CushieBlog

Today is Cushing’s Awareness Day – the birthday of Dr. Harvey Williams Cushing.  I am going to use this famous quote by Dr. Cushing as the inspiration for my post today and talk about what I learned from the experience of getting Cushing’s, in random order.

1.  Patients are smarter, more educated, and might play a bigger role in your survival than you can imagine is possible.

3.  Rare endocrine diseases, like Cushing’s, are hard to figure out.  The tumors can be hard to see and hard to catch in action.  The symptoms are vague and strange.  Diagnosis is only quick and easy for the very lucky and for the very unlucky who suffered for years before finding help.  If you are reading these kind of blogs, you probably don’t fall into the former group.

4.  Because rare endocrine diseases are hard to figure out, if YOU suspect you have Cushing’s it is…

After my disappointing appointment yesterday, I had the following exchange with my PCP via email, below.  It just made me feel hopeless.   I know she thinks I need exercise and anti-depressants and Prilosec – she has suggested all three to me before.  NO AMOUNT OF PROZAC AND PRILOSEC CAN FIX A TUMOR.  It boggles my mind that she honestly thinks this crap is going to solve my problems.  But it is good to know where I stand with her so that I can plan according.

Thankfully, I generally respond well to negative reinforcement 🙂  I was down last night, but I woke up mad as hell and more determined than ever to figure this shit out.  The fact that my PCP doesn’t think there is any “major diagnosis” coming my way was just the smack I needed to get my motivation back.   Just because she (and the others…