The pancreas (and who knew it didn't have an "e" at the end) breaks down food by the secretion of digestive enzymes and provides the secretion of insulin and glucagon to regulate sugar metabolism. In pancreatitis, digestive enzymes are released prematurely where they digest the body itself. The living tissue becomes further inflamed and quickly causes damage to the liver. (Kate is still snoozing away as I type this). "Specific disasters" and yes, that is the next paragraph heading) are:lung tissue damage with respiratory failure,fats in the body are destroyed, which has painful and disastrous results,massive uncoupling of normal blood clotting leading to abnormal simultaneous bleeding and clotting throughout the body,and brain damage
Even if these areas are not invaded, pancreatitis can be painful and life-threatening and can be acute, chronic, mild or severe. Miniature Schnauzers are predisposed to pancreatitis as they commonly have altered fat metabolism.
So, resting the pancreas (no food) is the first, with IV fluids, plus pain control and antibiotics, then low fat/high fiber diet.
Ok, end of information sharing on that. I'm going to take a quick nap with Kate before I head back into work this evening. Tonight is Knit One, Library Too and we usually have about 10 knitters that gather to help each other out or teach new knitters. The photo above isn't a project we are working on, but, we could be!
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