DISCUSSION WITH DOCTOR

::scratching head::

This will be ridiculously broken up. I wrote as much down as I could during my conversation with Dr. McKenna, one of Carl’s team of neurosurgeons. The following is what I was told

 Carl is not having surgery next week.
 They believe that Carl could also have a growth hormone releasing hormone (aka GHRH), which is made in the hypothalamus.
 They will repeat imaging on his head in the next three months.
 Carl is in the early stages of Acromegaly.
 The doctors want to nail [it] down before returning to the option of surgery.
 Carl’s headaches could be independent of his tumor/condition.
 The tumor that is by the pituitary may possibly not be a pituitary tumor, though all of Carl’s tests say otherwise. What they see in the scans could be a mucus seal, which can apparently sometimes dissolve.
 They do not believe Carl’s physical symptoms (joint aches, back aches, etc.) will improve with treatment.
 They may be able to start him on specific medicines to help his headaches.
 They could re-explore surgery or attempt gamma knife radiation. There are some concerns with gamma knife radiation: 1. it may not work 2. there could be potential damage to local tissues 3. there could be damage to the optical nerves – though this likely would not happen since the tumor appears to be far enough away from Carl’s optical nerves. Dr. McKenna believes that if they do decide to go back in and try gamma knife radiation, he might just try to operate again as gamma knife radiation is often a last resort.