Kirsten - you'll never be alone - not with all of us nutty PTers around and pulling for you!. So get that thought out of your head - right now girl. And that's an order!

As for the pituitary issue, I can't be of any help there. However, when it comes to spinal issues, I'm a pro - unfortunately. I have rods the entire length of my cervical spine, and also in the lower lumbar spine. Without the cervical ones, I would be paralyzed - or dead - thanks to 2 botched surgeries that actually left me with a broken neck, and it took another top spinal surgeon at a top notch university teaching medical center to put me back in working order. Without him, I might not even be here today. Because of the severity of that, I have lost a lot of sensation in my hands, and my right side is weak and I walk with a slight limp, and my balance isn't what it should be, but all of that is nothing that I can't cope with. If I had the proper surgery to start with, I wouldn't be dealing with any of that. But the lumbar issue was totally different - degenerative disc disease, and vertebrae out of line and pressing on nerves. I was in so much pain that I couldn't walk from one end of my house to the other. After a local back specialist sent me to physical therapy, and when that didn't help, referred me to a pain management specialist, I'd had enough. I contacted the doc that did the other surgery - I was in his office 3 days later - and in surgery in less than 2 weeks. I have rods in my lower back, and they in no way affect my movement or range of motion, and I am totally pain free.

So please, don't be fearful of having rods in your spine, if that's what the doctors say you need. You'll feel like a new woman.

Please take care and keep us updated. You're in my thoughts and prayers.