"Portlandia"?

What I learned in Portland this week:

- Women wear big giant glasses
- I'm in the beardless minority
- Single speed bikes or die
- Bikers are crazy
- If the forecast says rain, it probably just means cloudy
- On the off chance it does rain, it'll be mild
- No more leather soled shoes
- I've been to lots of cities where food trucks are the rage, but Portland is ridiculous.  Whole parking lots are dedicated to them (i.e., I saw one lot with almost 40 trucks crammed in)
- I didn't hear "cacau" once, but I wanted to say it, but not for the reason you think
- If I was a beer drinker, I'd be in beer drinkers heaven
- The people begging for money aren't nearly as aggressive as those in the SF Bay area
- Having a car is very inconvenient
- It has an awesome foodie reputation and I've eaten lots of good food, but haven't had anything special yet

More to come.

A Summary

I'm a 39 year old male and had my transsphenoidal surgery at Barrow on January 23.  My tumor was a 3.7cm x 3.7cm x 3.7cm non-functional pituitary macroadenoma.  It had four oblations.  Unfortunately, two of the oblations remain post-surgery and I'll find out after my 3 month follow up MRI what we are going to do (i.e., radiation or a craniotomy).

Post-surgery, my endocrinologist told me that I have pan-hypopituitarism and have had to take testosterone and hydrocortisone.  I'm still debating whether the testosterone or cortisol withdrawal were worse.  The testosterone withdrawal made my skin burn and caused insane night sweats (i.e., I woke up in pools of sweat).  The cortisol withdrawal made me feel like I was going to pass out and die.

Additionally, I have a small csf leak (I take my temperature several times a day to make sure my temperature hasn't gone above 100), which tastes pretty awful, and my headaches are worse now as compared to pre-surgery.  I still have moments throughout the day when I feel woozy and need to take a break.  I also have real problems sleeping, as the headaches wake me up.  My average wake up time is 2:30.  The long days have given me the chance to watch almost all of Arrested Development (what a great show!).

All that being said, I'm much happier and calmer than I was just a week and a half ago.  I was an irritable mess.  My deepest apologies to those affected.

I shall now stand up and hope my back stops sweating.