AK’s journey

  It has been a little over eight months since my life-changing surgery. I am still on the road to recovery and it is not easy. Although I’m eating more, I still experience bad days, which is to be expected. I have gained back a few pounds and am currently working on strengthening my muscles. I walk two miles and work on my upper body strength during the week. The pain still resides, and I have started to experience dizziness and nausea. My recovery is like riding a roller coaster non stop. There are ups and downs…constantly. I’m ready to get off this ride!    Since I’m still experiencing severe pain, I have scheduled an appointment with my GI doctor, and I may have to undergo another colonoscopy. A few months ago, I was diagnosed with mild colitis… and things still aren’t right.   I have been focusing on the positives, though. Whenever I have a bad day, I remind myself that “life goes on”. No matter how you feel, life still continues. So why not continue to push for...

Recovery is not easy   There are good days and bad days. Fortunately, since my surgery, I've been going up on the roller coaster. It has been two weeks since my surgery, and I'm feeling great! A little nausea here and there still exists, but nothing too drastic. I've been able to tolerate solid foods as well! While I was in the hospital, the only thing that suited my taste was a peanut butter and jelly sandwich which is much better than tube feeds!   Today I had my last face to face appointment with Dr.Petty! He put me in charge of leading the conversation as he usually does. I told him that I've been eating on my own, and that I made a brave decison a few minutes before we saw him. I said "I ate a hot dog from the cafeteria and I didn't have any MALS pain!". He replied with "a hospital cafeteria hot dog?? That makes ME hurt" as he pointed to where the MALS pain would be. Dr.Petty is always cracking jokes which is one of the many great qualities...

  About me!      Hi! My name is Anna Katherine. I'm 18 years old and I live in Newnan, Georgia with my Mom, Dad and my crazy dog named Paisley.    I currently have my CNA (Certified Nursing Assistant) License and I recently got accepted to the University of West Georgia. From there I will pursue my Nursing career! I am beyond excited to start my classes in January of 2021. I haven't always wanted to be a nurse. Growing up, I went through different phases. At one point I wanted to be a horse, then later realized that isn't quite possible. One year I wanted to be an Archaeologist... I was OBSESSED with rocks and fossils. I also wanted to be a YouTuber... haven't we all?    One of the things that got me into the medical field is having to be in the hospital so much. I realized the amount of pain I was in and that pain motivated me to want to help others. I've always been a helper. I love being there for people and listening to their problems. I'm an ...

I not only have MALS, I have 3 other illnesses too!   Let's start off with SMAS. Superior Mesenteric Artery Syndrome is a condition that occurs when the duodenum is compressed between the aorta and superior mesenteric artery. This type of compression causes partial or complete blockage of the duodenum.  It is so rare that 0.013% of people have it!    Symptoms vary from person to person but I personally experience fullness, severe abdominal pain and weight loss. My weight got so bad that I went from 115 lbs to 93 lbs in a few weeks. I was so scared to eat because of how excruciating my pain was. SMAS is life threatening because someone can get so skinny and become so malnourished that it could kill them. I don't have to worry about that since I'm receiving my food through a feeding tube, not to mention I gained all my weight back!   Moving on to May-Thurner Syndrome. May-Thurner Syndrome is a rarely diagnosed condition where patients develop what is called ili...

                  This is the amazing man I was talking about in "My journey with MALS pt.2"!   So, a few days after my surgery, I had an allergic reaction to the epidural they gave me to manage my pain.I was so nervous to get it but it wasn't bad at all! I got hives and red places all over my body and I was itching like crazy. They gave me Benadryl which just made me more sleepy than anything. We got it under control a day later but it was a very uncomfortable experience. I ate a few things here and there like grilled chicken, green beans, cookies, and some jolly ranchers but the chicken got stuck in my feeding tube so the nurse had to flush it. That was the last time I ate their chicken haha!       I was supposed to go home yesterday (21st of October), but I haven't been tolerating my tube feedings very well. It's all new to me but as far as I know, my goal is to intake 60 ML an hour, We started off with 10 and it m...

                                                                        MALS PT. 2   After my first MALS surgery with Dr.Patel, things still did not quite seem right. Something seemed off. As usual, my family and I found ourselves searching around for a doctor who knows what MALS is and who can REALLY get me some relief. My mom stumbled upon a facebook group called 'MALS PALS'. It's basically a group of patients or families of patients who come together to talk about their MALS journey! Little did we know that this group would have such a huge impact. We came across a girl named LewLew who also shared her MALS story. She spoke about her doctor named Dr. Petty. We had already heard that name before but never realized how great of a man he is until we kept reading blog pos...