Medical Update

Hey Everyone:

So my appointment was today with my Urologist, Dr. Peter Lau (kidney/urinary tract specialist)... there will be a few days delay in my posting this blog entry because I don't intend to post it before going to my parents house and then speaking with my brother and sister, but I want to give you all an update as well.

My appointment was at 10:45 this morning (Wednesday morning, November 24th) and unfortunately Joel couldn't come with me as he is at a work function in Regina, so my friend Michelle came along with me instead.  Michelle just happened to already know Dr. Lau as she is a research nurse and has worked with him in the past.  It was nice to know from her that he was a very patient and kind man who would take the time necessary with me and not rush through things.  She was totally right.  He was awesome and so was she.  I can't thank her enough for coming with me and making herself available to me while Joel was away.  Thanks Michelle!!!

Anyway, he started off by showing me the CT images of my kidney.  Doesn't mean much to someone like you or I, but I got to see them and he explained as best he could about them and showed me where the tumor was on my kidney. 

He went on to explain that they couldn't tell for sure what it was unless it was removed and examined by a pathologist (doctors who study and diagnose disease).  Biopsies on kidneys aren't particularly effective and are rarely used because they can give a lot of false negatives - showing that you don't have cancer when you actually might.  So, they remove them - pretty much all of them.  Mine is to be no different.  I will have surgery.  The mass and part or all of my left kidney will be removed.

Kidney masses/tumors/growths - whatever you want to call them - mine included - have a bad rap, and for good reason.  In my particular case, given the size of the tumor, my age, and overall health etc. there is about a 70% that it is malignant (cancerous).  If it were kidney cancer and it spread to other parts of the body (metastisizes), traditional cancer fighting therapies like chemotherapy and radiation do not work. 

That being said, there is some really good news in my particular case.  My tumor is very small.  About an inch around.  Whatever it is was caught by fluke, and also caught very early.  I had a chest x-ray done at my Urologist appointment - it was normal - if it is something that can spread - it hasn't.  For these reasons we have to be extremely thankful.  Also, because the tumor is so small, they can do a laprascopic surgery, meaning 4 very small incisions (no bigger than about 1cm each) are made to insert a camera and the surgical equipement.  This means quicker recovery for me.  With this type of surgery there is always the chance that they might have to convert to an open surgery (traditional/old school/normal surgery with a larger incision and more healing time etc) if there were any complications during the laprascopic process.  My surgery will likely be sometime in January although I don't know a specific date just yet. 

Chemo is only ever used on cancers that have spread, so even if it was effective in treatment of kidney cancer, I wouldn't need it, and I'm also happy that I won't need radiation.  I won't lose my hair, I won't destroy my immune system... I'll just have surgery - a surgery that the Saskatoon Urologists do often and have lots of experience with.

The thing about kidney cancer is that if it is caught early, it's one of the more "ideal" cancers to have, because they cut it out and you're basically cured.  Even if they remove my entire kidney, I have another one that works just fine and can more than manage to do it's duties for the rest of the 70ish more years I intend to live.  It is when kidney cancers are caught late and have spread, the outcome can be much worse and 5 year survival rates go from about 95% to as bad as 5%.

One interesting thing I thought of today was that by the time I know 'what I have' - I won't have it anymore! And for some reason to me, that seems pretty good.  Say if it is cancer - by the time I know it's cancer, I won't have cancer anymore.  It will be totally removed in the surgery.  I'll just be tired and pretty sore with 3 - 6 weeks of unwanted and unpaid time off work... and we were getting so close to paying off our last loan!

Anyway, I'm doing okay - better than I thought I would considering I found out less than 12 hours ago.  Maybe I'm still in denial, but I don't really think so - I just think I've already accepted it because my mind went to worst case scenario after my CT Scan 3 weeks ago.  Don't get me wrong - the actual surgery scares me more right now than whatever it is that might be every slowly growing inside of me to be quite honest.  The thought of a catheter that I'll have for a day or so toally grosses me out, and I read they're uncomfortable, and I'm not super stoked to have 4 little reminder scars on my belly and left side for years to come. 

The hardest part though is yet to come.  I cannot imagine the worry I am going to cause my family when I tell them about all of this on the weekend.  More than anything, I wish I didn't have to tell them.  I wish I didn't have to tell my mom that I might have the same cancer as her good friend - who wasn't so lucky as me to catch it early.

If anyone has questions, please let me know.  This can be scary for those of you that know me well too I'm sure and I'm happy to answer any questions that I can.  Please try to stay positive and remember that this is not necessarily cancer (30% chance!) even though what I talked about focuses largely on that diagnosis.  I tried to cover as much as I could, but I'm sure I forgot some important detail somewhere!  Email me or post a comment and I'll get back to you.

Luv, Kristie

Lest We Forget

Remembrance Day was yesterday.  I remember going to the school services through high school and our church would have a small ceremony on the Sunday nearest the 11th as well, but it wasn't until my adult life that it became an important day for me.  Meeting Joel and finding out he'd been in the Reserves and hearing about war and the Canadian Armed Forces from his experience and perspective kinda made the light go on in my head about all of the things that we should be eternally thankful to all of our Veterans (vets from WW1 right up to Afghanistan and into the future).  Joel also now works with several people that have also spent time in either the Reg force or Reserves of the Canadian Forces and that has helped me put a human connection to the stories.

The city that I live in has the largest indoor Remembrance Day ceremony in Canada.  This year there were over 7,500 people in attendance not counting the probably 500 people involved in the Ceremony (Veterans, presently serving Forces - some of whom are Veterans of Afghanistan and other wars and peacekeeping missions around the world, RCMP, City Police, Fire Department, all of the Cadets and a few other groups including the Army's Pipe and Drum Band who are super cool). 

Remembrance Day always reminds me how thankful I am to live in such a safe country and how thankful I am to the (far braver than I) members of our Canadian Forces both retired and in active duty roles.  It also reminds me of how very proud I am of this guy (the one on the right).

Not only did my husband and best friend spend time in the Reserves (although he did not go abroad on any tours of duty) but he is also a pretty darn good Firefighter and EMT/Paramedic.  He also happens to be the person responsible for his Fire Department even having an Honour Guard... and what an important group of people this is... paying tribute on days like Remembrance Day, at funerals of Firefighters both on current duty and those retired, and just adding that special and important touches to things like the annual Police/Fire Games, and Emergency Services Week's dinners with the government officials and things like that. So, to my husband "yer like pertty cool n' stuff".

Here are a few more images from Remembrance Day in no particular order (with captions below).

 The Cenotaph Guard... have to stand motionless through the whole

service and ceremony.  Somewhere around 2 hours.

Our local Army Reservists pictured in the front. 

Some of whom have served in Afghanistan.

Many of whom are younger than me.

Some WWII Veterans, marching past the cenotaph and two
Navy Forces personnel celebrating their 100th year in operation.

Fire and Protective Services Honour Guard at the Remembrance Day Service

Getting Ready for the ceremonies at a Fire Hall...

Listening intently to last minute instructions...

New firefighter happy to take part in the day

One of Joel's friends, RJ, served overseas with the Army Reserves (hense the extra medals on his uniform) and now helps teach drill (marching) to the Fire Department's Honour Guard

Ready for the day's ceremonies

Another Firefighter who has served our country laid the ceremonial wreath ...

unfortunately along with 500 groups that lay wreathes... okay 400. 
It takes a long time.



Just some of the members that took part in the
2010 Remembrance Day ceremonies!

Good Job Guys (and Girl not in photo)!!  I am very proud!

CT Scan Was Today =(

So, my CTScan was today.  They did have to give me the iodine based contrast agent so that stuff would show up better... so I got an IV and then they pushed in the iodine which causes your body to get really warm (especially noticed it in my face and upper torso).  Thankfully that's pretty much all it did as 1 in 200,000 people can suffer allergic reactions and worse from the injection.

All in all the procedure took about 10 maybe 15 minues and other than a tiny poke in my arm where the IV was, I'm no worse for wear.

They told me the results would be available to my doctor in 3 - 5 days... so I definitely wasn't expecting to hear anything today.

Shortly after 6:00, my family doctor called.  It's not Angiomyolipoma.  Turns out, there's no fat in it.  (Remember, that's the "lip" part of the word).  So, further digging is required, and that unfortunately, could fairly literally mean 'digging' as in they might have to do a biopsy.  Ugh.  That doesn't sound fun.

My doctor is still being optomistic - given my age and health and the fact that I'm a non-smoker etc etc means that the chances of it being something bad are still small.  That being said, worst case scenario is Renal Cell Carcinoma - a cancerous tumor in my kidney.  Seeing as it would be very unlikely that it would have spread, it is very cureable - I'd have a nephrectomy - surgery to totally remove my kidney.

So, I definitely get to go see the Urologist now... my appointment is for the 24th, but we'll see if it ends up getting bumped sooner.

That's all I've got for now... oh, and a picture of the CT Scanner that checked out my kidney is below!

Hurricane Simulator

Okay, so this was the lamest thing ever!  Top wind speed was 80km/hr - it barely puffed out his jacket and it certainly didn't drench him with torrential rain or anything.  Totally LAME... not really worth the $2.00!

Oh... and turns out BlogSpot doesn't like my new version of IE which is why I can't upload pictures, which is why I had to upload this picture at work.  LAME!!