My Pituitary

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.

10/22/10

Why didn't they do radiation last time?

Because it has a high risk of ending pituitary function. My first surgery wasn't at OHSU. We all thought a factor in it growing back so aggressively afterwards was that my first surgeon didn't have Dr. Delashaw's expertise. Also since my pituitary was still functioning we hoped to preserve it.

Why is it important to reduce?

My best chance at the radiation "retarding" the tumor but not hurting my optic nerves is to make the tumor as small as possible and as far away as possible from the nerves before radiation.

Why having surgery so quick?

The sooner the surgeon can reduce the tumor and get it away from the optic nerve the better my chances are to retain my vision. Since the tumor(adenoma)is growing fast the longer I wait the bigger it is the more difficult it is to reduce away from the optic nerve.