Surgery . . . but not what you think, perhaps

Soooo, after long weeks of nothing - no results, no progress, no doctors who seemed to listen, today we have made progress. We fought long and hard to get someone to see Mike re: the pituitary tumor and flu-like symptoms he's had for 6 WEEKS! We begged doctors, showed up at ERs, did all that we could to get someone to listen to the fact Mike felt awful! We finally got four appointments this week and things are happening. First, after the wrong MRI was given last week to check the growth of the pit tumor, Mike was able to schedule another on Friday, without having to go to the ER (thankfully - I hate that place!). He won't, however, be able to go, because he is having surgery Thursday morning. We spent the day in the ER Monday as Mike was up all night in pain. He has had ongoing pain in his side with various other symptoms and after a scan on Monday, his gall bladder showed signs of needing to take the next step - see a surgeon. The surgeon we saw today gave us a 60-70% chance that removal will help Mike feel better. He is very experienced and came highly recommended, so we scheduled the surgery for Thursday morning. We are praying and are HOPEFUL that this removal will indeed take away the pain, GI issues, continual fever, etc. If it doesn't, we will be crushed - pain meds are not helping Mike at this point. Mike is also seeing an infectious disease doctor tomorrow - he fit us in and we are covering all our bases. Additionally, we saw a new endocrinologist. We really liked her. She was thorough and has already referred Mike to a neurosurgeon re: the pit tumor and did say the headaches COULD be related to the tumor. She was concerned about the growth. She also ordered tests that have been run before, but we were happy she was doing her own thorough work-up and not going on others' notes. She also ordered another test to check growth hormones as Mike's hands and feet have grown - weird! Mike will see the neurosurgeon when he can, get the lab work done as ordered, reschedule the MRI of the pituitary, and see the endocrinologist in a month unless bloodwork looks concerning. The endocrinologist is also reducing the amount of steroids Mike is on; her reasoning is that his dose is high and it could be causing him to feel lousy.

Today was a breath of fresh air - we felt like drs listened, gave good advice based on test results that finally showed something and there is action. Time will tell what this action will lead to. It would be awesome if Mike felt better after this surgery and we started to get some answers about the endocrine system. My mom is coming into town tomorrow (I LOVE my mom) as I am nervous there will be adverse effects to the surgery and would feel better if there were someone else in the house the night he comes home. Most patients go home the next day as this is a relatively easy surgery, but with the adrenal insufficiency, they MAY keep Mike. Surgery is a little more risky for Mike as his body can't fight stress on its own, and surgery is stressful. He will be given an extra dose of the steroids pre-op to help his body cope.
Keep praying for us, friends. We'll keep you updated Thursday.
Becka