After ready Amy’s story- a 10 hour operation, I felt inspired to share my own story, which started off very similar.
In 2022 4 weeks after a violent altercation, I awoke with a severe headache. Having abstained from alcohol since the January of 2022, I had drunk a glass of wine the previous evening and put the headache down to dehydration. Unfortunately, the headache did not subside and by 09:00 hrs I had to ask my wife to call an ambulance. Paramedics were quickly on scene (fortunately) tests for stroke carried out and then a swift trip to our local hospital. The 12 hours wait in the car park in the back of the ambulance was broken with first a cat scan and then a full MRI.
The result was that my tumour had burst and was showing signs of compromising my optic nerves. A field of vision examination revealed that my vision was impaired in both upper left and upper right quadrant, indicating pressure on the centre of both optic nerves.
I had a trans-sphenoidal re-section of the tumour, and fortunately the whole of the tumour was removed. Following 7 days in hospital I am fortunate that I was allowed home and my only residual symptoms are low levels of 2 hormones and slightly impaired taste and smell.
Recently I had an appointment with my endocrinologist. My review went well and I am pleased that my blood levels have stabilised and the consultant informed me that they will continue with annual blood tests and MRI scans for this year and then review gain after my next annual review.
The consultant has given me photos of my pituitary scans, before and after surgery.
Reading Amy’s story really does make me feel so fortunate and indicates how narrow the margins for success and failure really are. I wish her well for the rest of her treatment and hope she has a successful session of radiotherapy and that they can rid her of the rest of the tumour.
The foundation is an awesome thing as I have taken comfort myself from stories that have been covered. I hope that my story can be of similar comfort to others.