While my experience left me scarred in more ways than one, it has also taught me some valuable lessons that I’d like to share with everyone.

1. Ignorance is not bliss. When I had double vision of my right eye in 1999 and my OB/GYN at that time asked me to go see a neurologist, I did not heed her advice. I was ignorant of the fact that my hormonal imbalance that was being treated with contraceptives and that caused me to have double vision of my right eye had something to do with the brain, particularly the pituitary gland. Had I went to a neurologist then, my pituitary tumor could have been detected early, shrunk with medication, and I would not have to undergo surgery. In short, I have been suffering the consequences of my ignorance that I have no power now to undo. My ignorance could have caused me my life.

2. My family is my greatest source of strength and support. We can never really be prepared for tragedies, such as what happened to me. It pained me to see my parents, my father especially, distraught over what I was going through. I had to show them I was okay, that things were going to be okay. It was that thought that kept me going. I also didn’t want to be a burden to anyone, so I had to try my hardest to live a normal life again.

3. Things happen for a reason. We might not be able to fathom why unfortunate things happen to us. But there is definitely a reason for all of these, and in time, those reasons will be revealed. I used to cry a lot after my surgery because I thought that was the end for me. But God has other plans. Like a child just learning to walk, He lifted me up and led me to where he wanted me to be, which is here, with my husband and my son. I am lucky to have been given a second lease on life, and I meant to enjoy every minute of it.

It took a few months before I learned the art of head scanning techniques so I won’t bump into things when I travel on my own. Eight months after I was discharged, I was already doing home-based transcription work for a colleague. By January 2005, full-time work found me again. I was recommended by a former supervisor to her former boss to head the Medical Transcription Department of a newly formed company. I readily accepted the offer because I was going to work with friends and former officemates and I was raring to gain some sense of normalcy in my life. By April 2007, I was asked by another former colleague to head his BPO company of online writing tutors, the job I’m still doing to this day.

I got pregnant in October 2005. This was rather unexpected as I have not been able to conceive in the nine years that my husband and I have been married. I later found out that this, too, had something to do with the removal of the tumor. The tumor suppressed my fertility, so to speak. Because of my pregnancy, I had to stop the medication I was taking for the tumor for nine months. This caused the tumor to grow in size again (2.2 x 2.2 x 1.6 cm).

This was when I decided I needed help from above. My husband accompanied me to the Mother Ignacia Healing Ministry in Novaliches, Quezon City to seek Sister Raquel Reodica, a renowned cancer healer. I think we went there twice or thrice, and I was privileged to have been touched by Sister Raquel a few days before my next MRI was due. True enough, my tumor was reduced to half its original size when my MRI results were handed to me. The size of the tumor was now down to (1.0 x 0.9 x 1.0 cm.)

On January 31, 2008, my 36th birthday, Father Fernando Suarez happened to be officiating a mass and conducting a healing session beside the Mandaluyong City Hall, a few blocks away from my office. I stayed for the duration of the mass and participated in the general healing. At that time, I believed with all my heart that I was healed. And God was really good! My MRI results for that year revealed an empty sella turcica, meaning, there was no more tumor in my pituitary gland. This was my biggest miracle!

My MRI for 2009, however, revealed a small growth in my sella turcica again. Up until December 2007, my prolactin results were normal. Only when my medication was reduced to ½ tablet 4x a day did my prolactin level go up again. My endocrinologist and neurosurgeon told me not to worry as my medication can suppress a tumor this size. I’m looking forward to another miracle.

To be continued…

My blood sugar level shot up because of postoperative stress. Aside from my finger getting pricked every day, I was also being given insulin shots before breakfast and before supper for the first few months postdischarge. I also had to go on a strict diet, and this means cutting down my rice intake, which I found most difficult to do given that I’m a huge rice eater.

I have already resigned from my job prior to my surgery to give myself more time to recuperate. My vision gradually improved since the time I left the hospital. Unfortunately, my eyes would not be the way they used to be before the surgery. My left peripheral vision is affected, and my right eye has central residual vision. On top of that, my right eyeball now has a peculiar habit. The closer I look at an object, the farther to the right my right eyeball goes. This is because thepituitary tumor impinged upon my optic nerves.

A few months after the surgery, I was made to undergo MRI of the head again. As expected, there was still a small part of the tumor in my pituitary gland that was left after the operation. It was impossible for my neurosurgeon to remove everything as my internal carotid nerve, a delicate part of the brain, might get affected. So I took my medication again to shrink the remaining tumor, preventing it from releasing an excessive amount of prolactin.

I woke up late that morning of January 18, 2004. It was a Saturday, and both my husband and I didn’t have work on Saturdays. I got off the bed to use the bathroom. When I opened our bedroom door, I noticed there was something terribly wrong with my right eye. I was having double vision again (Note: In 1999, I had double vision of my right eye, which I thought was just a result of the medication given by my OB/GYN at that time for the treatment of my hormonal imbalance. My right eyeball was actually moving to the left, and I couldn’t control it.

I woke up my husband, and we rushed to the emergency room of the Makati Medical Center. Physical tests, blood tests, and MRI of my head were done. My neurosurgeon, Dr. A., then told me that an operation was imperative. I had to undergo frontal craniotomy to remove my pituitary tumor. Prior to the operation, I had a chest x-ray and ECG to make sure I was fit for the procedure.

On January 23, 2004, I went under the knife for an operation that lasted for five hours. When I was being wheeled out of the operating room, my husband told me my eyes were wide open, but it seemed like I wasn’t seeing them (my husband, my sister, and my parents) because I had no reaction when I saw them. I could hear them talking to me, but I wasn’t seeing anything. My husband feared I had actually become blind.

I stayed for a total of 17 days in the hospital. Biopsy results for the tumor showed that it was benign. Initially, I could only see a silhouette of my neurosurgeon’s fingers. The only color I was seeing at that time was black. Later on, I could see the color of things, too, but I left the hospital with very limited vision.

To be continued...

My doctor was right. My CT scan results showed a tumor in the sella turcica, that part of the brain where the pituitary gland is located. She said she wouldn’t know for sure if that’s what had actually caused the amenorrhea; it might or it might not be. But just the same, I had to consult a neurosurgeon asap. An MRI scan was soon to follow.

The MRI confirmed what we already knew. And they now had a term for it. The doctor who interpreted the results called it pituitary macroadenoma, a glandular tumor more than 10 mm in diameter, which is usually, but not always, benign.

We were getting prepared for the worst when the neurosurgeon told us to stop the medication earlier prescribed to reduce the tumor since I was asymptomatic in the first place. The doctor said the tumor was still too small to get a biopsy and we didn’t really know just yet what the tumor was doing or would do to my body, so there’s really no cause for alarm for now.

But the doctor said if I feel anything (e.g., changes in urine frequency, galactorrhea, etc.), then I’ll see him again. If none, I won’t have another MRI until after a year. The doctor would have to see if the mass gets bigger. We could only hope it doesn’t.

That means no medications for the tumor and no immediate operation (which I dreaded) for the time being!

To be continued…

Undergoing an open-head surgery was the most fearful, saddest, and worst time of my life. I would rather forget the whole thing than look back, but I decided to write my experience with the hope of informing others who suffer from or know someone who is suffering from a medical condition known as pituitary adenoma. Since this story is quite long, I decided to recount the whole experience in several posts.

This part was actually written on March 15, 2003 when I learned I had a mass in my pituitary gland. It was a sad time for my husband and I as we head for stormy waters and our faith was tested.

The last two weeks had been a blur. Everything turned out unexpectedly. What was to be a simple follow-up checkup with my obstetrician/gynecologist (OB/GYN) had me going to a neurosurgeon’s clinic for a second opinion.

I have been suffering from amenorrhea (absence or suppression of normal menstrual flow). I have been under the care of three OB/GYN’s in the past, and my experiences with them left me traumatized. On separate occasions, the medications I took gave me palpitations and a severe case of allergic reaction. When I had double vision of my right eye, I told myself I have had enough. I never went to an OB/GYN again. Until now.

It has been four years since I had my last menstruation, and I had an urgent need to be normal again for fear that osteoporosis might set in anytime. And so I went to my fourth doctor who had me undergo a series of blood tests to find the culprit, to finally pinpoint the cause of my amenorrhea. I was negative for goiter but had low follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH) levels and staggering prolactin levels (300 times over than the normal value).

Generally, my doctor said, most women with excessive prolactin levels have pituitary tumors. Not that she suspected I had one, but just the same I had to have aCT scan of the head. So I did.

To be continued…