My Cancer Has A Name

I went to visit Dr. Leveillee today. He is the surgeon who took out my right kidney. He is a very well respected surgeon and medical researcher out of the University of Miami. The purpose for seeing him was to allow him to check out my wounds for progress on healing and to review the pathology report. When he came in he asked me to stand up, to sit down, to stand up, and then he laughed. "It's amazing how much power I have over people after surgery." It was a funny moment, but I had to remind him that comedy made me laugh and laughing right now made me cry due to the wounds. At which point I began to laugh and oh, it hurt, but was still lots of fun. He is a very good doctor.

With the laughing over, we then sat down and reviewed the pathology report. Yes, it was cancer and my cancer has a name. It is called Chromophobe Renal Carcinoma. I just like to call it that big ugly thing that ate my kidney. According to the American Cancer Society, Chromophobe Renal Carcinoma is the third most common type of kidney cancer. It accounts for about 5% of all kidney cancer cases. The cells of Chromophobe Renal Carcinomas are pale, similar to clear cells, but are much larger and have certain other features that can be recognized by the experts. The report went on to state that the cancer is a stage 2 and a grade 2, both of which are assessed on a 0 to 4 scale.

So what is next? I've been asked to consider participating in a clinical trial of a preventative program for kidney cancer survivors. While reoccurrence is rare, especially for scores of 1 or 2, it does sometimes happen. The two companies that make drugs to address reoccurrence are testing those drugs as a preventative measure instead of as a treatment after reoccurrence. This is something I would love to do, but I don't want to have to take months off from our ministry work at Book of Hope Being a clinical trial, there is no assurance that the treatment I receive will be actual cancer treatment and not simply a dummy treatment as part of the double blind study. Please pray with me for wisdom to know God's will for me in this study. A decision about applying to be a part of the study will need to be made in the next week or two.