----------------------------------------------------------- New Message on Pituitary Chat
----------------------------------------------------------- From: Willard1H Message 5 in Discussion Anita, Anita, I love ya, but I think you're having a bad day. Williard, I don't get your comparison. Novak's brain tumor and our pituitary tumors. Yours was macro...large. But the majority of pituitary tumors are micro....very small. So they don't invade or have contact with the parts of the brain for function, thought, etc. What do you mean, COMPARISON? A pituitary tumor IS a brain tumor. Period. Naturally, it is a subset of maybe 100-plus different kinds of BT's, and we do have differences. Micro, macro. Benign, malignant. Why separate ourselves into an exclusive club? According to the Pituitary Network Association, the pit gland and brain connect. "The pituitary hangs from the hypothalamus, a part of the brain located immediately above it, by a thread-like stalk." I hope you're not advocating that we exclude Pit Tumors form the world of Brain Tumors at large. We're present and highly visible with the American Brain Tumor Association and the National BTA, and many other national organizations. It would be the height of foolishness to divorce ourselves from major groups, merely because of our differences. I can empathize with a singer, athlete or actor who is struggling with a brain tumor, whether it be Pituitary, Glioma, Meningioma or Schwannoma. The type of tumor that Novak had is easier to access, so a biopsy would help before surgery. But I don't think that we should clump Pit tumors with Brain tumors such as Novak has. Our pit tumors do not normally lead to his type of brain tumor. You're one up on me -- I still can't find an article that details what kind of brain tumor Novak has. As we're seen on the ABTA and NBTA sites, a Pituitary Tumor certainly could qualify, since medical science has already "clumped" them together. What type does the columnist have? How big? Where is it located? Do you know something the media do not, or are you merely speculating? This forum is Pituitary Chat........I'm sure that there are probably Brain tumor forums. Anita, society and medicine is so poorly informed about Pituitary Tumors, I count it a blessing that we are rightly seated at the Brain Tumor table. I can sit down to lunch with my brain tumor support group, and relate to many of their problems. Other aspects of their illnesses are totally alien to me, but they're still people with problems similar to mine. It's a mistake to focus so narrowly on Pit Tumors that we miss the big picture. April posted a message thread Prolactinoma and the effect it has on your mood emotions. Her doctor claimed "there is no link between the prolactinoma and your emotional state and your inner stress!" I referred her to the ABTA's discussion of Mental and/or Personality Changes, relating to ALL kinds of Brain Tumors. I hope she visited her doctor, armed with that information, and afterwards received more appropriate treatment. Let's not set ourselves up as a gated community, away from the larger Brain Tumor world. (If I were flying to China for the Olympics, you could bet I'd attend more than just the Beach Volleyball event!) Think bigger. Willard ----------------------------------------------------------- To stop getting this e-mail, or change how often it arrives, go to your E-mail Settings. http://groups.msn.com/PituitaryChat/_emailsettings.msnw Need help? If you've forgotten your password, please go to Passport Member Services. http://groups.msn.com/_passportredir.msnw?ppmprop=help For other questions or feedback, go to our Contact Us page. http://groups.msn.com/contact If you do not want to receive future e-mail from this MSN group, or if you received this message by mistake, please click the "Remove" link below. On the pre-addressed e-mail message that opens, simply click "Send". Your e-mail address will be deleted from this group's mailing list. mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
