Miss Diagnosis: How Is She?

Saturday, April 7, 2012

How Is She?

"How is Alex?", I get asked all the time and never really have an answer. "Fine."? Do you really want to know? "Hanging in there" is the answer I give most often. For a while she had improved so much that I could honestly answer "she's doing well" but we haven't seen one of those days in months. At best there were days when Alex could keep up with me. At worst it was like having a sickly 80 year old in the house. There's never been a time when she could function as a normal teenager. Lately, she spends most of her time in bed.

When she does go out she's brilliant at wearing the mask of normalcy and telling people she's "fine", but it's an illusion. She still believes she may be able to have a "normal" life one day: with a completed education, a full time job, a husband, and the ability to travel. I hope shes right. I hope some day I'll be able to answer the question with "Great, she's doing great".

No comments:

Post a Comment

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.