Pancreatitis?

Does anyone know much about this? I'm refraining from google MD.
My Dad was admitted to hospital last night.
I know it can have a bit to do with gall stones... but other than that no idea. LOL
Has anyone suffered it? And how long would I expect him to be in hospital for?

TIA.

the inflammation is extremely painful and can (and often is) triggered by a "rich" diet (especially if it's long term or a really big binge), and can be trigger by alcohol. hospital stay is usually just til the pain is managed and the levels in his blood start heading towards normal

chances are he'll be put on a very "safe" (bland) diet long term



my mum's dog has just had a bout of pancreatitis - he was a VERY sore and sad boy! his diet for two weeks was boiled chicken and rice... mightn't be much better for your dad!

I ended up in hospital in March last year with a pancreatitis attack. Mine ended up being due to my gall bladder and small stones causing a blockage. I was in hospital for a week, fasting for the first few days until things settled down and I had an op to remove my gall bladder then a liquid only diet, then moved onto bland food. From what I gather I've been pretty lucky and can eat any foods now without it affecting me.

I'm pretty sure there are a few girls here who have been through a similar thing and if you search on 'pancreatitis' you should find more posts and info.

Hope your dad is ok and it's nothing more sinister than a gall bladder attack causing this. :hug:

wow, my SIL has just been admitted and i was about to post the exact same thing!!!

A good friend suffered with it for several years, in his case it was due to an undiagnosed genetic defect which is quite rare. Acute phases are as PPs have said, managed in hospital with fasting/ pain relief. I don't know much about the diet as my friend was a bit naughty and just tended to avoid eating as much as possible. Of course that lead to breaking out and eating heaps which usually lead to an attack.
It is excruciatingly painful and I have heard it is one of the most painful conditions you can have. :hug: for you and your poor dad. If your dad is in hospital they will be looking after him and telling him how he can manage it. In my friend's case he hasn't had an attack in about three years since they were able to do something for him that resolved the issue somewhat. Hopefully there is a solution for your dad's problem.

Thanks for your replies.
Well, dear old Dad has blood poisoning as well as whatever else they have yet to diagnose ( still confident it's pancreatitis, but thinking it's also gall stones and possibly something else).
He's not in a good way. He's very distant, had a temp of 41 degrees this morning with a low of 39.5 this arvo, had 8 drips in 14 hours, has had numerous tests... ultrasounds, xrays and a CT scan.
They haven't given us any definites yet. They want to keep him in for at least a week.
He's now having all liquids scrutinized (input and output).
He doesn't eat a high fat diet at all... he eats a brilliant diet and is very fit and only 49, so I think it's shocked everyone a bit. I'm yet to feel the affects of shock... Not feeling anything at the moment.
Hoping he starts improving soon, as he's gone downhill from last night.

Thanks for your replies. I'll let you know how he gets on.
xx

I'm sorry your dad is going through this. It must be a big worry for you. Big hugs.

Oh hun, hang in there! I was in a bad way when I was admitted, I ended up in through emergency one night when I was out for dinner with some girlfriends. I had 2 lots of continuous drips for 72hrs (while I was fasting), so many blood tests it wasn't funny and at one stage I had about 5 dr's in checking on me because my lipaes (sp?) was so high the main dr had them run the test 3 times to check it!

He's in the best place he can be, getting round the clock care and having people constantly monitor him.

Big hugs to you and your family :comfort:

Thanks Sharon. He's def in the best place for him right now (although he will be absolutely HATING every minute of it. LOL).

Oh Dear Nicky!!

Nicky it sounds like your dad is a bit septic.... this means that a lot of your dad's body resources are going to work on the infection in his pancreas. He will be quite likely delirious and out of it whilst his temp it so high and they are monitoring his fluid balance to see how well his kidneys are working. If his kidneys stop working well it will tell them if he is having organ failure due to the sepsis. It sounds quite serious I grant you but I have seen plenty of people pull thru from much worse. If your dad isn't a drinker and is ussually quite fit his chances of pulling thru well are quite high. They will be giving him antibiotics in high levels to help him fight and they tend to bugger up the drips in his arms.

I feel like I am only saying sad things here so I will stop but you know where I am so if you need more info or interpretation of info you hear from the dr's just ask me.

I am always around either here or on fb..

Love you babe

Take care and keep your hope up.

Bella

I really hope hes ok. He is getting the best care possible. Huge hugs huni xox

Didnt have time to post properly last night. So sorry to hear that your dad is so ill! i have my fingers crossed that he pulls through ok...and quickly!
SIL has been on high pain meds all night and they are saying gall stones and pancreatitis. MIL passed away in july and she has bassically been on a huge drinking binge + drugs since then and living a very bad lifestyle so this is more than likly a result of that! I think they will have to operate, but i dont know what on or why.
Hugs to you and your dad!!

Thanks everyone.
My Dad likes a drink and usually goes to the pub Friday's and pops a couple of beers over the weekend, but that's the extent of it. I'm pretty sure the weekend was his last ever beer which won't worry him all that much.
Mum just called to tell me she's spoken to the docs at the hospital and Dad's temp got really high again ( around the 40-41 mark) but they got it down.
She said he's not being given any antibiotics. My Sister who is a nurse thought that normally someone in his condition would be ( we are by no means trying to tell the docs what/how to do their job, just wanting to know what's happening really). Mum's a little worried, so she is going to just nicely ask about antibiotics. We haven't been given any diagnosis yet, and the only thing Mum's been told about is the blood poisoning and the high temps.
Bella - from what you are saying, it's alot worse than we are being led to believe, which irks me a little.... I feel like we need to be told these things by the docs. Thanks so much for your post.
It's JUST starting to get to me now actually. The fact his temp went up overnight, and that a couple of nurses have said about the anti B's that he's not on. I have faith that he will pull through but the enormity is about to hit me I think.

When I find out more I will update.
Thanks so much for your replies.
xx

Big hugs, babe. Will be praying for your dad and the family. Hope you get some good news soon. xxx

Not much change today. He spoke to me on the phone for a few minutes, but he's speaking so softly and slowly.. :(
I've had a few small mini meltdowns today and hoping I can keep it together from now on.
We're going to visit him tomorrow and hopefully find out some more about his condition.

big hugs to you hun!!!!

Aawwwwww Nicky, its hard when you see your parents sick, usually they are our rocks and it can be quite the role reversal

Thinking of you and your family, I wish your Dad a speedy recovery beautiful girl :hug:

Thanks for your replies :)
We went up and saw him today and he just looks so much better. He was sitting up when we were there, and even had a sense of humour, cracking a few jokes.
I feel SOOOO much relief! He's still having temp issues, although his last temp of 40+ was at midnight last night and just before we left he was feeling warm again, but nothing like he has been.
He's now been placed in the acute care unit, and also has oxygen. He's been allowed to start on clear fluids and had his first cup of black tea today while we were there.... VERY thankful to be able to have that.
So it all seems like things are getting much better. I haven't heard anything about surgery or anything but didn't want to ask Mum while we were all up there today so might call her tonight.
Just amazed at how much better he looked today.

Thank you for all your well wishes. xx

thats such great news that he is on the mend!!! its scary! and from what im learning with SIL being in a similar situation is that there are no medications that they can give for the actuall panreatits. SIL is still not able to eat/drink. Hugs to you and to you Dad!!! hope he keeps improving!

Well, things were going great. Dad was doing really well and even getting out of bed, but early this afternoon he had another massive temp spike which has brought him right back down again :(
He also had a disaster that ended with my Dad screaming and in tears for ages. I've never seen my Dad get teary... EVER. He is pretty traumatised by what happened last night.
So, back we go a little. Not all the way back just a few steps.
I think I will give him a call tomorrow, and let DS have a chat to him to cheer him up a little, and then we will head back in and visit on Weds.
They have told him best case scenario is that he takes 4 weeks to recover after going home. There is no talk of when he will be going home as yet though, as they need to have 48 hours of no temp spikes before they will consider it.
There is currently no talk of surgery, but that is all dependant on the AB's he is on. They are going to give them another 48ish hours to do their thing, then they are going to see what else is going on.
It's heartbreaking that he was doing so well yesterday but has had a bit of a slip up today. I hope that that is the worst of it and it's all up from here.

Oh hun that's no good but sometimes it's two steps forward one step back. I'll keep him and you in my thoughts.
I'm a bit attached to my pancreas, i had part of if taken out after a bad car accident I was in years ago so we've been through a bit. I have a nice big scar (27 stitches worth) down my tummy but really no major problems from the surgery. It was touch and go for a little while. It was 11 years ago and they have only gotten better with their techniques.

Still have you in my thoughts Nicky. I hope that you are feeling better about things. Dr's and Nurses don't like to panic ppl about what could possibly happen because if it doesn't then they get ppl upset about nothing and ppl tend to complain about that.

Sounds like he is still touch and go a bit but it all sounds positive. Suprised that they didn't have him on ab's! I take it they do now? Why do they think he is spiking a temp?

Anyway know that I am thinking of you my friend

Love Bella

Thanks girls.
Went to visit today.... he's still having temp spikes but apparently that's to be expected until his bloods cald right down. They are getting better, but not quite there yet. He's having horrid back pain that they are not sure if it's related or not. Possibly a bone infection?? They still haven't really confirmed pancreatits.... his gall bladder and pancreas are inflammed/infected, but they said something like that's not where the infection started. He's still on AB's.... he's had about 8-9 litres now. LOL. They took him for a scan on his back today to see what's happening there to cause all his pain (he got 1 hr total sleep last night).
He was asleep when we got there today so we took Mum for a drink, but she was called back as he had an episode... temp went up a little, but he was just staring into space.... the hurse freaked and hit the fun button that causes everyone possible to rush to his room. Checked him right over including his heart, but he was ok. Glad I didn't see that.
Sometimes he seems like himself... back to normal seding my husband text message jokes. Then other times, he's just so sick.
They will not consider letting him home until he's had 48 hours clear of temp spikes.... but he had one this morning and I can't see him going home anytime this week.
It's like our own personal episode of house.

I just wanted to let you all know that my Dad has come home today. They think the infection started in his gall bladder ( nothing came up on back scans), so they want him back for some tests next week... but YAY!
He was just pottering around, even cooking dinner. He's just sick and tired of being on his back.
Mum's got a week off so far to take care of him, although it's going to be a few weeks before he starts feeling like himself.
Thank you all so much for your posts. I really appreciate you taking the time to reply to me. It's been a crazy 8/9 days and I'm hoping that's the worst that happens with my family for a while.

Beckoes - I hope your SIL is on the mend.

xxoo

Really glad to hear that Nicky, take care honey and keep that Dad of yours tucked up and safe:)

:hug:

Love Bella

Hey chick,
How is your Dad going? Any improvements since coming home?

:hug: Love to all xoxo