His first problem was extreme abdominal pain after vomiting for 2 hours in August. The ER Dr. said it could be reflux after negative CT scan and blood work. When I looked at all his blood work later, I noticed his calcium was on the edge of high normal. I looked that up and saw it could be a symptom of pHPT. I then looked at some blood work he had in 2018 when working up a thyroid nodule. The calcium was high back then. Neither the internist or the ENT never caught it two years ago. We were headed to Seattle the first of September and decided to get seen at the U of Washington. I asked for a parathyroid test and it was 188, the top of the norm was 80. That was when we know he had an issue. During August he had about 5 fainting spells and felt generally unwell, with fatigue, weight loss, insomnia, nausea, aches and pains, headache, nervousness and irritability. This continued into October. While we waited to see an endocrinologist, we had thyroid tests and scans. He had a spell getting off the elevator going the the endoccrine appointment. He was hyperthyroid (which was thought to be unrelated) and was started on medication to suppress that. We saw a Head & Neck surgeon who said he was not a candidate for parathyroid surgery since the bone in his forearm showed no bone loss or kidney damage. Four days later he was in the ER again with even worse abdominal pain than in August, requiring more morphine and dilaudid and was almost admitted. We were then traveling to south Texas in our RV for the winter. I looked up MD Anderson, as the surgeon in Washington knew some surgeons there. When I called, they sent us to the Endocrine clinic, (rather than a general head and neck surgeon) and we got this wonderful surgeon who is calling the shots. She is knowledgeable, thorough beyond belief and caring. I had to listen on the phone because of COVID. All the tests have been run, including a 24-hour urine calcium which was abnormal. He saw an endocrinologist because of the thyroid suppressant he was on and he thought the parathyroid might actually be causing fluctuating thyroid functioning and took him off the thyroid suppressant. He had a Sestamibi scan to check for the location of the parathyroid glands last week. He is now ready for surgery. I'm sure that we will hear from them after the holiday with a date. The surgeon here stated that he has a complicated case. From the intake people, nurses and doctors my husband feels he is in the best place possible for his situation. Not that Mayo is off the list, we just happen to be here. I have been treated at Mayo in Rochester and Phoenix and have nothing but wonderful experience with two dermatologists who made a diagnosis that no one previously could. People, read all you can about this disease and be an educated consumer.

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