since October 2000.
Also about the time I reached the 6th grade, my doctor determined that I was not growing (height) according to expectations. So, when he determined that the histocytosis (the disease that starded it all) had gone into remission, he scheduled a glucose tolerance test (or something like that) to determine whether my pituitary gland was secreting the proper amount of growth hormone. From the test results he determined that I was deficient in growth hormone. I was sent to Little Rock, where a doctor was conducting a research study on the effectiveness of replacement therapy using a growth hormone extract (this was before a synthetic hormone had been produced).
Upon acceptance into her program, I began taking growth hormone injections three times a week. I took these injections for about eight (8) years and grew about twelve (12) inches.
By the time I graduated from high school, I had learned to administer my own injections, therefore I was able to attend college in another town (about 3 1/2 hours away) where I lived in dorms and managed my own medication. I also remember taking a bus to Little Rock and a taxi to visit the doctor.
About the middle of my sophomore year in college, the doctor in Little Rock decided to take me off growth hormone, and dismissed me to an endocrinologist in Fort Smith, whom I could visit during my breaks from school. This worked out very well.
I've long since graduated college with a BA in communications. My endochrinologist got me started on the pill form of DDAVP about three years ago (1998), and that seems to be working well.
I was contacted several years ago, I think that was in 1998, about a study concerning adult growth hormone deficiency. After going to Little Rock for some tests, it was determined that I was deficient in HGh, and therefore elegible for inclusion in the study. However, I decided not to take part because of the expected cost (the study sponsor would only pay for lab work, I would be responsible for all other charges including the cost of the hormone.)
It has been several years since I updated. The close of 2002 is rapidly approaching.
My endochrinologist has recently become concerned about my cholesterol, electrolyte, and testosterone levels. He has started me on Lipitor to try and correct the cholesterol, and possibly electrolyte levels, and Androgel to correct the testosterone levels (he said it is as important to men in bone density as estrogen is for women).
My Dr. wants to perform a bone density test as soon as I have the deductable on my insurance met, I will probably call and schedule that before the end of the year as the deductable of $1000 is almost met, and one more month supply of DDAVP will finish that.
-- Added Nov. 25, 2006 --
(I appologize for my tardiness in keeping this updated.) ..I had the bone density test and it indicated that my bones were in pretty good shape.
During the summer of 2002, I fell at work and the arm of a chair hit my sturnum, causing conciderable pain for several weeks, this led me to visit a local physician, because I was affraid it may have caused some damage. When the doctor came in to the examination room, the first thing he did was sit down and begain to examin (palpate) my throat, I later understood that he had noticed an enlarted thyroid gland. He then obtained a chest X-Ray and told me to come back for a followup X-Ray in, I believe, a week.
When I went to see my endo. for a regular checkup a few months later, he told me that the local doctor had noted in the medical record that my right thyroid gland appeared to be enlarged. So my endo. scheduled an ultrasound which indicated that it was indeed enlarged. Next he scheduled a fine needle biopsy for Febuary, 2003. The biopsy (a prceedure performed in unison with ultrasound imaging, in which the doctor obtains samples from the tissue in question) indicated that the tisue was posibly cancerous, so the sample was sent to another lab for a second opinion. When the sceond opinion came back 'suspicious for carcinoma', the doctor and I agreed that the best thing to do was remove that thyroid gland.
So, in May of 2003 I entered the outpatient center for thyroid surgeryBecause of my DI the surgeon had a catheter inserted so my urine output could be monitered, and I was admited to the hospital after the surgery to monitor my recovery and administer IV fluids, as well as calcium. After a few days I returned to my parent's home to continue my recovery for a few weeks, when the surgeon told us I could return to work I moved back to my appartment in Greenwood.
My health continued to do well over the next year. During the spring/summer of 2004 my parents noticed a mole on my left cheek, and became concerned enough to begin taking measurements when I would visit, and told me to bring it to the attention of my endo. when I see him. In Febuary of 2005, my next scheduled visit to my endo., I remembered as he began to leave the room, and he steped back to look. He then went to retrieve a camera, took a picture and scheduled an appointment (for me) to see a dermatologist. In a few days I went to see the dermatologist and he procededed to take a "punch" biopsy (I think he took a sample of the mole out of the center) and put in a few stitches, he told me to come back in a few weeks to have the stitches removed. When I returned to have the stitches removed he said the biopsy had indicated melanoma (skin cancer) and he had sent it to a friend at the University of Texas for a second opinion, but he had also scheduled an appointment to see a Plastic Surgeon in a few days (at 9:99 on a Thursday).
At that point I knew I needed to let my parents know. Because of my work schedule, I was to be working the night before (11p-7:30a), it was decided that my Dad would pick me up at my appartment to take me to see the Plastic Surgeon. When she came in to the examining room she looked at the mole and took a few pictures (she would take a picture every time I came back). She told us the second opinion had come back positive and she had scheduled surgery (removal of the mole, and a skin graft) for the next Tuesday, so I should take off work for 2 and 1/2 weeks begining immediately. I was to get an EKG and some lab work that day, the next day I had an appointment with a General Surgeon (the same man who had done my Thyroid surgery), who was to do a limphectomy (removal of a limph node) after the Plastic Surgeon was finished(this was not done because he could not locate the lymph node into which the mole drained), and Monday I was to have a CT scan.
All went well (except for a little anxiety problem with the CT) and the mole/tumor was removed Tuesday April 19, 2005. When we went back to the Plastic Surgeon for a followup she gave me a pathology report that indicated that the tumor had been completely removed, and proceded to check the surgery site and remove the stitches. She did tell me that she wanted me to see an oncologist when the surgery was basicly healed.
When I first saw the oncologist in June, he told me that the melanoma had been totally removed, and was determined to be non-matastisizing (non-spreading?). He also recommended that I get a second opinion from M.D. Anderson or UAMS, which was quite a bit closer. After some discussion with my father, we decided, given their focus on cancer, that M.D. Anderson Cancer Center would be a better choice, even if it were close to six (6) hours more driving time, so we asked the oncologist to make a referal and M.D. sent me some information and an appointment.
The doctor at M.D. agreed that the cancer was gone, but wanted me to return. At this time I don't think I will return to M.D. because of the distance and the expense/ lost work.
It is now June 2007 and because of insurance issues (between my ins. carrier and the clinic my Dr. worked for) I have changed physicians who has since changed affiliations, a Family Practice physician. At my last checkup he said I was doing fine.
I have also begun seeing a Dermatologist, because of my melanoma experience for skin examinations every 6 months.
Here is a chart I found which outlines the basics of this disease.