I made it! I'm on the other side of Cushing's! Surgery went great. It took a long time. I was told it was a difficult surgery. My tumor was very tiny, and it was between the anterior and posterior pituitary. I lost quit a bit of blood during surgery, but they got that stopped (obviously), and I'm doing good.
My surgeon is sure I have a cure. I'm pretty sure he is right too. After surgery for Cushing's, they check your cortisol levels, to see if they drop really low. If they do, that is an indication for a cure. They give you replacement cortisol, until your body starts making it again. The second morning after my surgery, my cortisol dropped really low. It was 0.7! What a sweet number to hear! The hydro they gave me immediately after telling me those numbers was even sweeter! I had been crashing ever since the surgery, and I knew it. I felt worse by the hour. I was chilling so bad my teeth were chattering, I had a headache, felt like puking, and I was so sore all over! I told the nurse I felt like someone drug me through a knot hole backwards, stomped on me, and ran over me with a train! When you've just had surgery for Cushing's, that's really good news! It doesn't feel so good, bit it is!
Now I have to go through this process of withdrawl. Not a fun prospect, but I think I'll be fine. I know what adrenal insufficiency (AI) feels like, and hopefully I will be able to stay on top of it. I hate having to go through feeling so weak and sick, but it's all part of the process, and I do look forward to that day, when I feel new and whole again. Even though I feel rough right now, I can tell I already feel better in some way. I can't quite put my finger on it, but it's there! I have not lost any weight, in fact, I've gained about 4 pounds. I have, however, lost inches. I don't know the total, but I know I lost 1.5 inches in my stomach/hip area already! That's an improvement.
At the hospital, they had me take 50 mg. of hydro at 8 am, and 10 mg. at 8 pm. The endo who diagnosed me usually has you take it at 8 am, and 1 or 2 pm. A lot of people can't sleep if they take their hydro later than that. If I take my sleeping pill, I can sleep like a log, and then I'm not feeling so sick in the mornings either. Their reasoning was that the last dose has to hold me through until 8 am. That makes sense to me. They had me on the 50/10 for 2 days, then I dropped to 20/10. That's half! I felt it. I felt OK, and slept most of the day. The next day was the day I came home, so I took 40/10 that day (which was yesterday). I went back to 20/10 today. I'll see how I do on it. I have a feeling that weaning will be a long process for me.
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