High Calcium and Parathyroid Disease

[KB]

Good luck with surgery this week.

 

[TromboneAl]

She had the surgery Wednesday, and everything went fine. The doc actually took out two of the parathyroids (out of four).

We are back home, and Lena feels tired but OK.

 

[Moemg]

She had the surgery Wednesday, and everything went fine. The doc actually took out two of the parathyroids (out of four).

We are back home, and Lena feels tired but OK.

Great news ! Did the Doctor say no cooking or cleaning for two months and any camping must be done at Hotels ?

 

[KB]

Glad it all went well; I hope her labs are back to normal soon.

 

[Alan]

She had the surgery Wednesday, and everything went fine. The doc actually took out two of the parathyroids (out of four).

We are back home, and Lena feels tired but OK.

Best of luck Al, I'm glad Lena's surgery went fine. I have missed this thread up to now otherwise I would have chipped in to say that my mother had this procedure in 1973, having two parathyroids removed. She did fine back then, so I expect Lena will do great, with the advances in surgery since those days.

 

[tmm99]

Great that it all went well. You and Lena must be so relieved.

 

[TromboneAl]

Lena had a postop appt and everything is fine. A funny thing is that apparently the surgeon put two little metal clips on or by the remaining parathyroid glands, so that they could be located in the future. I don't quite understand that.

 

[Sue J]

Al, I had a breast lump biopsied and they did the same thing with the small metal clip. For me it was to show that the lump was already discovered and analyzed so that they don't see it as a new problem in later mammograms.

They told me the clip looks like a small hook or a check mark. I asked if they could put one in that looked like a dollar sign ($) because I had a high deductible and this was early in the year.

 

[Rich_by_the_Bay]

Lena had a postop appt and everything is fine. A funny thing is that apparently the surgeon put two little metal clips on or by the remaining parathyroid glands, so that they could be located in the future. I don't quite understand that.

I suspect they are markers for avoiding accidentally removing all the parathyroids at the time of surgery. I guess they would also come in handy for an unlikely recurrence.

 

[TromboneAl]

Lena had her calcium tested and it was normal (9.1), so the surgery worked. So, she's now building her bones back instead of tearing them down.

 

[Rich_by_the_Bay]

 

[REWahoo]

Lena had her calcium tested and it was normal (9.1), so the surgery worked. So, she's now building her bones back instead of tearing them down.

Good news Al!

 

[haha]

Good to hear this Al!

Ha

 

[Meadbh]

Way to go Lena!

 

[Bestwifeever]

Wow, that's amazing--what good news for Lena and you!

 

[Dreamer]

Yeah!!

 

[tmm99]

Great news Al!

 

[KB]

Good news.

 

[SarahW]

Lena had her calcium tested and it was normal (9.1), so the surgery worked. So, she's now building her bones back instead of tearing them down.

Woo hoo! This is great news, Al. My best wishes to Lena.

 

[harley]

Old thread reawakened:

Al, I was wondering if there had been any issues or side effects from Lena's parathyroid surgery and removal? Good or bad? My wife got some blood work done and her calcium level was 11, so we're looking into this too. We found the same web site you referenced, before I thought of searching this forum. The symptoms they list sounds like my wife wrote them, except for the osteo issues. We're FL residents, so we'll probably go to the center in Tampa, assuming the follow-ups indicate that we should do it. It sounds like their technique has improved too, with a quick 20 min. surgery and back home in a couple of hours.

Also, if anybody else has had experience with this condition since the original thread, I'd be very interested in your thoughts. We (like Al and Lena) have had a little problem getting our PCP on board, but now that we're past her gatekeeping the other doctors seem to be more aware of the problem.

It's also interesting that calcium levels aren't checked regularly, since there can be such severe side effects from it. DW only got hers checked because of test to see if she has arthritis. Otherwise we wouldn't know there was a problem.

 

[braumeister]

It's also interesting that calcium levels aren't checked regularly, since there can be such severe side effects from it. DW only got hers checked because of test to see if she has arthritis. Otherwise we wouldn't know there was a problem.

I'm surprised to hear that.
DW and I have had our calcium level checked on every routine blood test we've had (part of the annual physical) going back over 30 years. It's just one of the standard tests, nothing special.

 

[harley]

I'm surprised to hear that.
DW and I have had our calcium level checked on every routine blood test we've had (part of the annual physical) going back over 30 years. It's just one of the standard tests, nothing special.

That's good. I just went back over 6 years of blood tests, not a single one tested Calcium levels. I've got quite a few medical issues, so I've had a lot of blood work done. But no calcium. And I think Rich_by_the_Bay said in the old part of the thread that calcium screening was part of a "bloated blood panel", like compete metabolic screening. I don't think that's part of most people's check-ups.

 

[eytonxav]

If she or the Dr is concerned, I believe there is a more definitive ionized calcium and PTH blood test to see if its a parathyroid issue. See this link for info:
https://labtestsonline.org/understanding/analytes/calcium/tab/test/

My calcium has occasionally run high, but after further testing it proved to be nothing.

 

[TromboneAl]

Old thread reawakened:

Al, I was wondering if there had been any issues or side effects from Lena's parathyroid surgery and removal? Good or bad?

No, no side effects, everything fine.

Lena is convinced that the high calcium level was causing her to have headaches, since they have mostly gone away since the operation. She couldn't drink wine without getting a headache before--no problem now. So, one side effect is that when we go out to dinner, sometimes I have to be the designated driver.

Interesting to read over my old posts. I hadn't mentioned the story of how this got started:

We went to some free screening health fair thing, and they took blood for some standard cholesterol and other tests. But they screwed something up, and in compensation, gave us vouchers for more comprehensive blood screening that included the calcium level. The test flagged that, and Lena took it in to the doctor.

Also, IIRC, some doctor had seen the high calcium, made a note to follow up, but had failed to do so.

Good luck to you and your wife. I'm sure that the specialists at that center are as good or better than the doc Lena had, and it will truly be a minor thing.

An interesting thing: After they remove the misbehaving PT, they check the calcium level. If the removal solved the problem, the level drops in minutes. When it didn't drop after removing the first PT, they knew that two PTs were broke, and they took out the second bad boy.

 

[Meadbh]

Hyperparathyroidism is uncommon, but recognizing it is important. Here is a salutary tale about what may happen if the diagnosis is not considered.

WHO | Patient advocates use past experiences to change the future