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.

9/2/11

Catching up

Much of these last months I've struggled with medication increases.  Although I know others who've had no problem with any dose of levothyroxine (hi mom) I do.  Nothing to do with pituitary function or lack there of, just me.  I've horrid headaches, become more lethargic (like I need that lol) at each increase, over time I adjust am okay then pretty good then my body reacts, thinks I've too much thyroid and my damaged pituitary works with ruthless efficiency, lowers my TSH which lowers the amount of thyroid I produce - end result - levels exactly where I started. :(  Then I ask for another increase and the cycle repeats. 

In June I increased 100mg of the thyroid medicine however my TSH is now suppressed.  My endo was firm that we'd try this for 6 months but no more increases and if my TSH is still suppressed at my next blood draw in Dec. then she'll start decreasing me.  I'm not sure how I feel about that. 

I worry that decreasing will leave me a zombie on the other hand I worry that long term suppressed TSH will lead to other medical issues and I've enough thank you. 

I'm three months into this dose.  I still tire too easy and often in my opinion.  Doctors caution with the radiation I can continue to suffer fatigue this year, I can continue to lose pituitary function, I had 3 major surgeries in 4 years and I should be patient with myself.  That's hard. 

I'm also still having fairly regular headaches, not daily but often.  I'm unsure if that's due to the medication, the stress I'm trying to cope with or the heat.

I don't handle heat well.  I don't really sweat so I overheat annoyingly quick, red in the face, pounding headache in minutes.  Its unfun and restrictive.  We keep outings near water so we can stop and put mama in the river to cool me off.  Would be funny if it wasn't me.  Chris keeps a spray bottle of water to squirt me, keep me semi cool on summer family drives.  I feel like Stitch from the Disney movie.

Still I'm able to sleep without sleep aid, while I'm slow, I can do things as long as I'm patient with myself and those are good things.  The key and one I struggle with is patience.

My next MRI is Sept. 7th.  I'm not worried.  Almost 10 months post surgery I've always been fine, it's next year's MRI, the one at 18 months post surgery that will stretch my nerves to the screaming point.  That's always been the point that re growth has been discovered.  No blood work on this visit, I don't see the endo at all this time because I just saw her in June.  Will have all that lovely stuff done in December.  I will see Dr. Fuss the oncologist though, fingers crossed he will be happy with my tumor's status. 
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)