80 Degrees of Separation

We got the "bug" to come to Chandler this weekend. It's been a long time since we've visited Gordon's family and we figured it was about time! The ride down was tough for me--I wasn't comfortable AT ALL!! But, it's good to visit with family.

Josh is taking the opportunity with us gone to camp out in our back yard. How funny. I wouldn't want to camp out anywhere that it gets to 20 degrees at night, but whatever...20 bucks says they end up in my living room by 10:00. :) He and Kassie got a HUGE dog--now, when I say HUGE, I mean HUGE!! It's a Great Dane/Mastiff mix and it's bigger than Ian. He brought it over on Thursday and it was fun to watch Molly and our little Polly play together. We thought for sure it would be a disaster, but they got along very well.

I went to see Dr. Funk on Tuesday. He gave me a copy of the pathology report and told me about follow-up we'd need to do for the next few years. The pathology report said it was "renal cell carcinoma" (cancer.) I'll have MRIs in 3 months, 6 months and then every 6 months for the next four years. I'll also need blood tests and a chest x-ray every time, as the cancer (if it spreads) will most likely manifest itself in my lungs or blood. I'm sure I'll be fine.

He said that he has had one other case like mine. A young man was being treated for testicular cancer with radiation and years later developed cancerous tumors in the lower part of his kidneys that were exposed to the radiation. Interesting--it's good to know that we may have an answer to where this came from. Dr. Funk didn't know if I'd get more tumors or if this is it--time will tell, I guess.

I was thinking on the way to Chandler that it's been a rough two years for me. It all started about two years ago with my gallbladder pain. What a blessing it is to have modern medicine that allows us to "find" these things that would otherwise go un-noticed until it might have been too late. Kidney cancer doesn't usually manifest itself on its own, so I feel fortunate that it was found early.

Bought new garments today--woo hoo! There's nothing like new garments! I even bought a size smaller...see--there's always something worth celebrating!

Happy New Year!