Hello Reader, I had my surgery in Kelowna on November 9. This was a second trip to visit the nice people at Kelowna General Hospital. The first time was April 2011 and my surgeon then was partially successful in his locating and snipping out parathyroid glands that had gone to the “dark” side. The fault I had to return in November was not that of my surgeon, who is very knowledgeable and experienced with this type of surgery. The twist causing my return was due to the fact that my earlier tests indicated only minor surgery would suffice. The first surgery located my parathyroids, and of the ones located 2.5 of them were snipped. The desirable result would be that my calcium levels in my blood would drop. Time went by and it didn’t happen. Additional gamma scan then showed that I had a parathyroid that was enlarged and it was missed in the first surgery.
My surgeon went back on November 9, boldly returning and this time he would leave no “stone” not unturned. That is “exactly” what happened.
I return to the room, they hook me up, I recited why I was there, my date of birth and I blacked out. While I was “out” my surgeon (Dr. K) carefully looks, and cauterizes (very little blood loss). He found one “errant” gland but while it was larger than normal and it was a 5th gland, Dr K kept a thorough search going on. He even looked below my neck and my ribs, and there he found a 6th (sixth) parathyroid gland that was immense by parathyroid standards. It was 40X too big, as big as a cherry compared to being as big as a grain of rice. Dr K tested it first by taking a sample and he verified that it was indeed a parathyroid gland hiding there.
Now it, the oversized Ph gland and his brother, is out, and I am getting better, taking my calcium, bothered by “hungry bones” but on the mend.
I was treated swell by the nurses and support staff at KGH, and I hope my roommate Michael O’Brien is doing better every day. Thanks Mike for teaching me how to play crib with the “black” sand ~ we love it!
On another note ~ completely off topic to the above – I just love what is out there for animation, it is amazing and entertaining.
Life and Random Thinking 