Larry's Kidney

For those of you who know us in real life, or have been reading along for over a year, you may remember our huge scare last year with Larry's kidney. (You can read about it here, here, here, here, ok, you know what, it's pretty much throughout Nov and December of last year) Anyway, many links later and long story short, Larry has a mass on his right kidney that was approximately one and a half inches big. It was odd because it's not solid, but not completely liquid either. After seeing three specialist, we finally had a diagnosis of benign mass with retesting scheduled in a year.

On Friday the 4th, Larry went in for his CT with contrast. Larry is a wuss when it comes to anything medical related, so he popped a Xanax when we got there, which promptly put him in drunkville. I looked at the Rx later and the dr. had prescribed him 2mg. Holy Cow, it's a wonder he could walk. So anyway, we make it through the IV and the CT and now we just had to wait.

Last year, the waiting was brutal, we went back and forth with doctors who wanted to remove the kidney, to doing nothing, to freaking out, etc. This year, I was ok. He hasn't had any problems and I just had faith it was all right. Apparently, Larry had been a bit more concerned because when the doctor called him last night with the report, after the conversation, Larry's tone was noticeably lighter.

The Urologist told him that not only had the mass not grown, it had actually shrunk about a half an inch and was clearer for them to see. He followed by saying it is definitely benign and we will recheck again in a year.

For everyone who lived with us through this scare last year, I thank you again for your support and prayers.

Final Diagnosis

Hi Everyone, just wanted to let you know that Larry spoke with his doctor yesterday and they have determined that the cyst on Larry's kidney, while complex, is benign. This means that he needs to touch base with the Urologist in 6 months to make sure he still feels good and then get yearly scans for a few years to monitor this cyst. We are so very blessed that we sought a second opinion and were given this awesome news. Our best Christmas present yet! Thank you so much for all of your prayers. I know they were the miracle that pulled us through this ordeal.

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A word about my sponsored posts. Most of them are through Pay Per Post, a company that offers businesses the opportunity to pay bloggers to advertise on their blogs. The bloggers post their opinions with links to the sites within the post. The pay from $5.00 a post and up. With everything that has been going on, and the medical bills that are starting to come in, I thought I would use this to bring in some extra money. I don't want to bombard the blog with them, so I am trying to post a personal post for each sponsored post. Thanks for reading and if it sounds like something you would be interested in, the link is on my sidebar. :)

And Justice for All

Last night, Peyton surveyed the Christmas tree, piled with newly wrapped presents and said with great slowness and exaggeration, "Why do I only have two presents, and Shey has a lot of presents?" In the defense of the "Thou Shalt be Fair when Giving Christmas Presents to Siblings Gods," I explained, "well, two of Shey's gifts are for his birthday, and one is actually from Grandmommy, I just bought it for her." He thought this over for a bit and seemed to agree, then he looked at me and said conspiracyly, "Why don't you just tell me what's in my presents?" Not gonna happen buddy, although if he were older and a bit wiser, he would realize the two gifts under the tree are probably the two toys he had pointed out to me in Target earlier. But yah! We are still before the age of guessing gifts.

On the kidney note, Larry finally has his CT scan scheduled for next Wednesday and hopefully this will put an end to the worrying and they can reach a clear decision regarding the structure of this mass on his kidney. Thank you for your continued support and prayers!

Some Good News

The Urologist called us this evening and said that the radiologist had a chance to review the scans. He believes that the mass on Larry's kidney is a cyst that was bleeding. If this is the case, we will just have to monitor it yearly. The Urologist wants Larry to have one more set of scans, a CT without contrast and a CT with contrast. The doctor did say that the radiologist was leaning towards it just being a cyst. I really feel God has answered all the many prayers being said on behalf of Larry. Thank you all.

Back to Square One

We met with the Urologist at the U of Miami this afternoon. He reviewed the scans firsthand without looking at the previous reports and said that the picture of the mass doesn't appear to be clear either way. There are signs that this is just a fatty tissue mass, which would be left alone, and there are signs that it may be more and need to be removed. Also, there are some tell tale signs of a cancerous tumor that aren't there. The Urologist is going to show the scans to the radiologist on staff, who he swears by, and we will call them when we get back in town on Monday.

So, it's not great news, but it is hopeful news. Pray that the radiologist looks at it and says, oh yeah, that's just a wod of fat. Not the most pleasant thought, but better than cancer any day.

Today is a Beautiful Day

When the boys and I left for church this morning, there was a hint of chill in the air. Fall has finally reached South Florida. Shey and I did yardwork afterwards, while Larry took care of some work inside. We had the back doors and windows open and the breeze swept through the house. The one thing about finding out something like Larry and I have is that we have rediscovered how blessed we are as well. So, so many people have reached out to us. Between all the churches in our family, there are thousands praying for us. Larry and I have found strength in each other. Through it all, we are still laughing. The situation could be so much worse. It's gonna be all right.

I guess I should clarify

Yesterday, we went to Larry's PCP to get the results of the CT scan from Friday. The radiologist report of the CT scan said there was no infection and that the complex mass was atypical of renal cell carcinoma, or cancer. It's not confirmed by the specialist, but I'm not sure if they can confirm what it is before going in and looking first hand. I've read that if they even suspect cancer of the kidneys that they won't biopsy for fear of spreading it. For now, the tumor is contained within his right kidney, which is a blessing. All the other organs look clear. With all this being said, I suspect they will just remove his kidney.

The thing that really pisses me off (beside the whole mess) is that the radiologist that looked at the CT scan from Friday gleaned more information from the first CT scan Larry had in the hospital. This is the same scan that the ER radiologist was all over the board when he read it. Had the Er radiologist been more confident in their findings, we wouldn't have been running all over the place trying to get answers for the past three weeks.

Thank you for all your prayers. I guess the good thing is that if it is cancer, since it's contained in his kidney he won't need further treatment after they remove the kidney. This just sucks.

Renal Cell Carcinoma (Suspicious)

For now, that's the diagnosis. We meet with an Urologist at the U of Miami on Monday to see what the next steps are. The doctor called me directly, so I drove to Naples last night to see Larry and tell him in person. We're both pretty numb right now. Please continue to have us in your prayers.

The Bed Making King

I have never been a bed maker. Even the few times in my life that I have had nice comforter sets, I still never make the bed. I will, when putting up the laundry, drag the sheets and quilt up to make a nice flat surface, but to make it nice and neat every morning would near about kill me. We have cleaning ladies who come every other week and they make the beds. Lately, Peyton has been noticing more when they come, generally because I am screaching for him to pick up the toy room before they get there the next morning and also because in said play room, they will take the toys that Peyton puts aside so his brother can't reach and the ladies intergrate them back into the pile of toys that one day I swear I'm going to go through and throw away half of them. (holy batman, long sentence)

So anyway, back to the bed making. After the girls came last Thursday, Peyton commented on his bed and how nice it looked. You know what, the little booger has made his bed every morning since then. He pulls the comforter up, puts his pillow and the sham at the top, then puts his big Eeyore at the foot. He even goes so far as to spread his baby blanket, with the little teddy bear head, out in the middle. It cracks Larry and me up. The kid won't put his shoes on in the morning without a fight and he still refuses to wipe his own butt most the time, but by god, his bed is made every morning!

I make a point to tell him every day too how great it looks. I'm hoping before long, I can release the cleaning girls and let Peyton take over!

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On the kidney front, Larry went for his CT scan on Friday, and the results will be faxed to the doctor's office by Thursday, so I am calling today and trying to get his follow up appt. However, the staff is supossed to return at 2 from lunch, and it is now 2:25 and the answering service is still picking up. Argh! I made him an appt on December 1 with the Cleveland Clinic for a second opinion. He still feels fine physically, which is good. We're both a little drained mentally though, and I'm fighting some sinus mess. Blah.

Day 10 - Just a Swangin'

I'm not sure why this phrase has been in my head lately. There's definitely no swangin' going on in my household. Larry has his CT scheduled for this afternoon. Hopefully, the staffs of all the doctors are on the same page and this will give us some news. My brain is just so tired of all of this. I know this sounds harsh, but I just don't do well playing the sympathetic wife, or person for that matter, for long periods of time. I want to know what's going on and I want it to be handled. This limbo shit if for the birds. I know these things take time, but I am just so done already and it's only been two weeks.

I remember when Peyton had a nasty sinus infection a couple years ago that we just couldn't get to go away, and I felt the same then. The constant fevers, no clear cut answers from the doctors and the never ending worrying just drove me crazy. I rememeber thinking, I just couldn't handle it if one of my kids had a chronic condition. I give all the credit in the world to the parents who have to deal with long term illnesses and things of that nature.

Patience is a virtue and one that I do not have.

What a Cluster F*ck

After I wrote my entry yesterday, the scheduler lady called Larry to let him know that she had double checked with the specialist, and the original scan he had written was not exactly right. With this being said, Larry did not have to take the Magnesium stuff, and instead needed to pick up some Berium from the imaging center to drink 2 hours before his scan. Larry thought this was great as he was not looking forward to pooping his brains out.

We went for his blood work this morning, which is an ordeal in itself as Larry HATES needles and things of that nature. We made it through without him passing out, then went home for him to take the berium and await his 11:00 scan. When we arrived at the imaging center, they looked over the Rx again and informed us that the specialist has specified that he wanted a clearer picture of any stones that may be on his kidney, rather than mentioning the mass (which we are more concerned about). Further, should the specialist really just want to rule out stones, then the berium was no good because it actually hides stones on the CT scan. You can imagine, we were less than happy.

Larry got on the phone with the specialist, who was less than helpful, saying she couldn't reach the doctor, blah, blah, blah. Larry called bullshit and told her, look, we're worried about this mass on my kidney that could be cancerous, HELLO?! After about 10 minutes of back and forth, and me restaining myself from grabbing the phone and chewing her a new asshole, she took down the number for the imaging center and said she was would try and get a hold of the doctor to clarify.

Three minutes later at the most, she called back having already reached the doctor. Unavailable my ass. He confirmed he wanted a regular CT scan with no contract, no IVP, or anything. The problem is, the berium has to exit your body through elimination and this takes a few days. Seriously, can these people not get their acts together so we can figure out what to do?!?

We scheduled the CT scan for late Friday afternoon and we'll hope the berium has passed through his system by then. I am so freakin' frustrated and just want to let the specialist have it for writing such a confusing Rx to begin with.

And this, my friends, is why they call it practicing medicine. Ba dum dum.

Test Scheduled for Larry

Larry has his IVP scheduled for tomorrow morning at 9. This is a detailed CT scan with dye, from what I've read. He has to drink that magnesium crap they gve you for a colonoscopy starting at 2 this afternoon and only have a bland dinner.

I'm getting nervous again. We had both chilled out after the last meeting with the doctor, but with the test looming over us, I feel a little constriction in the chest. And I know it's not as important as his health, but the whole money thing has me concerned too. Our dedutible, then 20% of everything, then if he does have surgery, that will be time out of work. He has about 2 weeks of time, and I guess we could use short term disability if we have to after that. I'm just ready to know already what's going on and what we have to do.

Day two, Day two

Because I don't have enough to do, I started another blog called Book Reviews By Me. I'm going to try and post there everyday with new books, however, tomorrow will be the exception as I am going out of town to see my very best friend in the whole wide world turn 30 on Saturday! (Hey T! I'll be there in a few hours! wheeeee)

I'm not promising they will be the most professional reviews, as I'm trying to write true to me rather than all criticy, but they should improve as I get in the swing of things. (Hopefully ha)

On the kidney note, spirits are high as we await the CT scan next week. We have three churches officially praying for us, and countless other individuals. Keep up the good work, we feel the strength coming through. :) I can't tell you how much Larry and I appreciate our friends.

We Have a Plan

The Nephrologist (kidney specialist) was able to squeeze us in yesterday, and what a squeeze it was. We waiting 3 hours before seeing him. We're not complaining though, we were happy to get in. Larry even sat patiently, which is pretty miraculous for him.

The doctor had a great bedside manner and explained everything to us, down to the difference between a Nephologist and an Urologist (one treats, one cuts in basic terms). He scheduled another CT scan for Larry next week so we can have a comparison to the first one after Larry finishes the antibiotics. He said it very well could just be a nasty infection caused by the stone that has absessed. He did't promise that Larry may not need some type of procedure or even the kidney removed, but he didn't seemed rushed to operate. This makes us feel so much better. We can handle surgery if it's necessary, but just to jump right on the table freaked us out.

To me, Larry having an infection makes more sense. Just keep praying for us!

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On another note, I'm still "training" for my 5k and this morning I jogged 8 minutes before taking my first walk break. Go me! It wasn't the fastest pace, but a jog nonetheless. I may be able to do this without making a complete ass of myself!

Update

Well, we made some calls this morning and Larry has an appointment with a kidney specialist on Friday, maybe even tomorrow if they can squeeze him in. He also has an appt with an Urologist at the U of Miami on November 15. We're praying. Our meeting on Friday with one Urologist was rather quick, so we are hoping she was just rushed into making a decision. Hopefully, another doctor will have seen this before and will have a better understanding of what we need to do. Thanks everyone for your prayers. It means so much to us!

How to Turn Your Life Upside Down in 24 Hours (in 10 easy steps)

1. Have your spouse wake up with lower back pain.
2. Have the pain be so bad, you take him to the ER.
3. Have the ER give a preliminary diagnosis of kidney stones and run more test.
4. Have two CT scans and an ultrasound run.
5. Have the scans show a strange mass on your spouse's right kidney that they don't know what it is.
6. Spend 12 hours at the ER, then go home with no news really and an appt. with an urologist.
7. Go to the Urologist and have her and her partner tell you that the mass needs to come out.
8. Have them also tell you that in order for the mass to come out, the whole kidney needs to come out.
9. Also, they don't know if it's cancerous or not until the kidney comes out.
10. This all needs to happen in the next 3 weeks.

Of course, we're going to get a second opinion and see a kidney specialist, but we're both terrified.

I just wish it was me instead.