And It's About Time There Was Some Support For Cushing's!
April 5, 1999 is my new Birthday. I had a 3cc Pituitary Tumor removed.
About four years prior to this date, I had symptoms of weight gain, mood swings and aches and pains in my joints. I would go to the Dr and he would run blood work and everything would be in the normal ranges. This would go on for three years, doctor running test and telling me nothing wrong, push back from the table and exercise more. About the fourth year, I was still gaining weight, around 300 lbs, my back hurt so bad from the weight around my middle, I could hardly walk and when I tried to fold towels I could only hold up one and have to rest before I could do the next one. I lost a lot of muscle in my arms and legs. My doctor still said push back from the table exercise more.
My husband thought I had given up and could not understand the mood swings, finally I could hardly walk from the pain in my feet and back, I had shortness of breath and I didn't know what was going on. I went to my Othopod and he said until my Internist figured out why I was gaining so much weight, he couldn't help me, but he wrote a letter to my doctor telling him something was going on with me and please attack my symptoms aggressively. The doctor ran blood work again and said nothing was wrong, I waited another month, I got worse, I could hardly walk, I had heart palpations and you could touch my skin and I would bleed, I couldn't look at my self in the mirror I was so terrible obese, round face, fat around my neck my eyes were slits , I was just awful looking.
I finally went back to my orthopod and he asked what my dr had done, when I told him nothing, he said I am making you an appointment with a new doctor. I saw new dr the next morning, I went into his office and for ten to fifteen minutes we discussed my symptoms and past medical problems, he had me go to the next room for an EKG while I was on the table, he came in and asked to look at my stretch marks and I got tickled and said no one has looked at my stretch marks in 30 years, he said bear with me and when you are through come back to my office. I walked in and sat down, he said I think you have Cushing's. I felt so elated finally some one put a name to my symptoms , We had to do a week of testing and then a MRI, and it was a pituitary tumor, The day after they found it I was at Medical City Dallas Texas. My neuro surgeon told me first thing that he usually told people go home get prepared for surgery, but I had to have it ASAP.
I was reborn on April 5,1999. I woke up in Recovery it was like a black cloud had been lifted off me. my husband came in to see me and he said I was like a different person. It has been Three years, Cushing's has left me with some problems because it took 4 years to finally find someone to listen to me and look at me. But, I can live with these problems, I am alive.
