In JAMES MURPHY health news, James has been healing well and with proper care should recover enough to resume normal activities before too long. He currently has a post-surgical condition known as peripheral neuropathy, which causes his joints and muscles to be stiff and partially numb from time to time, particularly after periods of inactivity. As time passes this should eventually go away. His vision has improved significantly since the surgery. It is even better than it was right before the surgery but is still bad enough that his Ophthalmologist says he may never be able to drive again due to some of the visual field defect caused by the tumor's pressure on the optic nerve possibly being permanent. He is not blind by any means though. Also, due to the location of the incision made in his face, the tear duct of his left eye is swollen open very wide causing the eye to be drained of moisture far to quickly. This, combined with the incision having caused his left eye to not be able to close all the way, has led to a dry eye condition that caused a calcium deposit to form on his eye, which can cause intense pain and can lead to erosion of the eye. James was directed by his doctor to begin an aggressive eyedrop treatment designed to keep his eye moist at all times, which includes constant use of a special lubricant eyedrop during waking hours and a very thick version of the same fluid, along with an eyepatch while sleeping.

Regarding the tumor, thirty percent of the tumor remains inside James'head and it is being treated with medication (Parlodel) meant to shrink it and reduce the dangerously high hormone levels that became elevated as the tumor grew. Although it was putting pressure on James'brain and optic nerve, it began growing from his pituitary gland and adversely effected the hormones normally secreted by the gland. Since all of one's glands work together, it caused deficiencies and excesses in the other major glands. As a result of this James has recently been found to have somewhat elevated "free T4" levels from his thyroid gland, for which he has been prescribed a drug called synthroid, and cortisol levels from his adrenal gland which are somewhat on the low side, for which no treatment has been prescribed at this time. Male hormone levels were found to be normal.

Currently James is staying at his parents house in Florida and following all of the instructions of his endocrinologist and neurosurgeon and awaiting his next MRI scan in March. His doctors will use the results of this scan to decide if the tumor is shrinking well enough with the medication or if he will have to have radiation treatments.