I just had brain surgery...

...what was your name again??  Ha, ha...just a little brain surgery humor!

First of all, let's take a minute to ponder this little fact.  On Monday afternoon (not even at the ass-crack of dawn) I had brain surgery.  On Wednesday morning I was in the shower washing my hair and not hooked up to any drugs or catheters.  Amazing?  Yes, I think so too.  Tuesday was a bit ugly, but not as bad as Keith, I, or the Doctors expected.  In fact most of the people who saw me Tuesday said I looked great.  Boy do they have a warped sense of "great", but I digress...

The pituitary surgery went great.  They took out 70% of the gland.  Did anyone out there know that you only need 20% of your pituitary?  I didn't either.  So they left me 10% more than I need!  Awesome!  The slightly bad news is that no tumor was found.  That doesn't mean it isn't there and will be found when they dissect and study the tissue they took out.  But that will take weeks.  So for now, the next step is to monitor my cortisol levels starting tomorrow and see if they come down on their own over the next week or so.  If they do, that means that the tumor causing my Cushings was in the pituitary tissue that was removed.  If my cortisol levels stay high, then we know that the problem did not originate in my pituitary and we have to continue to look for it somewhere else and start with medication. 

I appreciate the fact that most of you have never had pituitary brain surgery before,so I'll include a short description of the procedure.  Squeamish readers please skip the next paragraph....

The neuro surgeons made an incision between my upper lip and my front teeth so a)I have no visible scar and 2)no hair shaved on my head.  From there they went up through my nose, broke a couple of small bones at the back and into my brain to the pituitary.  The surgeons, one of whom invented this procedure, took out the portion of the pituitary that has the best odds of housing the tumor.  They played the odds game after doing some micro-slicing to see if they could find something.  After taking out what they needed to, they filled my nose with packing, sewed up the gum line under my lip, unscrewed my head from the holder, and sent me off to ICU where I spent a thoroughly unpleasant night.  A little pain medication, a few tears, and some great ICU nurses got me through Monday night.  Tuesday morning they unpacked my nose (NOT fun) and deemed me able to be packed off to the neuro unit where I will reside probably until Saturday.  Tuesday afternoon was pretty much just getting adjusted to the new surroundings and being monitored by the Neuro Doctors and Nurses.  I was back on solid food (amazing!), but my mouth was pretty sore, so it was soft solid food on Tuesday.  But this morning I tried pancakes, and chewing them went fine.  So today there was a sandwich for lunch!  Granted it had to be deconstructed a bit to get into my still sore mouth, but it was still a sandwich!  Did I mention this is Wednesday and I had brain surgery on Monday? 

So I'm hanging out in the Neuro ward here at the NIH Clinical Center, peeing in jugs, getting blood drawn, hoping that my cortisol level is falling as I write this.  You all hope for it too and maybe I can catch a break!  And of course, I will keep you posted of the events along the way!