Hi Jan, SOOOOOOoooo sorry to hear that your kidneys may be shutting down. And yes, I had the parathyroid surgery in June at Mayo. The first calcium tests were still a litle elevated. but now they are right where they are supposed to be.. My PCP hasn't said a word about it as he was not in favor of my having the surgery. He said it was too risky for someone my age (80). Before I left for Mayo, I had scheduled an appt with a local endocrinologist. I saw him on Jul 28 and boy do I like him. I had a question and he answered my questoin right away via "email" thru the local hospital system.. There was a slight difference between the serum Ca level and the PTH calcium level and I asked him what the significance of the two values. One was 10.0 and the other 10.3. He wrote back, "I'm not sure, and it bothers me, but I am not concerned with either value for you." Now there is a truthful physicialn for you. I wrote back and suggested a possible reason and he replied that he would look into my thought with the lab! And by the way, if you ever had chicken pox, then you are "eligible" to get shingles. The vaccine is supposed at least mute the symptoms and I think it did for me. Where do you live that you have to wait 10 months to see a Dr. ? I had to wait 3 months to see the endocrinologist and I live in the states! @gailfaith

Yes I know, but I have no way of ever finding out if I had chicken pox or not. The shingles vaccine has shown to help only about 50% of those who get the vaccine but it is still fairly new .
I live in very Northern Manitoba Canada Gail an my kidney's have shown signs for some time which has been neglected to be noted by any GP's here, so not sure what stag I am in .
Yes, same thing I get here from the endo + surgeon. Too risky for me to have pt surgery , I am going on to 66. They say this due to the fact that they do not have enough pt surgical experience, not confident in their own skills - altho I have been also told that I am a more complicated case.
What means anything is what your pt hormone level was at same blood draw with ca of 10.0 etc. The values by themselves don't mean much . Are these you serum calcium labs after pt surgery Gail ?

I am so happy to hear you have this surgery behind you Gail, so glad to hear it was successful. How do u feel . Any symptoms gone away yet > You are so very fortunate to live where u do and have access to great surgeons etc

Jan Have you asked your doctor to test your levels of fluoride. Fluoride<br>can affect some people and not others but doctors do not test for it.<br><br>Also, if you drink lots of (filtered) fresh lemon water to help alkalise<br>your system.<br><br>Hope this helps<br>

Hi Jan, Gail here! Yesterday (seems like a month ago though) I had a huge paragraph written to you and was winding down, when I hit something and it all disappeared. Neither I nor Colleen could find what I had written, so here I go again, But I am sure this will not be much like the previous version. My GP probably thought the parathyroidectomy was too much of a risk for the same reason you quoted, but I knew, from my previous experience with Mayo, that would not be the case and it surely wasn't. Dr Melanie Richards was my surgeon. I had read that you don't want anyone doing that surgery that doesn't do at least 3/week and is confident enuf to do it in 15 minutes, so I was hoping to talk to the surgeon well before I decided to have them go ahead with the surgery. I was please that I was scheduled to meet with her by my second day there. I had several other scheduled appts with her, but she was ahead of the schedule and would find me wherever I was in the huge Mayo complex. She'd come and stand in front of me and say "I'm Dr. Richards" ....I guess in case I forgot what she looked like. There was several tests that needed to be done prior to surgery so she would have a better idea what she had to do. Basically I was scheduled for a session with a radiologist and from that I she determined which of the 4 parathyroids she would remove. I don't remember the radiologist's name, but as I was lying on the table with a pillow or whatever under my neck so that my head was tilted backwards, I felt someone messing with my shoelaces. It was the radiologist readjusting them so I wouldn't trip on them ! Then as he worked on my neck, I said to him, I am not used to seeing people"s ears from the bottom up. He laughed ! I was scheduled for surgery on the 2nd Tuesday I was there but some other radiological tests needed to be done prior to surgery but the radiologist's schedule before that Tuesday was full. I was told that on Friday, but then told to call Monday morning. Instead of calling I went just in case they needed me right away. Indeed somehow they managed to get that test done and surgery went on as scheduled. I was staying at a local hotel that had courtesy transportation to just about anywhere in Rochester, but routinely to Mayo. While there I needed something from a drug store and I had to get to a post office to mail home some of the free literature that is available there. Telling the bus driver what I needed, he stood thinking for a few minutes and then said OK, I know where to take you. I knew there was a Post Office next to the Mayo building, but he knew of a mall, several miles away that had both in a store. He driver said, he'd wait for me, but if he had a call he would have to leave and I'd have to call for someone else to get me. The drug store was just inside the door, so I went there first and instead of taking time to look for what I needed, I told them what I needed and that I would be back after I went to the PO which was about100 steps away. While still at the PO, the gal came with my needed items and said I could pay for it all right there. When I returned to the bus, the driver said I took less than 5 minutes. Not only Mayo tries hard to accommodate you, but it seems everyone in Rochester has the same attitude. Anyway, back to Dr Richards. I asked her how many of the pTH-ectomies she has done and she said over 4500! And she works 3 days a week and the only surgery she does is parathyroid and thyroid surgery. They told me I had to have someone stay with me for 24 hours as I had general anesthesia. The hotel filled that capacity!!!!!!!! By Wed morning I was headed to the airport and home. If there is any way you can get to Mayo, do it! It is well worth the effort. I haven't seen any bills from Mayo yet, but if my memory serves me correctly, the hotel bill last time was more than Mayo's after Medicare and personal insurance paid their share. And most hotels have special rates for Mayo patients.

Hi Gail , thank you for your reply .Happy to hear you had a wonderful experience
I will keep note of your surgeon for certain altho I do know that I am one with a more complicated case, would take more than 15 min pt surgery. Not sure if you told me before , but what were your labs - cal & pth . In my case I would have to pay for the entire sum
How many pt adenoma's did you have removed Gail
Did you/do you have relief of any symptoms yet ?

No I haven't asked nor has it ever been mentioned to me , but very interesting . I wonder if they even test for that in the lab here
Are you saying that fluoride can/may cause renal/kidney dysfunction ? How would the fluoride get into my body as there is no fluoride in our water, no fluoride treatments from dentist, nor in my toothpaste
Yes I do drink lots of filtered, fresh lemon water in order to prevent kidney stones as I have Hyperparathyroidism

Thank You

Jan, If that mention of fluoride was aimed at me, I never mentioned fluoride.

And I just did it again as I was almost done with another huge paragraph and it disappeared. Not in the mood now to start over again, Maybe tomorrow but I won't promise anything. Gail

Jan, I'll bite the bullet and repeat some of my missing email now. But a lot shorter version. Before the pth surgery my serum Ca levels were 11+/- for years and thereabouts. 4 wk post surgery the serum Ca was 10.8 and now is 10 .0 and the pth Ca is 10.3. During surgery they test something, I think maybe the hormone level and when they remove 1 parath. they wait to see if the level drops. If the drop is not satisfactory, then the remove a second gland, etc. Several doctors told me before that if I had the surgery I might get back some of my strength from the MD2, but I have not noticed any changes. I have not noticed any changes for he better or worse since surgery. Maybe my chance of getting another kidney stone is decreased. I joke that my body found the difficult way to get rid of some of the Ca post surgery with the huge kidney stone. Hopefully my first and last. I also am considered a complicated patient. I had a heart attack in 1983, now have a pacemaker inserted in April of this year due to drop attacks. Had two 6 months apart. No injuries the first time, but a concussion with the second. A drop attack is where you fall. How long does it take to go from vertical to horizontal? In the first half of the fall, I had no idea what was happening, but the last half I knew exactly what was happening. I also have spinal problems and have had both knees replaced. And I lost both biceps to a rupture due to Cipro and antibiotic and that happened 3 years before they realized what Cipro could do. And my MD2 was precipitated by a doctor's mistake, from an overdose of cortisone. So I am never sure what to expect from a new med. I'd better quit before I lose this note also! Gail