Miss Diagnosis: Still Waiting...

Monday, April 27, 2009

Still Waiting...

We expected to hear back from the surgeons office the end of last week with a date. No such luck; I called them on Thursday to give a gently nudge. The woman I talked to said that the day we were there they had 41 patients instead of their normal 10-15 and all needed to get scheduled for surgery. They are just working their way through the list. So, no call Friday either and I'm afraid to leave the house today. I have a fear that if they call and miss me instead of calling my cell they will continue down their list and we will be moved to the bottom. Oh well, I'm meeting a friend for coffee while her mom is in surgery this afternoon. Alex says she will answer the phone if the surgeons office calls, and tell them to try me on my cell. If I don't hear from them today I'll call them tomorrow. My patience is wearing thin as usual.

1 comment:

judycolbyApril 27, 2009 at 8:12 PM
Hope they call soon. I've gotten to where I just put my cell number as the home phone. I hate coming home from work and finding a message from the doctors office. Once they called my cell, hung up after two rings and then called home and left a message.
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Transphenoidal Pituitary Surgery- From the UCSF web site

What happens during surgery?
The surgical removal of the pituitary adenoma is performed by a technique called a transsphenoidal operation. The word 'transsphenoidal' describes the path the surgeon follows to reach the pituitary gland. The word comes from 'trans', meaning 'to cross or pass through', and 'sphenoid', the name of the cavity (the sphenoid sinus) that is passed through to reach the pituitary gland. Newer techniques and improvements in technology now allow removal of these tumors without the need for an incision under the lip or within the nostril. The surgeon begins the approach by entering through the nostril on one side. The surgeon uses a brilliant fiber optic light to illuminate the internal anatomy, a microscope to magnify the area of surgery to 12 times the actual size, and very tiny microsurgical instruments especially designed for this particular operation. The surgeon guides the surgical instrument into the nasal cavity and an opening is made in the sphenoid bone. The sphenoid sinus is entered, and then an opening is made in the wall of the sella turcica to expose the pituitary gland. The adenoma can be readily distinguished from the normal pituitary gland tissue and is removed without removing the normal gland. After the surgeon removes all the tumor tissue, the small cavity that is left is treated with alcohol to destroy any tumor cells that may remain. This cavity is then sealed, sometimes with a piece of fat that the surgeon removes from the patient's abdomen. The surgeon then applies a biological 'glue' that helps seal the pituitary area from the nose and promotes natural healing. No nasal packs are used with this approach.