Full of great thanks this gorgeous day.

[Erella Ganon]

Hello all, 

I notice that autumn is moving in and I don't know if I've sent you a message in a while. 

Friday, the day was spent at Toronto Western and Toronto General hospital having my testing done for next week's knee surgery. It will be the first NON life-threatening surgery I will have in years.

It is a simple thing( for once!) but still daunting because I am having general anesthetic done. 

At the end of this, I will be able to walk better and without the persistent pain I have had to deal with for years. 

That in itself is a victory.

My Surgery will happen Friday Oct 12 and I will feel sore for a couple weeks after. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthroscopy#Knee_arthroscopy

I go into Toronto Western Hospital Friday morning and am discharged the same day. Crazy. I hardly think of it as an operation if I am not staying overnight, though the general anesthetic for someone of my size is always challenging for the anesthetist. 

Because I am getting better with the brain stuff, I can deal with this now. After the 3 brain surgeries and all the other things, this will be smooth and easy. 

This time, the anaesthetist is a woman. For 2 of my brain surgeries and most of everything else, I have woken up during surgery. This is something that really messes up most anaesthetists. My last brain surgery, there was a fabulous male anesthetist who was really motivated to figure out why I consistently wake up during surgery. It was like a mystery for him to solve. He took it on and figured it out. He wrote copious notes, which are very helpful. 

The anaesthetist that was there working on me for my Bilateral Adrenalectomy used those crucial notes and managed to keep me out for that very risky surgery that went very well. I asked the woman who will be there for this upcoming knee surgery about him. She went on about what a fabulous lovely man he is. Turns out they studied together in India and are friends. The guy now works in a hospital in Washington. She said she'd see him soon because she's going there on a conference. I told her to say hello. She said she would and would be happy to give him my number if that's what I want.

NO! no, no, I blushed and thanked her. I just told her to study the good man's notes and send him my hellos. 

That's all I need.

The best news is that I went to see my Endocrinologist, wanting info about my most recent tumour. 

At first he said there was no change, which is what I hoped for and was expecting but then he took a closer look at the MRI results and said that actually the thing was shrinking. I asked him if this was common, if these kinds of brain tumours often shrink.  He said no. "This is most unusual".

How great is that?

I posted this news on Facebook and the response has been beautiful and overwhelming. Hundreds of strong, positive, loving, kind messages and over 500 LIKES. Wow. It is really so wonderfully encouraging. Normally, a couple responses is nice, but hundreds? I have no idea. I feel as though I won a lottery. 

Since I like my life, it is a good prize to win more of it. I am pleased to have so many people wanting good health for me too.

There is a woman in Labrador, NS, Canada who I became friendly with in my group on the internet. It is very hard to diagnose Cushing's Disease even when the patient lives in a big city, like Toronto. Not only is it a rare disease but it is difficult to test as well. I live in one of the best cities with research hospitals and clinics and even so, it is tough to get my samples appraised properly. This woman lives in a very rural part of the country without the resources that big cities and wealthy provinces have access to. Still she is suffering there and not doing well at all. She lives with her husband and teenaged son who has severe Cerebral Palsy. To get to a major hospital, she has to take a plane for 2-3 hrs. The doctor sometimes comes by dogsled. Her son hasn't had a social call in years because he literally hasn't got a friend. 

The regional health centre isn't equipped to deal with situations like hers. Still she managed to get approval (meaning the state will pay for it) to come to Toronto to see a specialist if she could find one that will accept her. Her requisition was sent to my specialist in May and she still hadn't heard back. 

When I saw him last week, I asked him to see her. Awesome! He said he would. I put them in touch and she was instructed to make an appointment right away. The secretary was booking for March. The dear told her she didn't think she'd be alive that long and mentioned my name. Go figure, the secretary found an appointment for Oct 24!

She's coming. My Cushings and Adrenal disease friends decided to put a few dollars together for her visit. Each $20 or even $10 added up. They sent me the money by paypal. I will be able to hand her an envelope of cash when she gets here. How lovely is that? 

I have an incredibly talented painter friend named Denise LaFrance. She's been talking about painting a portrait of me and Celeste for years and guess what, she did it!

She's asked for a photo and I sent her one of my favourites that Greg Graham took of the two of us at my 52nd birthday party. You cannot really tell here, but I was dressed as the Queen of Hearts and she was dressed as Alice in Wonderland. Since there are 52 cards in a deck, playing cards and alice in Wonderland were celebrated too. 

I am a big fan of her work. 

Here are a bunch of her paintings and you can even see this one while it was in progress. She's great. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wR38JNQZ-nY&feature=youtube_gdata

Denise LaFrance <deniseth...@yahoo.com>

Here in Canada, today is a day for giving thanks.

Every day is thanksgiving in my house.

Every time I go to the hospital to see my doctors, I look around and think that many people there would be elated to have the same circumstances that I have. I know there are many people that would be happy to be getting better instead of only worse. For them, I am proud as I take every step. 

I am going to the YMCA consistently for Aquafit classes 2 or 3 times a week. It is a ton of fun and making me feel stronger. 

In class, with every move that I make I think, "wow, look at me, I can do THIS!" People in the class are perpetually asking me why I look so happy in class and that it makes them feel like they can do even the difficult exercises. I like that. It makes me feel good too. 

That's it. I have loads that makes me feel truly grateful. Many people would wish for what we have. I am glad to know there are so many people that care about me and one another. 

In closing, I will send you a couple photos that Celeste took of my nieces Ruby and Ginger just because they're adorable.

I send you my love,

Erella

These photos were taken at our cousin Max's house by Celeste.