In January of 2019, I was visiting our daughter in Los Angeles when I experienced the symptoms of a minor stroke: I temporarily lost the vision in my right eye, a condition called “amaurosa fugax”. My family took me to the emergency room at UCLA Medical Center where I was Immediately admitted and scheduled for surgery/stent placement to correct a near-total occlusion of my right artery. The surgeon I had was truly the best in the business and I was soon fully recovered. However, in April of 2019, I began experiencing loss of energy and recurring pain in my legs. Also, my memory and thinking became very “foggy” and I was far from feeling myself. My blood pressure also began to fluctuate greatly. I was on high calcium supplementation for osteoporosis which had been diagnosed in 2018, much to my surprise, as I am an active adult living a healthy life-style. My GP ordered a series of blood tests which showed high calcium levels in my blood, meaning the calcium was being leached from my bones, not being used to build bone! Finally, based on that reading my GP ordered a parathyroid hormone test, which came back high. I met the diagnosis of hyperparathyroidism. At least I now had a name for why I felt so energy-less, sleeping many hours each day. Because my experience at UCLA Medical Center for my carotid artery surgery had been so completely positive, I researched the UCLA Endocrine Center headed by Dr. Michael Yeh, and discovered that it was one of the mostly highly-rated in the country. So in September, we traveled south once again, staying again with family pre-and post surgery. Dr. Yeh screened me via telephone conference prior to the trip. The surgery to remove two of my affected parathyroid glands was performed by Dr. Yeh after imaging tests confirmed there were two affected glands, and I was released that same day! I began to feel better almost immediately..... My energy has returned (we attended a dance party last night!) my leg pains are almost gone, my thinking is much clearer. I feel like a fog has been lifted. My blood pressure has come down and stayed down. I was pronounced “cured” immediately following the surgery with real-time monitoring of my parathyroid hormone levels showing a return to normal. I urge anyone presenting with similar symptoms or other symptoms from the list to request that their doctor due the calcium and parathyroid hormone blood level tests. The non-invasive surgery which leaves minimal scarring is truly a solution worth pursuing to improve quality of life. I am looking forward to my next bone density scan showing an improvement there, too, although I understand it takes time to build back bone. However, at least now I am heading back in the right direction. Dr. Yeh and his team are the best!
Return to Normal Life!
