Tuesday, March 22

Yesterday, Monday, Frank saw the Endocrinologist to discuss removing the tumor on his adrenal gland. The doctor was looking over his blood test (the one they took near the end of his stay at Elmhurst Memorial) and 3 out of 4 things they tested for are pointing to the fact that this tumor IS the main cause of his high blood pressure. And that once they remove it, his body will sync up again and all levels would pretty much return back to normal. Then afterwards, he may only have to be on 1 or even no blood pressure medication. His situation is somewhat rare, but this doctor feels pretty confident that all signs are pointing to this tumor. He said that they would just remove the entire gland, because there are two, and we only need one. Since not ALL signs point to the tumor and there is one thing in his blood work that puts small doubt that this tumor is not the main source, he would like Frank to get a second opinion from another doctor at Loyola. Yes, they can go in and remove the gland without the second opinion, but they don’t like to remove anything from a person’s body unless there’s complete confidence that it’s necessary (whether we need that organ or not). Frank will be calling this second doctor today to make an appointment. After that, if this doctor says yes they should remove it, then Frank will be meeting with the surgeon for another exam and to set-up the surgery.

The Endocrinologist also specializes in diabetes so Frank asked if they could make the switch from insulin shots to pills. The doctor said definitely, and that with slight modifications to his diet and exercise that he feels confident that they can knock it out entirely in a month or so. He switched him to the lowest dose insulin pill possible and doesn’t feel like he’ll have to take it for long. So that was good news!

This past Friday, Frank got his glasses that are helping his eyes focus, so that was another positive. He also saw the primary physician overseeing his case. Frank asked if he could take him off of the seizure pills so he can start practicing driving in therapy. Unfortunately the doctor said he could not because it was the Neurologist that put him on them. Frank will be seeing the Neurologist a week from tomorrow, so hopefully at that time he can stop taking those and then start learning to drive again.

His Occupational Therapist stated that there is nothing else to go through with him – only the driving – so Frank does not have to go to occupational therapy any longer at this point. Therefore, he is only going to Marianjoy for the speech therapy to continue to sharpen his mind.