It's been a while since I was able to add something on here.  I have had an interesting week.  I went to Barnes-Jewish Hospital ER in St. Louis, MO on Friday, September 28.  I was having one of my attacks and since that is where I will have my surgery I wanted these doctors to see attacks and tell me what was happening.  They immediately took me for a brain CT scan.  It was ok, but they admitted me to hospital for additional testing and to see if I had myastenia gravis.  I had numerous blood tests, some came back right away and others were sent off and won't have results for a couple of weeks.  I also had MRI of brain and adrenal gland.  The doctors are "highly suspicious" that the adrenal tumor is cancer.  Do not have results back from that MRI yet.  I also had a nerve conduction study.  For those of you who have never experienced this... A nerve conduction study is when they put electrodes on you that have needles attached to them and then they proceed to put electric shock through them which forces the needles into your muscles.  Not a pleasant experience.  This was done on my left shoulder, hand, leg, foot, and around my left eye.  The left eye took them over an hour to get good results because they said I kept moving.  I wasn't trying to. You stick needles and electric shock through my face, I guess I involuntarily moved.  The tests turned out good through because it did not show signs of myastenia gravis.

Then they set up the MRI for my brain and abdomen.  Doctors ordered me NPO after midnight. OK, not eating till after tests.  Hospital had flooding issues on MRI floor and I ended up not being able to go down for test until 6:00 pm.  Then, they realized they can't do both tests at same time because they are with contrast and they can only watch one area at a time.  They do brain MRI first and reschedule abdomen for next day with the stipulation it has to be 24 hours later to allow contrast to get out of my system.  I get one meal and have to go NPO again.  I had a dried out biscuit with one piece of turkey, watery chicken noodle soup, and a small chef salad... only thing they had on hospital floor at 9:00 pm at night when I got back to room.  So, I ate my food and then waited to test the next day.  By 8:30 pm next night I told my nurse I was pretty sure they had cancelled my test, rescheduled it and just not told us.  I ended up talking to head nurse who in turn called my doctor after numerous calls had been made to MRI department.  At midnight, well over 50 hours later and only 1 meal I was informed the doctor had just found the MRI department had cancelled my MRI at 9:00 pm and did not call my nurse to let her know.  I was finally allowed to eat.  My mom went to the cafeteria and got me fries, onion rings, chicken sandwich, and egg roll.  I ate so fast it threw me into an attack, but at least I was able to eat first.  The next morning one of my doctors was in the room when the nutrition department brought me breakfast.  I told them I still had MRI to do, doctor said that they had figured out I really didn't need to be NPO for test so it was ok for me to eat.  REALLY!!!! I went 50 hours with only one meal to find out I didn't really need to go without eating?? I am diabetic. This is ridiculous, but at least I was able to eat.

I was released from the hospital on Thursday, October 4. My mom drove me home from St. Louis because my husband had returned to Springfield to work.  It was fun to surprise my family. They had no idea.  So, for now I deal with my diabetes, high blood pressure, and Cushing's. Figured out my "attacks" are from Cushing's but they mimic the symptoms of myastenia gravis.  That is why my doctor thought I had it.  I also wait to see if I have cancer.  My adrenal gland surgery has been rescheduled for November 7.  I just hope it goes this time around.