HERE WE GO AGAIN

January 14, 2024

Here we go again.

Up till October 2023, it seemed I was truly in remission. All my scans came back clean. There were some nodules in my lungs, but they stayed the same size for a year and a half, so nobody was worried. My oncologist, Dr. Zhou, said last April, that if my scan was clean in October, and again in April of 2024, he would consider me cancer free.

Well, the scan was not okay. The nodules in both lungs had grown significantly. One of them grew more than three times the size it was in April. All the others had grown as well. But even the big one wasn’t quite big enough for a biopsy. Dr. Zhou said we should wait three months this time. I have my next scan on Tuesday, and I see the doctor the week after that.

The oncologist said he has some good meds that will help if the biopsy shows it is cancer. I’m concerned though because I have an auto immune disease, so I can’t take the immunotherapy drugs. It would send my JRA in to overdrive. One guy on a kidney cancer support group I’m in said he had an arthritis type immune disease, and his doc put him on the immunotherapy drugs anyway. His arthritis got so bad he was basically bed ridden. Even the meds that target the tumors and try to shrink them have terrible side effects.

I have a lot of support. My sister, and several good friends are here, plus other friends for the moral support. I need to get a different bed in my master bedroom, because my current one is high, and I need to use a step to get into it. If I get sick or weak from side effects of meds, I don’t want to be shaky trying to get in or out of my bed. But otherwise, I think I’m as prepared as I can be. I’m planning in case it’s the worst scenario, but I’m hoping for the best.

Oh yes, in case anyone is wondering, kidney cancer can spread to the lungs, among other places. And because it is still kidney cancer, chemo and radiation don’t work well on that particular cancer.

Life sure is an interesting ride!