Last week Mark met with an endocrinologist who indicated that his thyroid and testosterone levels are off because of the inflamed Pituitary Gland. With appropriate medications, these levels will likely go back to normal. Dr. Hopkins is taking the dose of Prednisone gradually down, but it is likely that Mark will have to take a low dose of steroids for the rest of his life as the irritation to the adrenal gland by Ipilimumab almost always causes permanent Adrenal Insufficiency. By the first of the year we should know if that is the case.
Today we met with Dr. Hopkins again. Mark has done amazingly well coming off of the Prednisone. He has occasional dizziness and nausea, but it's getting better every day. He will be down to 10 mg a day by next week. He will stay on 5-10 mg/day for a week or so and then transition to a low dose of Hydrocortisone until lab work is done to see if his adrenal gland is producing cortisol.
We also met with the assistant to our cardiologist last week. She scheduled a Cardioversion for November 14th if his heart was still out of rhythm, but earlier this week it went back to normal rate and rhythm, so that won't happen tomorrow. Yea! And how did he know that his heart was back in rhythm? Mark bought a new Apple watch, used it to do an ECG, sent the results to the cardiologist who responded that Mark was back in sinus rhythm. How cool is that?! He is also off of one of three heart meds, Metoprolol. Mark has so many medications right now! He created a spreadsheet to keep track of what he is taking, how much and when to take them.
What would we do without modern medicine?!! Actually, we'd both be gone. I would have died in childbirth back in 1979 and Mark's melanoma in 1990 would likely have taken him.
Life is good and we are blessed!
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