The Other Shoe Dropping

The kidney biopsy result are in: primary renal carcinoma. Kidney cancer.
The doctor was apologetic when giving me the news. On the bright side he did say that it was very good that it was not the result of the melanoma spreading but rather a new incidence of cancer. Apparently kidney cancer is not as aggressive as melanoma. I meet with the urologist in two weeks to discuss where we go from here. I guess the options run from do nothing and watch it for changes up to removing part or all of the kidney. The oncologist said that the Opdivo treatments for the melanoma would also keep the kidney cancer from growing. Won't shrink it or kill it, just keep it from getting bigger. A step in the right direction.

My first Opdivo treatment was Tuesday morning. It went smoothly and, knock on wood, I haven't experienced any side effects yet. Of course there are some possible side effects, like liver or thyroid issues that cannot be detected without a blood test. My blood gets analyzed before each treatment. My next treatment is May 1.

In the mean time I do more research... kidney cancer, nivolumab, melanoma, cancer research results. The internet sure makes it easy to access all sorts of information - some interesting, some comforting, some scary, VERY scary. It's hard learning enough to be able to ask good questions of the doctors and nurses. I must say that everyone we've dealt with so far have been sympathetic and understanding.

Life goes on. It's a beautiful spring day here, lots of sunshine, temperature in the mid 60's. I spent several hours in the yard this morning and afternoon trimming and mowing the lawn and trimming shrubs and bushes. I also cleaned off the swings and dug out their cushions. When I was done with my chores we spent some time out back watching the birds soaring on the wind currents, listening to the river and getting some vitamin D courtesy of the Sun (but not too much...)

Clean Living Pays Off

The liver biopsy results are in: BENIGN.    Woo Hoo !!!!!!

That was certainly good news. Now we turn our attention to the mass on my left kidney. The doctor looking at my PET Scan described it as 

"[The] hypermetabolic mixed solid and cystic left renal mass is suspicious for primary renal neoplasm"

Once again the doctor postponed my first infusion treatment so as not to muddy the kidney biopsy results. Wednesday they called to make a tentative appointment for next Thursday. And again the only site they do this procedure is an hour and a half from where we live now. They start very early in the morning there but did slide my appointment to mid-morning to give us more time to make the trip. 

OK. 

Then they called yesterday. The radiologist scheduled to do the procedure wanted a better look. They squeezed me in yesterday afternoon for a quick CAT Scan. Now I've had an MRI scan, a PET scan and a CT scan. One more and I get a free scan???

My first nivolumab infusion is now scheduled for the 17th barring any unforeseen developments. I can wait...