1st let me say, that Dr. Avital Harari has saved my life, in so many different ways. I went in to be evaluated for the parathyroid issues I knew I had (blood calcium levels 11.8 with PTH levels of 84) and the CT scan of my throat barely caught something disturbing in my upper right lung. It was hardly on the scan. And it turned out to be a false alarm in the long run, but Dr. Harari ordered a CT scan of my lung to be sure, and there it was, on the opposite side and farther down….. I had lung cancer! No symptoms or indication of anything wrong with me at all. Lung functioning at 88% (and for a 68 year old who didn’t exercise much this wasn’t bad) and no cough or other indicative issues. So I was referred to Dr. Robert Cameron at UCLA and I now have 2 beloved Dr’s there. I had lung surgery to remove the upper lobe of my left lung on May 21st of 2015, followed by Parathyroid surgery on August 11th, 2015. We caught cancer in time (Phase 1) and I expect a full recovery. Now for the parathyroid issue….

To back track, there I was, dealing with the end of life illnesses and death of 2 beloved parents from 2007 to 2012. I was tired and achy and depressed and my blood pressure had started to go sky high, and I thought all of it was related to what I was personally going through. It was only in late 2013 that I started to try and deal with my own health issues. It wasn’t until 2014 that I really got a handle on anything. My Dr.s were moving very slowly.

I had had one of my 4 parathyroid glands removed in 2006 and knew what had happened to me then, but this time around everything was much worse, possibly because it was the 2nd time around for me, happening in very different ways. I had not had the depression or the extreme lethargy before. Nothing was good for me now, any more, and I couldn’t find the energy to even go to the Dr. and complain about anything. The 1st time around, I had had tiredness and aches in my joints, but nothing like this 2nd go-round. (During surgery, Dr. Harari discovered that the 2nd offending gland had actually been “clipped” by the 1st surgeon – who was not an expert at this surgery.) In other words, the gland removed the 2nd time around had a clip attached to it by the 1st Dr.!

It was made worse because of my ignoring the high blood calcium levels – originally slightly above 10 – and the failure of my wonderful GP to actually realize that this was the sure sign I had had parathyroidism return. We both thought it was my personal life’s experiences playing out on my body. So to go through the maneuvers of the health system here, I 1st needed to get an in-house referral to an endocriminologist. This done, the Dr. wanted to deal with me as an entire entity and not as a parathyroid case. She was concerned (rightly so) with my high cholesterol and other factors having to do with her speciality, but when I mentioned I would rather not have surgery again if it could possibly be avoided, I didn’t know it would delay my eventual surgery by more than 1 year. She never did tell me that I would eventually need surgery, so I had better face up to it once again. If that had ever been said, I would have moved far more quickly to a surgery.

I started by having the 24 hour urine calcium collection test followed by scans of my internal organs for kidney stones etc. Lots of calcium being eliminated but no kidney stones. Good start but bad bones it turned out. Then it was to try me on SENSIPAR, a hateful drug used normally only for secondary parathyroidism. It took months to get approval to take it and then my reaction was so adverse that I eventually took only 6 pills after all was said and done. I have since found out that this drug affects more than 1/2 of the people who take it adversely, and that it should never be used on primary hyperparathyroidism.

Eventually, when I declared I could not take this medicine because it was more like a poison than anything good for me, I was referred to 2 different groups of surgeons. The 1st was the normal one she had been using for many years near my home and the 2nd was the group at UCLA, because I BROUGHT THE GROUP TO HER ATTENTION. Interestingly, I had researched this UCLA group the year earlier as I thought surgery was going to happen once again. At that time, I thought Dr. Harari and a minimally invasive form of surgery might be a good match with me. I turned out to be correct. Certainly it was better than my original long and nasty looking scar and the 2 day stay in the hospital with attendant IV’s and tubes.

Surgery was easy, considering, and I needed no pain medication at all. I drove to the hospital, had the surgery and drove myself back home the next day! A nurse said she had never before heard of this happening. The facility in Santa Monica was great and I can’t speak highly enough of the care I received. Surgery is scary, but don’t delay it. Compared to lung cancer surgery, this is a breeze.

I didn’t heal easily from cancer surgery until I had the 2nd parathyroid surgery. The difference is unparalleled. It is only 6 weeks from this last surgery and I am doing very well, finally. I am back to exercise and trying to learn to breath again. Sometimes a struggle, I am grateful that at UCLA and in this endocrine practice, there are people who are complete PEOPLE and Doctors. Dr. Avital Harari is a delightful person and a more than brilliant Doctor. I think the scar she left me with this time around (over my last one and much smaller) is worthy of her being called a cosmetic plastic surgeon. Her work is delicate and precise.

Any questions anyone might have, please feel free to ask. I have been through this twice. I am told there is only a 3% chance that it will ever happen again, compared to a 30% chance of it happening a 2nd time. Just so you all know……