Follow Up Appointment with Jackie and More Results!

Next follow up was with my consultant, the Jackster. Literally one of the sweetest women in the world. Also kinda clever too...which helps. At the time of the meeting my IST results hadnt come back so she couldnt update me on whats happening with growth hormone but she did say the blood results which also tested my free thyroxine (to do with thyroid function) showed it was a litttle weeny bit high. So, instead of increasing my levothyroxine, theyve actually reduced it. Turns out that was what was keeping me awake at night. And she also gave me some good news. Infact the best news- not only were my cortisol levels 'a little bit low', they were undetectable!!!!!!! (Which is anything below 30nmls) woohooo! Thats a sign the surgeons worked their magic and got rid of that god damn timmy! Even though it was along with my pituitary gland I am over the moon. There may still be a weeny bit left in the bone which ill need radiotherapy for, its not doing any damage right now and i can lead a normal life without having to worry too much. 

She also approved me to go travelling next year! Woohoooo. So all that money i saved by never going out and being a tramp to pay for rent at uni over the next couple of years is being blown on a big 'fuck it, ive had a shit year' extended holiday. I cant wait. All in all, Dr Jacks is happy with my improvement and is happy to get me back on that road to the good life. (Long live jackie)

Since that meeting ive had a couple of letters through the post explaining my thyroid funtion test results and saying it is advised to start me of growth hormone. I have to be booked in for another injection lesson before i start because, unlike emergency hydrocortisone, this one is into fat (tummy, arm etc) and not muscle. Tbh i cant wait to get started. My muscle mass feels as if its at a negative right now and every movement i make gives me aches and pains. Load me up and load me up soon!!

I also have an MRI on the 2nd September and a meeting with the oncologists (i dont have cancer, its just oncologists deal with radiotherapy) on the 19th to look at and discuss my MRI and book me in for a course of radio. Looks like things should be plain sailing from now on and im finally feeling optimistic about the future (except the fact were leaving the EU but thats a different story).

Insulin Stress Test

When the sun is shining as bright as it is today, what better way is there to spend an afternoon than catching pokemon and updating the blog? (Eating scones and getting a massage maybe?). Im sorry i havent written in a while... Life has been enjoyable and im feel like im becoming the old me again... Actually enjoying things and wanting to get out of bed in the morning (afternoon). 

But health wise the update is jolly good news!!! I went for the blood test i mentioned in the last post about a month ago and the following week i had the all important IST. I predicted it was gonna be 2 hours of feeling shit but i can confidently say that that 2 hours lasted the entire day.

I wasnt feeling toooooo bad because during the wait they had my blood results back from when i was off the hydrocortisone and they said my levels were very low. So seeing as they were going to put my body under stress and cortisol is what your body needs for stress, they only wanted me to skip my 8am hyrocortisone, instead of the two the day before as well. Anyway, so the IST is basically inducing hypoglycaemia (it has nothing to do with testing for diabeties  or blood sugar, its just an easy way of putting your body under stress. When the body of a 'normal' person is under stress, it produces cortisol and growth hormone to compensate and help deal with the stress. I was to have insulin injected into me to zap up the sugar in my blood and then have my blood and blood sugar levels taken at 15 minute intervals to see how my body responds. The nurse said the insulin should take about 45 minutes to kick in and if my sugar levels dropped to 1.7 or below i would need to drink a (disgusting) drink to help bring it back up. She had to be at the end of my bed to keep an eye on me  the entire time but i kept my hopes up...

In the insulin went and after about 5 minutes i started to feel a bit funny- spaced out and weak. Then a bit hungry but then not hungry at all. I was very drowsy (i would normally be being deprived of my 11hours if sleep, but particularly drowsy compared to normal) but my nurse kept telling me i needed to fight the tiredness so i can tell her how im feeling and she can record it. She took my first set of bloods and my sugar levels had already dropped to 0.6. I dont really remember much but mum said they had a sense of panic in their eyes while trying to remain calm and shoving as much of the sugary drink down my throat as they could. I really cant remember much of it at all and to be honest it didnt feel like 2 hours. My mum said those levels are likely to cause you to fall unconsious so maybe the reason it didnt feel like that long was because i was going in an out of consiousness and i wasnt actually even there for all of it haha. Anyway the test finished and after two of the big bottles of the nasty syrup drink my sugar levels wouldnt rise above 2.7. They gave me a packed lunch i had to eat to bring it back up before they could release me but on a scale of 1-1000 my appetite was at about -10. I picked at it a bit and ate half a sandwich and my sugar levels were high enough to go. Mum popped me in a taxi and i went home and slept on the sofa feeling sorry for myself. I dont know if the fact my sugar levels went so low so quickly is an indication of my cortisol or growth hormones but the results shall say... I also had to fill out a questionairre asking questions like 'do you avoid new situations' (yes) and 'do you have trouble maintaining friendships' (no) to help them assess my need for growth hormone. I scored 17/25 which apparently would suggest i was in need. (Wahey! Officially a debby downer 🙄🙄)