A Young Man's Tale

UCLA Health article
By
2 min read

I had pain in my abdomen. It made me nervous as I didn't know what was wrong. I went to a different hospital that did an ultrasound and thought it was my gallbladder but they were wrong. So I went to another provider that did a CT scan and found a 9mm adrenal mass. When I looked that up on line I saw that anything larger than 4 mm is serious. So I continued to be worried. I then saw an endocrinologist at UCLA and had another CT scan. He said that I was young since I was only 30. They could not determine at that point if it was cancerous but told me I needed surgery and it could be determined after that. I was scared since it was large. I was referred to Dr. Livhits. She had a good attitude and was positive. She said it appeared to be benign but we would need to clarify that after the surgery. She said it was good that a PET scan showed it had not spread. I woke up after the surgery and spent 1 night in recovery and 3 nights in the hospital. I got good care. I then had to wait 4-5 more days for test results to confirm that it was benign. It was a ganglial neuroma. The surgery was 10 days ago. Doctor Livhits says the wound looks good. I can recommend Dr. Livhits. She is knowledgable, positive and has a good attitude.