Post-Surgery update

Jess is resting, mom is watching a movie, and I am over by the window typing away!

The doctor stopped by around 5:00, and gave us a brief summary of how the surgery went. He said that from what he could tell, he was able to remove all of the adenoma off of her pituitary gland. He doesn't foresee there being any post-operative complications. He'll be checking back in tomorrow morning.

What do we expect over the next 24-48 hours? Extreme nausea and vomiting, due to the dramatic decrease in Jess's cortisol levels. This is what they want to see happen, it means that things are working their way back to "normal". To put it in perspective, her pre-op cortisol levels were at 260, normal range is 10-100. Cushing's Syndrome is a disease that occurs when your body produces too much cortisol. By removing the adenoma, the CS will hopefully be gone. The symptoms that she has been dealing with are:

Moon face (round, red, and full)
Buffalo hump (a collection of fat between the shoulders)
Central obesity with protruding abdomen and thin extremities
Weight gain (unintentional)
Weakness
Backache
Headache
Acne or superficial skin infections
Thin skin with easy bruising
Purple striations on the skin of the abdomen, thighs, and breasts
Mental changes
cessation of menses
Facial hair growth

Again, we are expecting these symptoms to go away as she heals up. If they don't, the next step would be to remove her adrenal glands...but first we'll wait to see how things go. The doctors are pretty confident that the adenoma was causing the Cushing's. They will be watching her blood levels very closely over the next couple of days to make sure that they are, in fact, dropping. That will basically tell them if it was the pituitary adenoma that was causing the Cushing's Synrome. They are pretty sure that is the case, but the blood levels will "prove" it.

Jess is doing pretty well, considering all that she has been through today. She is experiencing your "standard" discomfort of having surgery "through" her nose. She has a headache when the pain meds wear off, but again, this is all standard. I'm so glad that she had a pedicure and manicure yesterday, because her hands and toes look so pretty! She feels good about them, that's what is important. She does not have a catheter, nor does she have an iv, which is great. Both of those things are so uncomfortable.

Thank you so much for your cards, messages, phone calls and beautiful balloon bouquet!! Jess loves them all! She is so cheered up by all of you! Thank you!

Blessing to all of you!

Liz, Nancy & Jess