{"id":26089,"date":"2019-08-22T12:47:09","date_gmt":"2019-08-22T18:47:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/?p=26089"},"modified":"2024-02-22T06:33:56","modified_gmt":"2024-02-22T13:33:56","slug":"avoiding-risky-surgery-saved-this-mans-summer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/avoiding-risky-surgery-saved-this-mans-summer\/","title":{"rendered":"Avoiding risky surgery saved this man’s summer"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>
\"father
John Hernandez and his son, Joshua, before their big trip across Colorado this summer, something John was too sick for last summer. Photo by Joel Blocker, for UCHealth.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It was the worst kind of sick \u2014 sudden and severe. The fierce tug in John Hernandez\u2019s stomach had him leaping over the movie-theater seats to the hallway restroom. He could taste it in the back of his throat. Was it the movie-theater popcorn? His heart was pounding. He was sweaty and shaky.<\/p>\n

Could he be having a heart attack?<\/p>\n

His wife of 28 years, Katherine, wasn\u2019t going to wait to find out. She helped John to the car, and off they sped to a small community hospital closest to their hometown of Frederick, Colorado.<\/p>\n

\"silhouette
John Hernandez and his son, Joshua, load up for a big trip together across Colorado. John was so excited to be able to spend some time with his son after being sick for almost a year. Photo by Joel Blocker, for UCHealth.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After five days of tests, John was sent home with a prescription. Gallstones had caused a bout of pancreatitis<\/a>. It should go away, he was told.<\/p>\n

The weeks passed and summer arrived. John\u2019s teenage son, Joshua, was busy with football practice, so John\u2019s adult daughter, Alexandria, would stop in to check on John while Katherine worked long hours at the local bakery. John, who at the time of his first hospital visit considered himself \u201cfat and happy,\u201d was anything but that now. His symptoms lingered, he was losing weight, and he found himself in and out of hospitals.<\/p>\n

Finally, John\u2019s family doctor referred him to the surgery team at UCHealth Longs Peak Hospital<\/a> for his recurring pancreatitis, which is usually addressed through gallbladder surgery.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen John first came to us, he was on steroids because he was in septic shock,\u201d said Dr. Mark Rosenblatt<\/a>, a gastroenterologist who specializes in Interventional Endoscopy with UCHealth Longmont Clinic. \u201cHe was ultimately dying, and something needed to be done to change that course.\u201d<\/p>\n

Avoiding risky surgery<\/strong><\/h3>\n
\"\"
Dr. Mark Rosenblatt<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Rarely do gallbladder stones pass through the body in such a way that they irritate the pancreas, Rosenblatt explained. Even more rarely does that irritation become so severe that the pancreas dies and forms an abscess \u2014 collections of infected dead tissue \u2014 that requires surgery. But John was among the rare few.<\/p>\n

\u201cUsually the pancreatitis resolves and the gallbladder takes care of the problem,\u201d Rosenblatt said. \u201cBut John\u2019s had worsened to the point that he had this large infected fluid collection (cyst).\u201d<\/p>\n

When John arrived at UCHealth, he was already too sick to undergo gallbladder surgery. The large cyst on his pancreas was making him septic and needed to be addressed. But the surgery was risky even for those in good health, and it was too risky for John\u00a0because of his chronic conditions and excess weight.<\/p>\n

So instead, John started undergoing a conservative approach in which a small tube was entered into his abdomen to attempt to drain the infected fluid. It helped, but it was not the solution.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s when a multidisciplinary team, which included Rosenblatt, who specializes in interventional endoscopy surgery, as well as other interventional radiologists and gastroenterologists, studied his case and came up with a minimally invasive approach.<\/p>\n

\"father,
John Hernandez, right, and his son, Joshua, map out their route for their summer trip across Colorado. Last year, John was so sick he wasn\u2019t able to do much outside his home. Photo by Joel Blocker, for UCHealth.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Newer endoscopic developments<\/strong><\/h3>\n

With the new approach, Rosenblatt went into the gastric wall and placed a stent, which immediately drained about a half-liter of pus-filled fluid from the cyst. But an artery of the spleen in this region caused concern and some issues.<\/p>\n

The team went back to the drawing board and decided to go into the cyst via the esophagus and create a tunnel between it and the stomach. Additional stents made sure there was no migration of stomach contents back into the cyst. John\u2019s doctor prescribed three Coca-Colas per day to support this goal. The conduit allowed the cyst contents to drain into the stomach, where they could be carried, via the body\u2019s natural process, out the gastrointestinal tract.<\/p>\n

\u201cGenerally, non-operative measures are safest and result in the best outcomes,\u201d Rosenblatt said. \u201cThese have become our standards of care.\u201d<\/p>\n

A month later \u2014 in early November 2018 \u2014 John returned to UCHealth Longs Peak Hospital for a CT scan. The scan showed the cyst had been drained. The stents were then removed, leaving John with just a few small dot-like scars on his belly.<\/p>\n

\"father
John Hernandez and his son, Joshua, load up for a big trip together across Colorado. John was so excited to be able to spend some time with his son after being sick for almost a year. Photo by Joel Blocker, for UCHealth.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Returning to life<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Recently, as John packed up for a big camping trip throughout Colorado with his son, he admitted how scary his medical ordeal had been. He had to put his trust in the expertise of the UCHealth team, he said.<\/p>\n

\"father
John Hernandez and his son, Joshua, during their recent trip across Colorado. Photo courtesy of John Hernandez.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI remember hearing all what needed to be done to me and thinking, \u2018Oh my, am I going to pull through this?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

But he also remembers how life had begun deteriorating prior to getting the help he needed from Rosenblatt and the team.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy whole last summer was shot,\u201d he said. \u201cI was weak. My day consisted of doing the dishes and laundry \u2014 and that\u2019s all the energy I had.\u201d<\/p>\n

Between the movie-theater incident and his final UCHealth procedure, he had lost more than 70 pounds and found himself too feeble to safely drive.<\/p>\n

\u201cMan, I was messed up,\u201d John said.<\/p>\n

\"father
John Hernandez and his son, Joshua, during their recent trip across Colorado. Photo courtesy of John Hernandez.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

He said he\u2019s regained most of his strength and is working with a nutritionist to stick to a healthier diet than before. He\u2019s \u201cstill a work in progress,\u201d he said. But he\u2019s back to enjoying life.<\/p>\n

John recently moved his family into a new home. He\u2019s enjoying fishing with his son, going on walks with his dog, and planning for the future \u2014 something that at one point, he\u2019d given up on.<\/p>\n

<\/h5>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It was the worst kind of sick \u2014 sudden and severe. The fierce tug in John Hernandez\u2019s stomach had him leaping over the movie-theater seats to the hallway restroom. He could taste it in the back of his throat. Was it the movie-theater popcorn? His heart was pounding. He was sweaty and shaky. Could he […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2164,"featured_media":26095,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[743,4632,351,867,315],"class_list":["post-26089","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-innovative-care","tag-digestive-health-liver-and-pancreas-gastroenterology","tag-gi-services-treatment","tag-primary-care","tag-uchealth-longmont-clinic","tag-uchealth-longs-peak-hospital"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nAvoiding risky surgery saved this man's summer - UCHealth Today<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"John was heading toward surgery. 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