The Size of a Pea
Health Update:
Who knew something the size of a pea could cause so much trouble! Last Friday I had a CT scan done of my abdomen. My doctor was lead to believe after all the blood tests were done that the tumor was on my adrenal gland. The CT scan was kind of crazy. (I have never had anything like this done.) It was a big donut shaped machine. It talks to you! ("breathe", "hold your breath") and then there were little smiley faces that lit up when you could breathe and one that shows you to hold your breath. I had to be injected with some crazy dye so they could see my insides better. I had one scan done without the dye and then had one scan done with the dye. I learned that when something is injected into your blood stream it takes on average about 13 seconds to run through your system. I felt it. The dye was really hot and warm and I felt it go through my system super quick. What a strange feeling. It only lasted about 3 minutes.
Anyhow, today I talked to my doctor. They found a 3.5 mm mass on my adrenal gland. (Stupid me wasn't even thinking to ask which side it was on!) I guess my doctor was still slightly hesitant as my blood work still told him there was a very slight possibility that it could be pituitary. But he consulted with a specialist at Mayo and that doctor told him, no go in and take the tumor out. It's very rare that someone would have a tumor in BOTH places. So I am now meeting with the surgeon next Wednesday, the 19th. I guess at this consultation I will learn about the surgery and what they are going to do and schedule a date. So we are moving along. I just want to get all this over with and get better! I hope that the surgery will be sooner than later. My doctor is going out of town on September 22 and he told me he wants to do all the pre-operative work so it will be before then at least. I guess I can't complain. It hasn't even quite been a month since I was diagnosed with Cushing's Syndrome and we are already (almost) scheduled for surgery.
On-the-rest-of-my-life Update:
I applied for a Group Study Exchange in India!! I am so totally excited about this. It is sponsored through the Rotary Foundation.
You can read about it here or here
If I get accepted I would spend the month of January in India! It's basically a professional development trip. I would represent the MLC and would be on a team of five people where we would travel around to different organizations and talk about our professions and learn about how our professions are practiced there. We would exchange ideas and thoughts about our work. I would stay with a host family (someone who is Rotary member there.) Everything is provided -- including travel expenses!
I told myself why the hell not. What an amazing experience! If I didn't apply I would be a fool. This would be amazing. I have no idea what the competition is like and how many people apply, but that's okay. If I don't get to go, it wasn't meant to be. But I am not afraid to try. I sent the application today. The only really big issue may be my health. But if all goes well after my surgery, I should be just fine and all healed up ready to go by January. The only thing I am worried about is that I have to be available for an interview on August 29th. If I have surgery before then I may not be well enough to attend -- but maybe, if they like my application enough, they would make an exception? We will just have to wait and see what happens. Keep your fingers crossed for me! Send positive thoughts my way....;-)
Who knew something the size of a pea could cause so much trouble! Last Friday I had a CT scan done of my abdomen. My doctor was lead to believe after all the blood tests were done that the tumor was on my adrenal gland. The CT scan was kind of crazy. (I have never had anything like this done.) It was a big donut shaped machine. It talks to you! ("breathe", "hold your breath") and then there were little smiley faces that lit up when you could breathe and one that shows you to hold your breath. I had to be injected with some crazy dye so they could see my insides better. I had one scan done without the dye and then had one scan done with the dye. I learned that when something is injected into your blood stream it takes on average about 13 seconds to run through your system. I felt it. The dye was really hot and warm and I felt it go through my system super quick. What a strange feeling. It only lasted about 3 minutes.
Anyhow, today I talked to my doctor. They found a 3.5 mm mass on my adrenal gland. (Stupid me wasn't even thinking to ask which side it was on!) I guess my doctor was still slightly hesitant as my blood work still told him there was a very slight possibility that it could be pituitary. But he consulted with a specialist at Mayo and that doctor told him, no go in and take the tumor out. It's very rare that someone would have a tumor in BOTH places. So I am now meeting with the surgeon next Wednesday, the 19th. I guess at this consultation I will learn about the surgery and what they are going to do and schedule a date. So we are moving along. I just want to get all this over with and get better! I hope that the surgery will be sooner than later. My doctor is going out of town on September 22 and he told me he wants to do all the pre-operative work so it will be before then at least. I guess I can't complain. It hasn't even quite been a month since I was diagnosed with Cushing's Syndrome and we are already (almost) scheduled for surgery.
On-the-rest-of-my-life Update:
I applied for a Group Study Exchange in India!! I am so totally excited about this. It is sponsored through the Rotary Foundation.
You can read about it here or here
If I get accepted I would spend the month of January in India! It's basically a professional development trip. I would represent the MLC and would be on a team of five people where we would travel around to different organizations and talk about our professions and learn about how our professions are practiced there. We would exchange ideas and thoughts about our work. I would stay with a host family (someone who is Rotary member there.) Everything is provided -- including travel expenses!
I told myself why the hell not. What an amazing experience! If I didn't apply I would be a fool. This would be amazing. I have no idea what the competition is like and how many people apply, but that's okay. If I don't get to go, it wasn't meant to be. But I am not afraid to try. I sent the application today. The only really big issue may be my health. But if all goes well after my surgery, I should be just fine and all healed up ready to go by January. The only thing I am worried about is that I have to be available for an interview on August 29th. If I have surgery before then I may not be well enough to attend -- but maybe, if they like my application enough, they would make an exception? We will just have to wait and see what happens. Keep your fingers crossed for me! Send positive thoughts my way....;-)