The Good News and the Annoying News

Thursday I had a ureteroscopy to determine if my kidney tumor was of the connective tissue type, or the “meat of the kidney” type.

It has been determined NOT to be the former.

Oh, so it’s the latter then!

Well, not necessarily.

There is STILL a chance that my tumor is benign, and even something I was born with which has been slowly growing my entire life.

So this [barely new] information prompts us to:

• do a biopsy of the thing, hoping it’s the benign kind, and therefore can be zapped in place to shrink, OR
• take the whole kidney out, treating it as a cancerous tumor, because if it IS cancer, poking it with the biopsy needle could spread the cancer. 

It’s quite possible that removing the whole kidney and a post-op biopsy will reveal the thing is benign and I could have carried on with both my kidneys. It’s also possible taking it out will mean “whew, we’re so glad we caught that thing when we did.”

How am I doing? My brain and urethra are on fire, since you asked. 😜 I have a stent in place that will remain for a bit. Its presence tells my brain I need to pee. All. Day. And. Night. Except I don’t, and even when I do, it’s a painful experience. So. I’m a tad miserable, but that’s temporary (I keep reminding myself).

The bigger issue, of course, is the big decision. I’ve been second-guessing, but I’m still leaning toward taking the whole thing out. Why literally poke the cancer bear? I’ve been told lots of people do just fine in life with one kidney. Dr. K. says my “good” one looks healthy.

And in other news - you guys are awesome. Truly. I woke up from my procedure to an avalanche of well-wishes and wtf-ers (I love and appreciate both). The virtual hug I get from facebook (especially when I can’t really go out and about) is heartening and priceless. Cheers to you, friends.