WOW - been a while

I have tried to update this blog a hundred times.  I get almost all the way done and then something happens and everything deletes.  So I decided to try this again.
Almost 2 yrs ago I started this blog and since then a lot has happened.  I am no longer single :-)
I have not had an acute episode of pancreatitis in 18 months :-)
I have had gastritis and 2 stomach ulcers :-(
I still have one of the best jobs in my life.

So, the reason that I no longer have acute episodes of pancreatitis - since the first episode in 1995, it has been my gall bladder THE ENTIRE TIME!!  
I went back to The Mayo Clinic June of 2010.  They did a functional MRI.  This is where they inject certain drugs during the MRI and watch the different organs do their thing.  They were watching the liver, pancreas, and the gall bladder.  A few days later I received the results.  Liver is a little fatty, we knew this already.  The pancreas has some minor damage, but seems to be functioning normally in spite of that.  The gall bladder needs to be evicted.  There were 2 polyps on the outside, about 60+ stones in the bladder and 1 large one moving into the neck.  I was shocked.  I have had more HIDA scans over the last 15 years that I should glow in the dark, and they never showed any problem.  Same with ultrasounds and CT scans.
Came back to Orlando, called my GI doc to recommend a surgeon.  Called, made an appt for July 14th at 1330 for the consult.  I watched my diet, trying to not eat anything that would make that organ get really ugly.
Here comes July 13th.  On shift with my regular partner, Jeff.  We had just stopped to grab a quick snack (I don't recall what it was, but I can guarantee it was something I probably should not have eaten).  We were dispatched to an interfacility transfer and while we were on our way, I had the most excruciating pain, followed by projectile vomiting.  He got on the radio, advised dispatch that we were coming off of the call and he was taking me to the hospital.  Phone call from the crew chief and off we went to the hospital that the surgeon was affiliated with.  (I don't remember the drive, but I am pretty sure I heard a siren).  Jeff said that I was about 15 different shades of green and he really thought I was going to die right there in the truck.
Made it to the hospital, saw the ED doc, drugged me up really good.  One of the surgeons med students came in to talk to me.  Within 10 minutes I was admitted and scheduled for surgery the next day.  
The next day, at around noon my gall bladder was removed.  While I was in recovery, he came in to see how I was doing and proceeded to tell me that I was the first patient that he has ever had that had surgery before the consult.
I stayed overnight and the next day, my boyfriend came to see me and my friend Melissa came to see me with her 2 kids.  Big D and Little M.  While they were there, Little M took her first steps, with just about every nurse on the floor in the doorway watching.  And it's on video.
4 weeks of recoup time - and some emotional recovery time, and back to work I went and I haven't looked back.
I still have the diagnosis of chronic pancreatitis because of the damage that was done, but like I said before, I have not had an acute attack since I had my surgery.  It has been a glorious year and a half.
Now to work on furthering my education... well I no longer have a "death sentence", so maybe now I can really look forward to the future.
I am a medic, and the beast has been tamed!!