Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everyone. To new beginnings.....

(I have a CT scan and a heart ultrasound booked)

Updates soon....

Just met with my Neurosurgeon

So I woke up this morning and walked to the hospital. Pitch black and freezing cold.

Which always makes me wonder why people a hundred years ago bothered to move here. It's bad enough when you have all the comforts of a rich 21st century country, but imagine living in this when you had a log cabin and rode around on a horse.
The Indians didn't even have log cabins!!!

Anyway...I digress.

I met with the neurosurgeon and he gave me the run down. Told me the worst case scenario so that he'd be covered legally in case the worst case scenario took place.
Check. I get it.

Next, he showed me how the procedure would unfold. Up through the nose and into the little space between the skull and the brain.

So I then signed off on the paperwork and the Doctors are going to begin putting the teams together to get this done in January!!!
I wasn't expecting that!
I thought maybe March or something.

I will be in the hospital for 3-4 days because they want to make sure my pituitary gland is working properly. I may need to take a bunch of med's to ensure the body balance doesn't get out of wack. Salt, water, proper hormones etc.

He's done three of these exact types before and all of them were successful. My tumor isn't that outrageous so I am really hoping this works and I won't require life long medication.

Anyway, the next step is a CT scan and then they are going to do another MRI before I go into the operation. The CT scan will help give a mapping of my bone structure and the second MRI will give a new mapping of my pituitary gland. Then they plug all that into their systems and begin doing the operation.

So long for now.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

MRI

Okay, so the next step in this process is to go for an MRI.

I decided to do it privately. For international readers, Canada has a Universal publicly funded health care system. There isn't a lot of private health available.
As a result, everyone gets really great health care cover regardless of their ability to pay. Health care as a human right if you will.
The downside....
Health care can take a long time to get. Think of it like a grocery store. If the food was "free" you'd have to stand in line a lot longer to get your stuff.

I decided to spend the $1020.00 for a private MRI. One of the few things in Canada we can actually do for ourselves.

I showed up and they put me in a tube on a table and I spent about 40 minutes getting pictures of my skull transposed onto their crazy imaging computers.
They also injected me halfway through the process with a "contrast". This just helps the computer take better pics. It didn't hurt.

Anyway, got the results and the tumor on my pituitary is 10mmX11mmX5mm on the left side. It hasn't spread too far and wide and it isn't wrapped around my optic nerve or carotid artery. It extends a little bit from the pituitary itself and is considered a "macro" because it's over 1cm in size. (barely)

I feel pretty good about it. I've heard some stories about people who don't catch their conditions until they're in their mid-40's and it can be the size of a golf ball...totally encompassing the pituitary gland. (Even then treatment works, but the process is a lot more involved)

So I'm in a good place.

Now I meet with the neurosurgeon who will be performing the surgery on me. Dec 22nd is the date. Looking forward to it.

Take care everyone,
Jeff

Test Results

So today I got my test results and went over everything with my Doc.

It was positive.

At least that's how I would describe it, since "positive" isn't really the right term, but Acromegaly it is.

The sugar drink did not supress my levels. It was 10 HGH. Don't know what that means.
My intial IGF1 was 800 when it should be 300, so through and through it is an Acromegaly result.

I have booked an MRI for my pituitary gland on Thursday. I will also have to have a colonscopy and an echocardiogram.

The colonscopy is because Acromegaly can cause colon cancer. Usually this is a long term symptom...at least that's what I'm hoping. I'm 32 and this has been caught early enough that it I am hopeful that nothing has developed. I also don't have any symptoms of that so I feel pretty confident.

The echocardiogram is basically an ultrasound of the my heart. Acromegaly makes organs grow over time as well...kidneys, and heart for example.
This means you can run into problems because your organs become bigger than they should be. Maybe 10% would be a good thing. Lance Armstrong style advantage....
however, Acromegaly just keeps going so there can be stress and strain on the heart causing weaknesses and whatnot.
Again, I don't have any symptoms so it's just a check for the sake of it.

My blood sugar was 6.3 before the sugar test and 5.9 after a few hours of sitting there. This is in the normal range, but it is the high end of normal. 6.3 after fasting overnight is a bit elevated.
Anyway, maybe when the tumor is removed it'll come down right away.
Or maybe that's just how it runs in me for now.
Nevertheless, I don't want diabetes, so I'll try to avoid the heavy sugars and eat better in general....if that matters in this case?!?!
Whatever, it shouldn't hurt. I need to get in shape regardless. More gym. More ambition.
Let's kick it!

This isn't me...this is Arnold Schwarzenegger. He looks a little Acro...no? Perhaps if I just get super buff, I'll appear as a rough around the edges, manly man.

HGH test

Okay, so today I woke up early and battled a traffic jam in the dark and snow in order to get to the old Children's Hospital that has since been converted into a specialist type clinic.

The clinic I was there for was the Endocrine clinic.

After my IGF-1 test, my Doc sent me to this clinic in order to get a whole laundry list of hormone tests.

I met the two nurses and they took me to a room with two recliner chairs and a television. They inserted an IV into my arm by my elbow. (Just a small gauge needle taped down)

They took about eight vials of blood for all the other hormone tests that are needed in relation to Acromegaly. Then the HGH test proper began.

I hadn't eaten anything or ingested anything since the night before, so the way this test works is you go in hungry and they take a blood sample. Then the nurse brought in a sweet orange drink. (Basically a McDonalds tasting orange drink that is heavy on the sugar.)

You drink the drink, and then they take blood samples every half hour for about two hours. The last blood sample is one hour after the last half hour.

I was there from 8am until 11:30am.

They took all the blood and forms and I will find out the results when I meet with my Endrocine Doc on the 29th.

Piece of cake!

If you suspect you have Acromegaly

If you have any reason to suspect you have Acromegaly, ask your doctor to give you a IGF-1 test.

He/She will write a requestion and you will go to a clinic or lab and a nurse with take one vial of blood from you and they can do a preliminary test from that.

It's quick, easy and effective.

I should have done it years ago just to get it over with, but I thought it was more difficult than that, because the follow up test involves the sugar drinking and the 4 hours of tests.

If your results come back normal, you don't have to worry...if they are abnormal then you can jump into treatment.

All the best,
Jeff

First Past the Post!

Okay y'all,

I've read some of the blogs out there and thanks to them I have pursued my search for a diagnosis, probably ten years before I otherwise would have.

The internet, man...the greatest invention since the printing press.

Anyway, in 2008 I went in for a check up with my family Doc. I turned 30, and I thought it might be a good idea to do a full check up. I knew I was perfectly healthy, but hey, we have Universal Health Care in Canada so why not get a check up, even if you don't need it?!?! It's like a tax rebate right?

Everything went fine and then the Doc did a quick throat check and felt a lump on my thyroid.

Since this is an Acromegaly blog and not a thyroid cancer blog I will skip the details of the past two years and end with this.
They treated it and kicked it's ass. Cut out the thyroid completely and burned everything in it's wake with radioactive iodine. Fuck you cancer.

A couple of all clears and I was feeling great. Ready to take on the world.

During the whole ordeal I did some obsessive thyroid cancer research. (I don't recommend too much internet diagnosising, but a little is okay. You can go down a dark road, where it's 1am and you have to work the next day and your heart is pounding because some pdf file documenting a Japanese study that linked thyroid cancer with shell fish in 1983 hasn't been completely rebuked...in other words...get a grip and calm down...a little ignorance is bliss)

During the research I read about a link between thyroid cancer and acromegaly. Not very common and my Endocronologist says it actually isn't solid so whatever. Nevertheless I self diagnosised Acromegaly.

Because of the cancer affair I believe I have caught the Acromegaly process early. I have very few symptoms and got an IGF1 test last week. Came back as double normal.

In other words...it looks like I am about to begin the treatment process for this disorder. In two weeks time I have an appointment with a nurse to do the sugar drinking stuff and a laundry list of other blood tests to see if any side problems are starting from the Acromegaly.

Sigh.

Cancer, now this. WTF? Seriously. This shit is supposed to happen to other people. You say things like, "That's a shame" and then turn your attention back to important things like Charlie Sheen trashing his hotel room and what kind of burger you'll get for lunch and who'll win the world series.

As my pastor has said, "We're all going to end up in one of three conclusions....we'll get hurt and die, sick and die, old and die".
I guess it's how you walk the road.
I plan to walk the road with a little more Tony Stark recklessness from now on.