DW (Dottie) went to the doctor yesterday. They checked her blood, and her calcium level has been slowly going up. The doctor's conclusion? She may have hyperparathyroidism.
Now, this is pretty easliy solved with surgery. But the standard procedure is a long (as much as 10 inches!) incision on the side of the neck to find the bad parathyroid gland and remove it. You have four, two on each side, so if they don't find it on the first try, they have to cut on the other side.
There IS a minimally invasive procedure, but doctors who do it are rare.
And the most common complication is damage to the larynx nerves, affecting speech. Dottie is a teacher. Imagine what that would do to her!
Now, this is pretty easliy solved with surgery. But the standard procedure is a long (as much as 10 inches!) incision on the side of the neck to find the bad parathyroid gland and remove it. You have four, two on each side, so if they don't find it on the first try, they have to cut on the other side.
There IS a minimally invasive procedure, but doctors who do it are rare.
And the most common complication is damage to the larynx nerves, affecting speech. Dottie is a teacher. Imagine what that would do to her!