Guests and Expert Opinions

These guys showed up for breakfast last week. This picture was taken before the dog noticed them...

They came up from the river to munch on some tasty leafs and buds.

In other news, we saw the Urologist last Friday. He's never treated a patient getting immunotherapy for a different type of cancer. His main concern is if it will hurt the healing process were he to do surgery. Normally he wouldn't fool around the tumor. He would  just go in and remove the offending mass, no questions asked. My Oncologist told him that it would have no effect on healing and should keep the 5.3 cm mass on my left kidney from growing.  The Urologist talked to us a lot about kidneys, renal cancer and options. That's what it comes down to, options. I am not experiencing any pain around the left kidney (much higher in the back than you would guess!) and do not have blood in my urine. These are major signs of tumor aggression. So, he is taking a wait and see position. I am scheduled for a CT Scan in August, three months. He said that if the mass hasn't shrunk at all by then, if it is the same size or has grown at all he will remove it. Depending on exactly where the tumor is on the kidney and how involved and attached it is to the kidney he will remove the mass or, if deemed too risky because of its location in relation to the major blood and lymph system connections, he may simply remove the whole kidney.

Possibilities for the future.

In the mean time I go back for my third infusion session next Wednesday.