Go for the jugular!

Yesterday's procedure to gather draining pituitary goo from my jugular veins went great.  Well, not great like "What should we do today?  How about shoving catheters into our jugulars and pull out stuff?", but still, good.

I was on call for the procedure, so it was another morning of hurry up and wait.  And don't eat anything.  Nothing at all.  Have you met me?  As visions of nachos danced in my head, I hung out, not wanting to get too far from the room because that's the very moment I would get the call that the procedure is on...NOW...

The call came at about 12:30 and I was on the table by 1:15.  Moving at the speed of Carol if I may say.  Catheters were inserted through both sides of my groin, just as they were last Friday when they explored my pituitary gland, and driven up through the arteries into my jugular veins.  To no one's surprise at this point, my arteries are dainty and the Doctor had some bobbing and weaving to do on the drive up to my neck and head.  He waved at Herb, my right hip implant, on the way up (Herb says "hi" by the way).  There was a little discomfort as the catheters were running around in my head - the area behind my left ear was particularly put out by the house guest.  But the most fabulous nurses gave me a little happy juice through my IV and I was able to ignore the sensation in my head.  Other than that, there was no anesthesia or pain medication involved.  Can you even believe that?  Pretty amazing if you ask me.  And it is so much easier on my system not having to deal with all those chemicals. 

Dr. Chang eventually got his samples of my pituitary goo, drawn at specific intervals, after chemicals were injected.  And boom - done!  Amazing!  Then back in my room by 3:30, flat on my back, no moving until 5:30, and dinner ordered at 5:31.  Did you maybe think I was STARVING at this point?

After wolfing down dinner, I was off to the MRI department for a spinal scan to see if there is any additional reason for my left foot flop.  By the time I fell into my happy little hospital bed last night I was pretty pooped.

Today starts in a little bit with a Cardiac CT scan with injected dye to see if my heart has been effected by the Cushing's.  There is a good probability that it has, but based on my normal diet and exercise habits, maybe not.  Again, I can't possibly be satisfied with taking the same road that everyone else goes down!  Go figure...After the Cardiac CT, I'll be on hold until I hear from my gaggle of medical professionals.  They need to add the results from yesterday to all the test results we have so far and hopefully find something that correlates with something else.  We are also waiting for feedback from the pituitary surgeon on not only what his opinion is with my case, but when he is able to do exploratory surgery to look at the small "red zone" that showed up on the pituitary MRI I had last week.  I plan to get out for a walk this afternoon, and maybe even do my laundry!  Woo-hoo!  Excitement abounds here at Medical Freak Camp!