Dave had another ERCP procedure on June 28, 2011 to replace the stent in his bile duct. As Dr. Hutchins had explained before, he would continually need to replace the stents every 6 to 8 weeks as they pose a risk for infection. He had considered a metal stent for this procedure to increase time between ERCP's to 3 months. Dr. Hutchins had decided, however, that a metal stent would be too risky to place and opted for side-by-side plastic stents to dilate the duct passage. He also said that a future surgery would be needed to permanately correct the constricted duct. During the scope procedure, Dr. Hutchins found the the existing stent had migrated out of the constricted area and the duct had remained open, so he did not stent the duct at all! So, as long as the duct remains dilated, Dave will not need to repeat these ERCP's in the future. Dr. Hutchins said that only 5% of stents will migrate and in his procedures this percentage is even less. We find it truly amazing that the result of this ERCP was totally unexpected and that God has chosen to work in a way completely different than ours! (Romans 11:33-36) Praise God for His wisdom!

Dave had an appointment with Dr. Stothert on June 3, 2011 at UNMC. He had an ultrasound ordered to check the size of the 2 pseudo cysts (see 4/22/201 post) on the pancreas. By comparing previous scans, Dr. Stothert determined that the cysts have reduced in size! This is a tremendous praise item since enlargement of the cysts could mean problems in the future and require surgery. Also, we were told that these cysts can remain the same size and not cause problems, but rarely do the cysts shrink in size. Thank you for your prayers.