Memoir

In August of 2006 I experienced some health issues that I couldnt really explain. My body decided to show signs of being pregnant and it got me excited, until October, when the many pregnancy tests I took came back negative and I decided it was time to see a doctor. My husband was in the Air Force and was in Iraq at the time. Imagine walking into the Hill Air Force Base clinic to have blood drawn and sit for hours at home, just waiting to hear what could possibly be going on inside of your body. Waiting. Waiting. Waiting. It was almost unbearable for the next 24 hours. When the phone finally rang I let out a breath of relief. It didnt relieve the fear for long, however. The information that the nurse had for me gave some answers, but again, I was alone. Your blood tests have come back, and it appears you have too much prolactin being produced. I will set up an appointment for you to have an MRI at Davis Hospital, is what the nurse told me. Prolactin is responsible for more than 300 functions within the human body. For me, it decided to get my body ready to support an infant. What I learned that day, after receiving the phone call with test results, is that too much prolactin is the sign of something more happening.

This was becoming surreal. I had never experienced a health scare of this magnitude in my life. Walking into Davis County Hospital was difficult to accomplish without my husband by my side. I wanted to cry. I wanted to throw up. I wanted to wake up from this horrible dream that had consumed my every waking moment. Getting out of my own clothing to put on the medical gown and climb onto the slab that would transport me into a confining tube felt more like I was having an out of body experience. This was not a peaceful experience. Twenty minutes inside that tube felt like an hour. Finally it was done. I could leave and get back to my life. Unfortunately, the MRI technician informed me that the results would be sent to Hill Air Force Base in about a week. A week? Seven days to sit alone in my house without my husband,

wondering why my body was threatening my sanity and health, trying to relieve the headaches that were being caused by this unknown issue inside my head, and putting on a smile in public to hide the fear consuming me. Those seven days were a living hell waiting and wondering. Finally, I got the call to let me know that there was a tumor on my pituitary gland, a prolactin secreting pituitary microadenoma or a prolactinoma (Health). So this issue wasnt in my head wait. Where is the pituitary gland? The pituitary gland is the master gland that regulates the bodys hormones and it is located nearly in the center of the head. This was beginning to be too much for me to handle.

The next step involved an outside specialist called an endocrinologist. Fortunately there was just such a specialist next door to the hospital, truly unexpected. This part of the journey turned out to be the least stressful, because the tumor was small enough to not require surgery or chemotherapy. A tiny pill once a week was all I needed to control this tumor. There were some side effects of these pills, but they were nothing compared to the two weeks before the final results came. For some reason, I felt like this could have been avoided had I taken better care of my body through nutrition. Naturally occurring food has appealed to me more than conventional, processed food, I just didnt understand the benefits. I was working for a naturopathic chiropractor at the time, and he gave me so much information about supplements, organic food, the effects of pesticides and artificial ingredients. (O'Brien). Artificial ingredients are made in laboratories and dont provide nutrients that benefit the body. With this new information, I chose to live an organic lifestyle. No soda, no candy, no frozen dinners, and I even gave up drinking cows milk, because of the hormones and homogenization. (Colquhoun, Ten Bosch and Ledesma).

For two and a half years I ate organic and naturally derived foods with little to no processing, and for two and a half years I saw changes in my body that I had never experienced before. I had more energy and slept better, my skin looked more radiant and clear, my hair had a luster that it had never had before, and I had better performance in my workouts. In May of 2009, two and a half years after the diagnosis, I had my final MRI. I was living on Maui with my husband and our 9 month old son and I wanted to know what was happening with the tumor. Again, the waiting process began, but this time I had my husband for support. It wasnt quite as terrifying as the first experience, but it still had its dreamlike moments. On e week after my MRI I received a letter from my doctor. My husband opened it for me and read the results to me, According to the MRI, there was nothing on your pituitary gland. Finally, the lifestyle and nutritional changes had paid off. I was a believer. The way I felt and the proof in the MRI had me hooked. To this day, we eat as little processed food as possible. I make our bread each week; we buy foods with very little artificial ingredients, and drink plenty of water. I have had no other health scares since the tumor and my children, ages four and two, make great nutritional choices by choosing fruits and string cheese over candy and Doritos, and water and iced tea over soda and juice.

Works Cited
Health, UCLA. Pituitary Adenoma. n.d. Article and Picture. 28 July 2013. Hungry For Change. Dirs. James Colquhoun, Laurentine Ten Bosch and Carlo Ledesma. 2012. Documentary. O'Brien, Robyn. "Organic Food vs. Conventional: What the Stanford Study Missed." 06 September 2012. The Huffington Post. Article. 23 July 2013. Wikipedia. Prolactin. 5 May 2013. 23 July 2013.