Four Weeks Post-Op

The meals and driving and other help from so many of you have been SUCH a blessing. THANK YOU!

I am getting a little better each day..... and trying to "take back" my household and work responsibilities, asap. I find that I still tire very easily and desperately want a NAP many days though! Once I hit the lazy boy chair I want to sleep 2-3 hours then can't go to sleep that night! So, I am trying to wean my toddler self off those nappies. :-)

So, please pray for my patience with recovery, and that I will wisely pace myself. And pray that I would continue to get my strength and stamina back ASAP! (I know, that doesn't sound very patient does it? Hence the prayer request for PATIENCE... ). :-)

I will start seeing a nephrologist soon to monitoring my blood pressure, electrolyte balance, and other kidney function more closely, in efforts to keep my remaining kidney as healthy as possible. Thankful for access to excellent specialists. So thankful for that. The main instruction I have heard over and over is to stay very well hydrated. So a water bottle is my constant companion.

My oncologist says no scans till June. She wants my kidney to heal completely before we expose it to any more of the dye they use for the MRI, as it can damage the kidney. The only known concerns right now are the lung spots, which were just scanned in February, so I am comfortable waiting until June for scans.

Of course the continuing BIG prayer request is that God would grant me a cancer free future. The new kidney tumor was a stage I / grade 2 out of 4 scale for aggressiveness, believed to be a new tumor, not a spread from the other kidney tumor. It would be very curable if it had been the only kidney cancer I had. Thankful it was caught early and removed completely by Dr Uzzo, with minimal loss of kidney tissue (10%).

All the docs say that new metastasis from the stage IV tumor removed in 2007 is still the biggest threat. Kidney cancer can return many years, even decades, after the first occurrence. However since almost 5 years has passed, the hope is that if a new metastasis does occur, it will be a slow growing and treatable location and cell type. Some kidney cancer patients survive many years with 'controlled' metastasis. Not my preference, but, should that be God's plan, I will have to be ready to accept that.

Please pray that I will live each day as it comes, in faith that the God who loves me has all my tomorrows completely figured out, and although I need to follow my doctors' advice and do my best to stay healthy, I need not try to micro-manage, let alone fret, about what I truly cannot control anyway! THIS is a hard lesson for me to learn, that's for sure!

Thank you all for standing with us in this newest challenge. It means so much to us all to be loved and cared for by each of you in so many ways, most especially in prayer.

With love and thankfulness for your continued care and concern for us,
Karen

Matthew 6:27,33,34a
27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. 34 “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself.