Another doctor visit, another vastly different opinion...

Today I drove out to Atlanta to see the urology oncologist out at Emory University. This makes doctor #5 for the ole McKidneys, and as always, he had a different take on them than the previous four. Today's news was really good, though; he felt that my kidneys were perplexing and strange and complicated, but that they really didn't look too cancerous.  He took a long time looking at my films and saying things like, "Hmm, that's odd" and "This is really weird", so I'm not sure what to make of that. He wants to do an MRI in June just to make sure they are really only just weird, so I'm still in wait-and-see mode until then, which is fine with me because it's better than the kidney removal mode any day.

I mentioned that my first doctor in Dallas had wanted to do surgery immediately, and that I had waited and gone to UT and then to Emory because I wanted to see about getting it done laparoscopically (if it is necessary) and he at first said, "Oh, no no, I don't think that could be done robotically, but I guess I would try....oh, well, yeah, I bet I could do it.  But you don't need it.  But if you did, yeah, I could do that."  Then he smiled at me and said, "Well thank God you didn't let that doctor take your kidney, right?"

Yep.  Thank God.

My kidney function tests from earlier this month came back normal, which is EXCELLENT news, and I go back to the nephrologist next week to see what he has to say about that.   There are still a lot of unanswered questions about what in the world caused all of this mess, and whether or not I'll have a long-term illness....the main thing that keeps coming back around is the possibility of polycystic kidney disease.  So far I've had two doctors that are certain that I have it and one (my current nephrologist) who says it is "statistically unlikely".  Right now, though, I'm not going to worry about that, or any of the kidney mysteries still to be unraveled. I'm going to be thankful to God for the bit of good news that I got today.  It is very good.

Snow Day!

Still alive, thank you.

So I've taken a few weeks off from the blog, and I've found I still really don't have much to say.  We're gearing up for a new round of doctor visits with a new round of doctors, so I'll hopefully have some information to share soon concerning the ol' imperiled kidneys.  Other than that, we've just been taking it slow, doing lots of homeschooling, lots of playing, a little napping, and we try to fish when the weather is warm.

Adjusting to life out in the country has been a culture shock.  I miss my Texas friends like c-r-a-z-y, and I also miss the conveniences of living in a big city, but it is very nice here, and I'm slowly starting to make friends.  I've been doing an Esther Bible study at my new church, and I pretty much walked in and introduced myself and told everyone I have a tumor.  I make such a good first impression.  They couldn't be a nicer group of ladies, though, and even though none of them are anywhere close to my age, I am enjoying them very much. 

Here are a few pics I've taken on the warmer days in the last few weeks: