I was admitted to the hospital for pain control and hydration. After the celiac plexus block, the pain came back worse and with a vengeance. Inpatient we’ve been managing my pain with IV ketamine along with a concoction of other meds to help me sleep. At least when you’re asleep you can’t be hurting.
Late this afternoon, my parents and I had the opportunity to consult with a vascular surgeon who specializes in MALS. Based on my presentation, anatomy (low-hanging diaphragm), and the fact that I had such a dramatic response to the celiac block, he felt I am a good candidate for surgery.
This surgery would be an open abdominal surgery which terrifies me, but continuing to live like this scares me much more. Unfortunately, it may be many weeks/months until I have the surgery which presents a big issue from a pain management standpoint and the fact that I’m no longer tolerating water flushes through my feeding tube.
Right now, I am getting multiple LRs daily but when I am discharged I worry I may need a temporary central line again. Also, we are starting to slowly transition to ketamine through the tube rather than IV. The impact/effect just isn’t the same as the consistent drip.
We are looking into spinal cord stimulation and getting repeat celiac plexus block (posteriorly vs. endoscopically, as some say there is a better chance of it lasting longer this way) to tide me over to surgery since staying on a ketamine drip inpatient is just not an option long-term.
Please pray that we can find the right pain management plan, that I won’t need another central line, and most importantly that I can get this surgery as soon as possible.
As always, thank you so much for the prayers and support. I am so grateful for each one of you.
