Chronically Yours— Noura Costany

Cushing’s disease testing can be complicated, especially if the disease is cyclic, as it is for me. This means that my pituitary tumors release excessive amounts of hormones occasionally instead of constantly, causing my cortisol levels to fluctuate. Usually, testing is done for diagnostic purposes, but my doctor recently…

When I was pregnant, I received numerous comments about how Cushing’s disease might affect my parenting ability. Mostly, they focused on how my mobility aids and fatigue might keep me from caring for my daughter. These were major oversteps and obvious examples of ableism. But now that my…

“Two tumors.” I repeated the words to myself about 50 times before I finally told my husband what the MRI report said. “I have two tumors.” Having tumors wasn’t a huge shock. We’ve known for a while that there was a tiny, little tumor in there, but also that I…

Our daughter was born at 27 weeks, and we’ve spent the past two months in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). It’s been an emotional and challenging journey, but now we’re finally nearing the end. In the next few weeks, we expect to bring our little girl home. While we’re…

“It’s completely fine! No big deal,” I find myself muttering again and again as people ask how I’m doing. I laugh off how serious my situation is, quickly changing the subject. But then, at home, I end up staring at the wall and crying myself to sleep. As someone with…

I’m six weeks postpartum and have so much to reflect on. My water broke at 25 weeks, and I gave birth to my daughter at 27.5 weeks. The birth involved a lot of complications, including preeclampsia, a full placental abruption, an infection, and a loss of oxygen. All…

On Nov. 25, I gave birth to a beautiful baby girl through an emergency cesarean section. However, the story doesn’t start there. Two weeks earlier, I awoke in the middle of the night to my water breaking at only 25 weeks pregnant. My husband and I rushed to the…

It was 4:30 a.m. when I sat up in bed, eyes wide open. As I looked down at myself, I was filled with embarrassment. Had I just wet the bed? I rushed to the bathroom, feeling more humiliated than anything. I was about 25 weeks pregnant and couldn’t believe this…

“Let’s go around the table and share what we’re thankful for.” It’s the typical question we all hear during Thanksgiving. For me, my answer never changes. I’m incredibly thankful for my partner, who is not only an amazing husband but also a fantastic caregiver. I’m so grateful to have him…

“We need you to come to the hospital.” I never expected to hear those words when I did. I was 25 weeks pregnant, and everything had been going relatively smoothly. Sure, I’d dealt with some minor issues like skin problems and fatigue, but nothing alarming. A few days before…

Cushing’s disease has affected my skin for more than five years now. I started noticing skin issues in 2020, and now they’re all starting to reappear. I’ve been off my Cushing’s medications for about seven months because I’m pregnant. The drugs could be dangerous for my baby,…

I’m more than halfway through my pregnancy, which seems to be going incredibly fast. The egg retrieval procedure was last year, and our first embryo transfer was last June. My partner and I were lucky the first transfer worked, and now I’m over 23 weeks pregnant. It’s been an exciting…