My Experience with Pheochromocytoma

UCLA Health article
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1 min read

Pheochromocytoma is not a common disease that is usually distinguishable. I found out that I had pheochromocytoma because in preparation for knee surgery they had found some abnormalities in the scan. It was only after several tests and process of elimination that they were able to narrow it down to pheochromocytoma. At first I put off the surgery two times because my family wanted me to try alternative methods to try and reduce the tumor, but ultimately I did not want to wait for symptoms to show before I had the surgery. I came down to meet Dr. Yeh and was amazed by the compassion and involvement from the UCLA staff. Dr. Yeh also helped reassure me in my treatment by referring me to another patient who had gone through a similar experience and had recovered from it. This interaction with this other patient did wonders in reassuring me about the surgery and the recovery from the treatment. I think the most important thing to note is that although your family and friends may want to make the decision for you, in the end it is your body and it is your own decision to get the surgery. After the surgery, I did have some soreness and pain that went down after 3-4 days and after 10 days I was getting back to everyday activities.