19th CT...but who's counting

donna_lee
donna_lee Member Posts: 1,045 Member
in Kidney Cancer #1

I did...plus numerous X-ray/US combinations, 1 bone scan, 1 PET scan, 2 biopsies, 3 surgeries, and too many vials of blood to count.

Saw my ONC nurse this morning and overall report looks standard and unremarkable.  It was recommended I see my PC and have an endoscopy for possible polyp in the stomach; plus come back in 3 months for appt. with Oncologist and labs-but not any other tests.  Finally, I'll be on a six month schedule for CT's and/or X-ray & US.

They say time makes you forget, so I did have to go back to one of the pathology reports.  For you Newbies, here is the shortened version.

May 2006, "You've got a mass in your kidney and one or two in the liver."  Surgery in June and Dx'd with Clear Cell RCC; Stage T2,N1,M1.  Now they would list it as T2b as the primary tumor was larger than 7cm.  Acturally,R. Kidney tumor was 12.5x11.5x8 cm.  Set of nodes removed with 2 of 11 positive.  Then another surgeon went to work on my liver. A couple of wedges from the right lobe were removed with .6cm benign cysts.  Then the left lobe was removed, which had a 7.5x5.5x5.0 cm RCC tumor.  And for good measure, they also took our the gall bladder, which had a benigh growth blocking the main bile duct.

Feb 2007, on Vacation and dislocated my foot and broke my ankle in 3 places, while visiting Charleston, SC.  Damn those Confederates!  I wanted to see Fort Sumpter. Flew home in a temp cast and had repair surgery a week later, with plates and screws installed.

June 2007; CT comparisons showed a node growing. Biopsy positive.  Emailed my surgeon and spent the 4th of July in the hospital recovering.

Oct. 2007; day surgery to remove the frozen tendon nodule on my right thumb-because I had been on crutches for 7 weeks after the ankle incident.

May 2008; Oops, another node enlarging.  Couldn't be biopsied because of location; PET scan proved it should come out.  Spent my anniversary in June going thru the pre-surgical bowel prep the day before surgery. More RCC.

Fast forward thru tests until about 2010; thyroid was found to be enlarging with nodes on CT.  Ultrasound agreed.  Waited 2 months for all the radioactivity from the CT to clear my system, and then had a radioactive iodine absorption test.  Still no clear DX.  Biopsy...and the extra nodes were benign.  Very stressfull.

But here I am, 7 and a half years later (and older), glad to be alive, feeling lucky that the tests have found what has ailed me, and luckier that I only had to have surgery.

For those of you who've been thru the newer drug treatments for various kinds of Kidney Cancer, thank you so much.  You've been the tough ones, the guinea pigs, the survivors.  When I started this journey, there wasn't much available.  Interlukin, Interferon, Sorafinib or Sunitinib were the only drugs then.  And since I was deemed to have no "active" sites that could be monitored following the first surgery, I was not a candidate for any of the drugs in trial.

Ups and Downs are a part of normal life.  With a cancer diagnosis, the roller coaster can be higher or lower and the ride can be rough, at times.  On days like today, it's like the end of the ride when you come gliding back into the station and stop to catch your breath.  You step out and think "I was scared, I survived, I could do that again, if I had to."

So it's time to relax for a while and wait until the next test, at which time the anxiety level increases a bit (not like it did in the early days), and get on with life.

And if your weather is BAD to the Bone this week, I'm truly sorry.  Looking at the weather map and walking outside puts the Southern Oregon Coast in sunny, slightly breezy, 55-60 degree weather.  Sorry :-(  I'd share if I could.

Donna

 

Comments

  • Jojo61
    Jojo61 Member Posts: 1,309 Member
    #2
    Donna, you are an inspiration

    Donna, you are an inspiration and a great role model for positive thinking and showing the attitude of "I will not let this get the better of me".

    Enjoy your relaxing tme - and your nice weather!

    Hugs

    Jojo

  • foxhd
    foxhd Member Posts: 3,181 Member
    #3
    Jojo61 said:

    Donna, you are an inspiration

    Donna, you are an inspiration and a great role model for positive thinking and showing the attitude of "I will not let this get the better of me".

    Enjoy your relaxing tme - and your nice weather!

    Hugs

    Jojo

    WOW!

    a lot of stuff happens to people when they get as old as Donna. She is right that not many drugs were available. They mostly just relied on whiskey or made you bite a stick during surgery. It must have been something to know Florence Nightengale on a first name basis. Only fooling wit cha. Love you Donna....it must be the zero weather in new england.

  • Frank302
    Frank302 Member Posts: 71
    #4
    foxhd said:

    WOW!

    a lot of stuff happens to people when they get as old as Donna. She is right that not many drugs were available. They mostly just relied on whiskey or made you bite a stick during surgery. It must have been something to know Florence Nightengale on a first name basis. Only fooling wit cha. Love you Donna....it must be the zero weather in new england.

    Donna .

    I was extremely impressed with how clear and concise your writing is . You are an excellent communicator . I was also extremely impressed with how you have handled everything that was thrown at you as well as your attitude .

    Then you just had to make that crack about how great your weather is . You just couldn't resist . It's one degree above zero where I live with a snow storm forecast for the weekend . The weather has been like this for a long time . It looks to continue this way for as far into the future as the forecast goes . I've got cabin fever . I'm about to go stir crazy from being stuck indoors for so long . My only outdoor activity for in what seems like forever has been running the freakin' snowblower ! Then you had to rub it in . Sunny you say ! 50's and 60's you say ! You are a mean , cruel person , Donna .

    You know I'm kidding . I think the world of all you people.

  • Srashedb
    Srashedb Member Posts: 482 Member
    #5
    Wow!!!

    what an incredible and inspiring medical history!!!! While I hope that my husband does not need to go through this, you have shared that it CAN be done.

    as to weather, got you beat... We have been close to 70 degrees for weeks.

    Sarah

  • Frank302
    Frank302 Member Posts: 71
    #6
    Srashedb said:

    Wow!!!

    what an incredible and inspiring medical history!!!! While I hope that my husband does not need to go through this, you have shared that it CAN be done.

    as to weather, got you beat... We have been close to 70 degrees for weeks.

    Sarah

    Sarah .

    Can I live in a tent in your backyard ? Just until winter is over ? I'll try to be quiet . You will probably forget I'm even there .

  • donna_lee
    donna_lee Member Posts: 1,045 Member
    #7
    Frank302 said:

    Sarah .

    Can I live in a tent in your backyard ? Just until winter is over ? I'll try to be quiet . You will probably forget I'm even there .

    Daily weather report

    Sunny, no wind, with low 70's on the Southern Oregon Coast. Fire danger, as there has been low precipitation and grass and understory are dry.  Roads are dry and clear.  Inland valley is cool with heavy morning fog.

    The devil made me do it.  And if you're old enough to know where that line came from, you are old, Fox!

    Donna

     

  • Srashedb
    Srashedb Member Posts: 482 Member
    #8
    Frank302 said:

    Sarah .

    Can I live in a tent in your backyard ? Just until winter is over ? I'll try to be quiet . You will probably forget I'm even there .

    you are welcome to camp in my

    you are welcome to camp in my backyard but temperature drops to low 40's at night; we are breaking records with the temps in the 70's and our governor has declared a drought.

    right now, we are under a voluntary 20% cut in water use which may become mandatory in the next weeks.

    back in September I read that the east coast would be unseasonably cold and the west unseasonably warm.

    Sarah

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