Surreal Diagnosis

On February 9, 2016 I went into my doctors office for a physical. After chatting for a few minutes, I asked Dr. Coe if he would let me read out my list of symptoms that I have been experiencing over the past several years...

• Swollen ankles
• itchy skin
• watery / dry eyes
• Depression
• sleepless nights
• Hot feet
• joint pain
• chest pain/anxiety on left side
• Joint Pain
• hands getting puffy
• feet getting bigger
• face puffy

He listened. Then he poked my feet... and said the words no girl wants to hear, "I am going to have you tested for Gigantism". I think the blood drained right out of my face - mortified that he would think I have Gigantism... I am only 5'6", and do not consider myself 'big'.

The next day - I had my blood drawn... then, on February 24th, I emailed my doctor after looking online and said "I think my lab work looks good, but I bet I'm wrong"... I got a call not 30 minutes later letting me know how wrong I was..... 

I had Acromegaly. 

I probably have a brain tumor. 

my brain tumor is producing Growth Hormone - 9x the high normal.

 

 

On March 2nd, I had to go get an MRI to verify if I had a tumor... 4 days later, it was confirmed that I had a 1.06cm x 2cm x 1.06 macroadenoma, which is a tumor located on my pituitary gland. This bad boy is wreaking havoc on my body! 

       

So now the plan is to get a few opinions and move forward! 

I called Sarah Kubacki and asked to talk to Dave's dad, who is a neurosurgeon in Denver. Steve reviewed my report and gave me a lot of details and information which was a tremendous help. 

I have since been to the University of Michigan for a consultation as well as the Mayo Clinic, and have spoken to Steve again. I have read everything I can find about this rare disease, the surgery, joined a Facebook support group, and am talking to people online to learn as much as I can.