Friday, June 11, 2021

Surgery Results

So... the results of my surgery came back. It was kidney cancer. While that sounds like a bad thing, it isn't in my case. Bad would have been metastatic breast cancer, and it wasn't that, so that's GOOD!

At my appointment, my urologist said that my oncologist (do I SEE enough doctors???) wanted to do a biopsy of the fatty tissue on my left adrenal gland (my tumor was on my right kidney). She was attending the tumor board that afternoon and would let me know what to expect next.

By the way, I also have this nodule on my thyroid that my primary care physician wants biopsied. My urologist thought that I might be able to have both biopsies at the same time.

Well, my urologist called me later that day and said she was able to talk with the radiologist who actually read my CT scan and he suggested that I have an MRI instead of a biopsy, because he was fairly certain it was just fatty tissue (a fibro abnoma kind of thing). My MRI is scheduled for July 7.

I will still need to get the thyroid looked at, so I'm in the process of scheduling that. I need to see an endocrinologist off base, so it's taking longer than usual. But... the bloodwork on my thyroid doesn't indicate anything unusual, so it's most likely NOT cancer (but hey, with me, you can't be too sure anymore). 

Have I ever told you how much I hate dealing with insurance? Granted, we have an awesome plan (Humana Military/Tricare), but they aren't the easiest to deal with. That's why I prefer to keep everything on base (and a big reason we moved close to one) -- NO PAPERWORK!

My back is still being a pain (literally), but not so bad that I can't move around (I just move slowly at times). I'm trying not to live on motrin and I have been walking in the morning (about a mile each day). No pain while doing that, so that's good. I've decided to just stick with going around the block and not stretching it out further. Not until my back stops hurting. And maybe after the glue comes off my incisions. 

So... that's the news for now. Thought I'd share it now instead of wait until Wednesday. Have a great weekend!

Stacy


6 comments:

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Good to know it wasn't the spread of the other cancer.
Hopefully you can get everything taken care of (on base) in the coming months and be done with doctors for a while.

Stacy McKitrick said...

Alex - I am sooooo looking forward to not seeing doctors again.

Jennette Marie Powell said...

Ugh to too many doctor appointments and dealing with insurance, but yay for no breast cancer! Here's hoping the other issues they check out are all nothing more than fatty tissue. :D

Stacy McKitrick said...

Jennette - I'm hoping, too!

Maria Zannini said...

And here's me thinking cancer was cancer. It seems weird to think kidney cancer isn't as bad. I don't envy your insurance fracas. Sometimes I think they're more of a pain than the surgery.

Stacy McKitrick said...

Maria - It was self-contained, so in this case it wasn't bad. Especially since it was caught before it could do damage. But I'll be on watch for awhile. Of course, I was already on watch with my breast cancer. This is just prolonging it.