Happy Easter & Surgery Information

Happy Easter!

(Andrew at 2, 2009)

 We hope you had a beautiful Easter Sunday! Today, we enjoyed being together with family at our house--a nice, low key celebration. 

It was a far cry from last year, when the whole family enjoyed Easter at our house while we spent the day in the hospital. It was what I imagine will be the most special and memorable (albeit different) Easter Sundays of our lives, as we welcomed Eli to the world!

Tomorrow though, we will be spending the day at the hospital again, but not for a fun reason like bringing home a "little Easter bunny". Brian is having surgery--a parathyroidectomy (removal of his parathyroid gland) to be exact. And, the surgeon will be taking a look at his thyroid too. Needless to say, he's been having some endocrine system issues that are being taken care of (hopefully) tomorrow via some delicate neck surgery. We're hopeful that all goes well and hospital time will be minimal. But, there's a lot we won't know for sure until the surgeon gets in there. So, we'd love an extra prayer!

If you're interested in some brief medical specifics & how this all came to be, here it is:

- Summer of 2008: we both have new patient physical exams at the Dr.'s office (including blood labs). Brian's comes back with elevated calcium. So, repeat labs. Calcium still high. Do another more sensitive test = calcium levels still high. 

- Fall 2008: Meet with Dr. about high calcium. Says it's likely one of a few things, namely either bone cancer or hyperparathyroidism (the fancy, medical lingo for a hyperactive parathyroid). Very soon after do a bone survey (some sort of fancy scan) to rule out bone cancer. It did, thank God! So, referral to endocrinologist.

- Meet endocrinologist & run LOTS of labs. Calcium still high. Parathyroid hormone levels also high. Run various tests over the course of many months. Officially diagnosed with hyperparathyroidism.

- Summer/fall 2009: Do an ultrasound on the neck to see if they can tell which parathyroid gland is overactive (you have 4 parathyroid glands). Can tell nothing about the parathyroids, but Brian's thyroid gland doesn't look right. The Dr. said it looked like cauliflower, which is abnormal. That issue and his parathyroid problems are completely unrelated. So, LOTS of blood & urine studies are done for that, including a genetic test for MEN1 syndrome. The end diagnosis = Hashimoto's Disease (an autoimmune disorder attacking the thyroid gland).

- Spring/Summer 2010: Monitor levels for both conditions. Calcium levels continue to rise slightly.

- November 2010: Sestamibi Scan done to check for parathyroid tumor causing the problem. Basically, a special radioactive chemical is injected into your veins and from a series of scans with that, they hope to see where the problem lies. In Brian, it was conclusive--lower right parathyroid gland is enlarged. Benign tumor called an adenoma.

(Much like this illustration):

 

- January/February 2011: Meet with endocrinologist about results. Surgery is needed. There really wasn't a choice in waiting much. Calcium is a vital substance in your body whose numbers really need to be in the normal range. Ultimately, the worst issues are heart attack and stroke. So, there's no choice!

- March 2011: Meet with Otolaryngologist Surgeon. Thankfully, we really like him! Hopefully that holds true! Surgery is scheduled for April 25th (tomorrow).

If you want to know more about hyperparathyroidism, parathyroid.com is a really good, comprehensive site.

What we know about tomorrow: 

-We have to check in at 7:30am at Good Samaritan hospital downtown (no food or drink for Brian for the 8 hours prior to that).

- Surgery is scheduled for 9:00am. He will be making a 1-2 inch incision across the front of Brian's neck. If all goes well, hopefully things should only take one hour. The surgeon will head for the right side first and said he should be able to tell by appearance very quickly if the adenoma is there. They will check his parathyroid hormone levels before surgery and after removing the suspect gland. If the numbers decrease significantly, they know the right one was taken. While the surgeon is in there, he will also take a look at Brian's thyroid glad and check for any nodules (which could be a sign of cancer). The parathyroid gland will also be sent for pathology results, but 99% of the time, these tumors are non-cancerous. So, we're going with that!

There's all kinds of info about things that could go "wrong" or make surgery take longer, but no need to post about all of that unless necessary.

So, we'd love extra prayers tonight & tomorrow:

- for steady hands & wisdom of the surgeon

- a quick & successful surgery

- Brian handling the anesthesia ok

- Minimal hospital time. We're hoping for a few hours after, but he may be staying until Tuesday.

Thanks!! Will keep you posted!