When I first found out I had acromegaly, I did not even know what it was. I couldn't get in to see a local neurosurgeon for 3months. My primary suggested that I go elsewhere but had no knowledge of where to send me. I used the internet to find neurosurgeons. At the time I did not know about this chat room. I live in West Virginia so I started looking at states that were fairly near. Vanderbilt, Unv.Virg.. Ohio State, and Pittsburgh. I know this sounds strange but I picked Pittsburgh purely by internet site. I called and made my own appt. and just intended to speak to the surgeon. When I got there, I felt totally at ease and felt that he would do a good job. I did ask him his success rate etc. In my case my surgery was done within 1 week. The tumor was 2.9cm and was pressing on my optic chiasm. That same day, I was sent to endocrinologist, and neuro-ophtamologist. I really did not have time to even dwell on my problem. As far as the surgery went, I've had far less serious problems that hurt alot more. I never asked for any pain medicine, I was just uncomfortable with catheters, nose plugged, etc... They keep you in the hospital for 2 days if I remember correctly, testing pituitary function. Initailly I was to go home on a Saturday but I had a spinal leak. I had a spinal drain put in. When it came out I ended up with the spinal headaches. That was fixed immediatly with a blood patch. I left the hospital that day but decided to stay in pittsburgh 1 more day in case of problems. I can tell you I felt very relieved leaving and felt really great. I had soft tissue swelling immediatley after surgery. I honestly felt great. The thing that I notice the most is the energy that came back. I can do yard work, do stairs etc. I never get that very drosy, sleepy feeling anymore. etc.... The surgeon that I used is Amin Kassam and the procedure was endoscopic(through nose) and was image guided. I forgot to mention, from office staff to hospital staff I could't have had a better experience. If I had to do it all over again, I would not hesitate to use them again. I work in the medical field and found Pitts to be topnotch. |
