You Never Know

What you’ll wake up to each day.

The date Mardi Gras falls on changes from year to year but the holiday itself will never be quite the same for me.  I get up every morning at 5:30 to get Chris on the Options bus for work and then I go back to bed for a nap.  I’ve always been a late sleeper and I love my nap time.

I was taking my nap as usual on Mardi Gras morning when my phone rang.  I had an MRI done the week before to check some back problems and it was my neurologist’s office calling me with the results.  First, I was told me about things that are wrong in my back and then the nurse said I have a mass in my right kidney. And then she gave me that canned stuff they teach students in nursing school….”I know this is a lot for you to process”….to which I thought….”you don’t have a clue”.  Nor did I have an inkling how hollow those words sound until you’ve heard them applied to yourself.

Maybe I’m just too plain old fashioned but I think that’s the kind of news the doctor should tell a patient.  I have nothing against nurses.  I’m an RN myself even though I don’t work any longer.  I just can’t imagine myself taking the responsibility for giving a patient that kind of news.

So, several weeks later and after being referred to a urologist here who sent me for a CT scan and then referred me to a urologist in New Orleans, I’m waiting for my surgery date to arrive.

I’ve had my pre-op labs/tests done for the anesthesia department at Tulane.  I’ve completed my online “Passport” and the docs there have downloaded it.  In about 2 weeks, I’ll have a couple labs repeated and get my clearance for surgery.

Tulane has housing for patients and their families with a walk-way connecting to the hospital.  We’ve already got our reservation so we can drive into the city the day before and spend the night there.

I’ve had my suitcase packed for almost as long as I’ve known about the mass….even before I saw the first urologist.  It’s got new housecoats, gowns (no designer hospital attire for me if I can help it), and Purr-Purrs (one of my sisters couldn’t say slippers when she was young so she called them Purr-Purrs) in it.  I’ve still got to put something comfy to wear home in the suitcase.  I’ve got my Bible ready to put in the suitcase and I bought a beautiful journal to write in.

I’ve decided to surround myself with only positive thoughts, scripture, our Lord, my family and good friends.  No horror stories about surgery or cancer  please.  🙂

A few details:

Robotic Laparoscopic Partial Nephrectomy.  That’s the planned procedure.  If you’ve heard of the DaVinci robot, that’s what my doctor will be using for my surgery. Dr. Benjamin Lee is my urologist.  You can Google him if you just like to look up stuff.  🙂  He thinks I’ve had this for a long time and that it’s slow-growing.  He also thinks it has not spread beyond the kidney.

Chemo and/or radiation aren’t generally used to treat kidney cancers.

May 3rd at Tulane Hospital in New Orleans.  That’s where I’ll be.

For anyone who might be concerned about Garden Party.  I have most of the blocks uploaded and ready to be announced as scheduled so hopefully we won’t miss a single beat.  🙂

I believe God guided me to the right doctor to do this surgery.  Please keep me, my family, and my medical team in your positive thoughts and prayers and please feel free to add my name to prayer lists at your church.

Until later….

 

 

Posted by Quilting Tizzy on April 12, 2011

https://quiltingtizzy.wordpress.com/2011/04/12/you-never-know-2/