The Invader

The symptoms are almost comical if you think about it. 

Beginning with my feet they have grown almost a size and a half (remember that scene in Cinderella when the ugly step sisters tried to put their big feet in Cinderella's sweet little glass slipper and they could only get it half way in... that's how I feel many days, many of my shoes don't fit anymore. Poor Anastasia and Drusilla, they were totally misunderstood )    

Then there is my hands. I can't get my wedding band off because my hands have grown, but when you are happily married why would you want to take off your wedding band?    

Then there is my monthly cycle which has stopped, but how many women would love to have that problem!!! What am I complaining about!!!!  

Then there is my head. The tissue in my head has swollen so that I have a somewhat embarrassing problem.... snoring! My poor husband. It was quite a problem because it had gotten so bad that I would wake myself up multiple times in the night and then when my little guys would come wake me up in the morning I would be exhausted!!  

Some of my facial features have grown as well, my nose (I notice but many don't) some of the skin on my face has gotten "looser". I'm so grateful for a husband who delights in me and is always telling me how beautiful I am. 

If I hadn't been diagnosed by a Dr. I would just say that I've got some pretty strange symptoms and might even be tempted to dismiss them.... the only problem is that we desperately want more children, kind of  a problem if you aren't having a cycle. 

So April 2007 I went to the Dr. for a time of  Q and A. She suggested a blood test and I thought that seemed fine so off I went and had my blood drawn. The results concluded that my prolactin levels were elevated. So what... seems innocent enough. Prolactin is the hormone produced when you are pregnant. Great! I want to be pregnant anyway!! The only problem is that I wasn't pregnant. 

So they ordered an MRI. I agreed reluctantly. My dad had had an MRI the previous year and from his description it sounded like it would be more fun to have my toenails pulled out. So on September 27, my oldest sons 6th birthday, I had an MRI. It wasn't too bad, if you aren't claustrophobic, if you don't have a cold with a horrible tickle in your throat that makes you need to cough every 5 minutes and if you don't have an itch anywhere on your body for a half an hour!!!!!!!!!!! Unfortunately I am a bit claustrophobic, I did have a horrible cold and I don't remember if I had an itch. Thankfully I perfected the ability to close my eyes and "find my happy place" thanks to having two boys that like to fight and scream at each other every once in a great while. 

About an hour after the torture chamber, I mean MRI, I got a call from my Dr.  We were enjoying our In-n-Out birthday burgers and she dropped the bomb. "You have a sizable mass on your pituitary gland" I knew where my pituitary gland was because of anatomy class in high school, I knew it was in the brain and tiny and responsible for growth. She said that the mass was 2 1/2 cm, large in the world of brain "masses"... (1 cm is approx. the width of a finger tip)

It wasn't until about 2 weeks later that I realized it wasn't really a mass it was a tumor! Wow!! I had  a brain tumor!! Crazy! I don't get brain tumors! Other people do! I'm healthy, have always been healthy, except for 2 miscarriages after my second son, I have never had any health issues whatsoever! What is the deal!!!

So we went to the endocrinologist who drew a detailed picture of the affected area in my brain and told us exactly what we couldn't see. The tumor sat in a small place right behind my eyes and was threatening to press on my optic nerve. It was growing and would need to come out otherwise my vision could be affected and possibly result in blindness. It was "squishing" my pituitary up against the wall and causing these problems.

So then I met with a surgeon down at UCLA. His job is to tell me more information. By this time I am over my head with information..... The tumor is a growth hormone producing tumor, the medical term is "agromagaly".... Bascially meaning growth hormone is being produced at an increased rate and causing my hands, feet and facial features to grow. He said if this had happened when I was still growing it would have resulted in an "Andre the Giant" appearance, I always thought it would be interesting to be famous, but that isn't exactly what I had in mind. Since it has developed after growth was completed, if left it will result in neanderthal-ish features. Hmmmmm, not sure what to think about that.

His prognosis. Surgery. That is the only way to take care of this. He proceeded to tell us all the things that could go wrong in surgery. Telling me that I could develop spinal meningitis, or worse... Worse! Basically he was trying to tell me what to expect so that if the surgeon messed up I wouldn't sue them! Whoa..... not exactly encouraging.

My husband looked at me as the Dr. left the room and he smiled at me and said "God has a better plan for us!"