R was having his yearly check up done in May. When blood work came back, he noticed some of his levels were just a bit off. He researched what the "off" levels could mean, and everything pointed to kidney function. R's grandfather died of kidney cancer, so this was alarming to him. When he went for the follow up appointment to go over the blood work with his doctor, he mentioned the numbers being slightly off. The doctor wasn't concerned, but R was.
So, to make R feel better, his PCM scheduled an ultrasound to check his kidneys and make sure everything looked okay. After the ultrasound, R got a phone call that he needed to have a CT scan done because they saw something in the ultrasound. They scheduled the CT quickly, which was alarming to us, since it is a military clinic, and they aren't known for promptness.
R went in and had the CT scan done, and within hours of the scan, he received a phone call telling him he needed to find a urologist.
So, with some fast insurance work (again, rare for military insurance) he had a referral to a urologic oncologist the week before T's graduation.
We met with the doctor, he showed us pictures of the scans, and told us R had a 5 cm mass on his left kidney. He said it was big, it was ugly, and it wasn't in a convenient location. He also informed us that 85% of the time, these masses are malignant. He assured us that he was confident he could remove the mass, and hopefully save as much as he could of the kidney. We left that appointment with surgery scheduled for June 11th, the day before R's 44th birthday.
June 11th came, and off we went to the hospital! Our only information was that the mass would be removed in a 2-4 hour surgery, hopefully the kidney would be saved, and we would stay 3-4 days in the hospital. Pathology results would come within a week.
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| Dressed in his too small gown and ready for surgery! |
The surgery went very well. The doctor informed us that he was confident he got the entire tumor, and R only lost about 15% of his kidney, so that was great news! We spent 4 days in the hospital, and then we were able to go home so R could recover there. Before we left the hospital the doctor visited with us and told us that pathology results had shown what we already knew...the tumor was cancer...renal cell carcinoma. Even though we knew it was highly probable it was cancer, we were praying we were that 15% that were benign...so we wouldn't have to carry that ugly C word around with us from now on.
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| After surgery. Nothing like seeing your big strong soldier in this position. Hard to see him this way, but so grateful the tumor was found, and on his 44th birthday he was cancer free! |
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| Up and walking!! I had to use some "tough love" tactics on the big guy about getting up and walking. He was reluctant at first, but in the end I won!! |
After we left the hospital, we headed home for 4 weeks of convalescent leave, which the doctor extended to 6 weeks after R's first follow up appointment. It was great having R home for the summer, but oh so tough, too!! He wanted to be up doing things, and he just couldn't. So we stayed home a lot more than we usually do in the summer, and spent some good quality time with him. And then we all got tired of good quality time, and we were ready for things to get back to normal!! : )
Being together 24/7 when you aren't even used to living together is tough!! But we made it through, and R headed back to work after 6 weeks.
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| Finally home and settled in! |
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| This was my schedule for a while...waking up at crazy hours to give him his meds. If you know me, and my NEED for sleep, you know that's love right there!! : ) Especially after 4 nights in a hospital, sleeping (term used loosely) on a bench! |
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| His nice scar!! He says when he has grandkids this will be his Vietnam story! I told him a shark bite would be more believable! : ) We were actually amazed at how good his scar looks! |
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| One of the hardest things during recovery? Watching our wonderful friends mow the yard, since he couldn't!! We are blessed with amazing friends who mowed our yard for us, brought us meals, and just overall showed us love! And my parents were invaluable because they came and stayed with the kids while I was staying at the hospital with R. There are very few people I trust with my kiddoes for an extended period, and they did a great job of holding down the fort while I was gone. |
So...that's the beginning of our story with the ugly C word. Now we're in the middle, where we wait, because unfortunately, the story isn't over. R will get yearly CT scans to make sure the cancer doesn't return. If we can make it to the 5-year mark, the odds of recurrence greatly diminish. So for now, we are praising God for the discovery of the tumor (he had NO symptoms other than the blood work being off); the wonderful doctor who removed the tumor and saved his kidney, and made us feel confident and comfortable in his abilities; and the fact that R started a new year cancer free! Now we pray he remains that way forever!!
But we know God is good, all the time, and we rest in knowing that no matter what, He's with us! So we will continue in the middle for now...happy to be together as a family, happy to have R here with us healthy, and happy to know we aren't alone!
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