My Pituitary: 08/2010

Officially it's called an adenoma

You can Google Non-Functioning Pituitary Adenoma if you want detailed information but in a nutshell it’s a benign tumor in my pituitary gland.

Three times, it's grown to the point where it affected my optic nerves and pituitary function. Surgery was performed Feb. 2007 again in Feb. 2009 and yet again Nov. 11, 2010 to remove as much of it as possible.

My vision was preserved in each case however I've lost Growth Hormone production and am on thyroid medication to help those levels.

I had radiation after my last surgery. The risk is I could over time loose all pituitary function. The hope is it will slow or stop the persistent tumor's aggressive growth.

8/14/10

It's been four months and one week

since I started on the GH and I'm doing good :) I'm not having side effects. I'm no longer surviving. I'm not bouncing off the walls but I have energy again. I can go for walks, go in the woods or by the river with my family, explore, hike around, rock hound without forcing myself to push through exhaustion. I feel normal, well as normal as I can be and words cannot express just how good that feels. I have the tools to enjoy, embrace and celebrate living again.

I saw my doctor in June and my GH levels were right where she wanted them to be. My dosage stayed the same which is good because any adjustment might of meant going through side effects again. And my thyroid levels, which had been 'within normal limits' changed for the better, back to levels I haven't seen since right after my first operation. Perhaps my body, my other hormones enjoy my GH being 'normal' :)

Doctor said I should continue to see improvement over six months to one year then should level out, though the last month I haven't noticed any changes. Then again I've been focused on helping Chris recover from surgery so subtle changes may have gone unnoticed.

My next appointment is Oct. 12th. Blood work to check my levels and an MRI. Since I feel good, I think the MRI will be good. Small worry in the back of my mind is that this is my one year from last MRI - MRI. The last time I went 12 months between MRI's is when they discovered the tumor re grew but I remind myself that during that other year, I felt horrid, I don't now. Realistically pituitary tumors have a high probability of re growth, usually quite slowly, so I know it could grow, I know it probably will. My hope is that it grows so slowly they can't measure it. On last year's MRI all that remained was a few cells. It's my hope that's all that this year's will show as well.

8/7/10

Boy its been awhile

My blogging and such took a back seat to my husband's needs for the past several weeks/months. He'd suffered back pain for years off and on and it despite a number of efforts to deal with it during that time it worsened, becoming unbearable this spring, especially in May. He had to have spinal fusion surgery. Between his pre and post operative pain/care and work to improve (and he's doing excellent) I let basically everything but him and the boys slide.

Now that he's recovered enough to be on a work/training trip, I'm going to do my best to catch up. Details in days to follow but I'm doing quite well :)