Postpartum testing and preparing for brain surgery

After we brought Sawyer home, all I wanted to do was snuggle him all day.  The newborn stage is so hard but I just loved it!

I remember my sister commenting on how tired I looked when she saw this picture...she was right!

Once of the tougher parts for me was not being able to breastfeed.  I had heard that breastfeeding was really hard, so I felt prepared for it to be challenging and painful.  What I wasn't prepared for was not producing any breast milk... at all!  I attempted to nurse him at the hospital and couldn't really tell if he was getting anything.  We knew that it could take a few days for milk to come in so I assumed it would just take time.  Unfortunately, his weight was dropping so we ended up having to use formula (again, not part of my "plan").  Would you believe that babies sleep so much better when you're not accidentally starving them?! 😬 I still attempted to nurse before feeding him formula, but after two weeks and a prescription to help my milk come in with no results, it was clear that it just wasn't going to happen.  It was obvious then that the pituitary tumor was affecting my hormones.

The neurologist that I had seen previously scheduled an appointment for me with an endocrinologist in the area.  WORST. EXPERIENCE. EVER.

The details are hazy because I was still in a sleep deprived, postpartum cloud, but the endocrinologist had the worst bedside manner of any doctor I've ever met!  After getting my blood work results, she told me, "I'm surprised  you survived your c section."  😧 When I asked her if we would be able to have any more children, she insinuated that it would not be possible.

I was diagnosed with adrenal deficiency and hypothyroidism.  That explained the severe fatigue I had been experiencing (and assumed was just how everyone felt with a newborn!).  The adrenal deficiency was especially dangerous, since the cortisol produced by the adrenal gland regulates blood pressure, the immune system's responses to viruses and bacteria, and metabolism.  The hypothyroidism explained why I hadn't had an appetite since having Sawyer.  I was prescribed hydrocortisone and levothyroxine to replace the missing hormones.

After seeing the endocrinologist (for the first and LAST time!), the neurologist wanted me to have another MRI to see if the inflammation had decreased since giving birth.  Luckily, my vision had returned to normal, so I was hopeful that everything was returning to normal.

This MRI took place at a different facility.  I really hated the first one since I'm claustrophobic and hated the noise, so I was feeling pretty anxious.  When they walked me back to what looked like a bloodmobile and had me lay on the table to start, I lost it.  Within minutes I broke down in tears and they had to pull me out of the machine.  I felt so dumb and hated that Hunter had taken off of work to come with me and watch Sawyer, but I just couldn't handle the tiny portable on top of being in an MRI machine!

They rescheduled me at the original location and prescribed me a Xanax 🙌, so I was able to make it through the second attempt.  The tumor was still present, so the doctor wanted to discuss plans for surgery.

Throughout this whole process, we were trying to keep our families in the loop.  My sister-in-law's father got wind of what was going on, and decided to speak to his friend who is a doctor at Duke Hospital.  He told him that he would not let his own daughter have this surgery in Columbia, SC, and was kind enough to get us in to see an endocrinologist at Duke.  We are SO forever grateful of this favor, especially since it usually takes months to a year to see her.  We were able to meet her within a matter of weeks.

And so began our journey of traveling back and forth to Duke on a regular basis.  Our sister-in-law's family was also kind enough to let us stay with them in Raleigh when we had appointments and they even helped watch Sawyer.  Again, no words can describe how grateful we were/are for their help and support!

To make a long story short (too late for that?), the endocrinologist kept me on the medicine I had been prescribed and I met with a neurosurgeon and an ENT surgeon.  The neurosurgeon recommended that I have transsphenoidal surgery to remove the tumor.  He described it as "a giant nose picking" where they use an endoscope and some other scary tools that I blocked out to go through my nose and carefully remove the tumor.  The ultimate hope was to not have any major damage to the pituitary gland so that it could regain normal, or at least semi-normal function.

The ENT surgeon's part would be to get  the neurosurgeon in and out through my sinus cavity.  I was smart at this point and stopped googling things about brain surgery!  He also told me I had a severely deviated septum, so he would fix that while they were in there as well.  BOGO!  (Haha...not quite)

We scheduled my surgery for Monday, December 5, 2016.  We already had plans to go to St. Petersburg, FL after Thanksgiving, and I figured if I had to lay around and recover, I might as well do it while Christmas movies were on TV!  Of course we had a few more trips back and forth to Duke before my surgery to meet with the anesthesiologist department and ensure I was healthy enough for surgery, but after that we just had to wait.  Luckily between traveling and taking care of a newborn, I didn't have much time to sit around and worry!