In just a week, I will fly with Larisa to Porto, Portugal. There we will meet Lily who is flying there from Dallas. Then the three of us will meet Sophie because her Semester at Sea voyage will be in Porto at that time.

Sophie will give us a tour of her ship. Lily is especially excited to see the ship again since she did SAS in the fall of 2022. Sophie will have been in Porto for a couple days when we arrive.

Then the next day, the four of us plus two of Sophie’s SAS friends will have a day long guided tour of wine/vineyards in the area

Sophie will then board the ship and they will set sail for their final leg of this SAS voyage. she’s been traveling since early January.

Larisa, Lily, and I will then go to Madrid where we will spend several days. We will take a tapas cooking class while we are there. Then Lily will fly back to Dallas, and Larisa and I will travel to Bremerhaven, Germany where Sophie’s ship will dock and the SAS trip for this semester will be completed.

Larisa, Sophie, and I will go to Amsterdam where we will have a tulip tour and spend a couple days. Then Sophie will continue traveling with some SAS and Elon friends, and Larisa and I will fly back home.

I am still recuperating from my kidney cancer surgery from January 26. I have been feeling light-headed at times when I stand up. So I saw the doctor yesterday. I didn’t want to chance feeling bad during the trip to Europe.

We are discontinuing my blood pressure med since my BP was low. However, I will still take some of my BP meds on the trip with me – just in case I need them.

I’m waiting at the Vandy lab now for a cortisol test to see how my right adrenal gland is handling producing cortisol for both glands since the left one was removed during my kidney surgery.

I’ve also lost about ten pounds since my kidney surgery. I weigh around 135 now +/- a pound or two. It will be interesting to see what this cortisol test shows. I am hoping my right adrenal gland is stepping up to the plate and handling my body’s needs and that my other symptoms are just a matter of recuperating from surgery. That’s best-case-scenario.

Daily life is all about drudgery – make your bed, wash the dishes, clean the toilet, cook a meal, take out the trash. You do it, and by the next day, you have to do it again.

#livingrealwithCarol, #drudgery, #joyfulliving, #myutmostforhishighest

A simple and quick help if you’re dealing with depression.

I realized that I haven’t written here about my diagnosis. The mass on my left kidney was Chromophobe Renal Cell Carcinoma. It was at the top of my kidney and abutted my left adrenal gland. So I had laparoscopic and robotic surgery on January 26, 2024. They removed the mass and the surrounding part of my left kidney, and they also removed the left adrenal gland. That was about 2 1/2 weeks ago. I’m still recovering. The “chromophobe” part is a sub-type of RCC that’s typically associated with a better outcome.

Diagnosis

1) LYMPH NODE, LEFT RENAL HILAR, EXCISIONAL BIOPSY: – One lymph node, negative for carcinoma (0/1)

2) KIDNEY, DEEP MARGIN, BIOPSY: – Renal medulla, negative for carcinoma

3) KIDNEY AND ADRENAL GLAND, LEFT, PARTIAL EN BLOCK NEPHRECTOMY: – Chromophobe renal cell carcinoma

Copied from the surgical pathology report

It is still strange to wrap my head around the fact that I had kidney cancer. And the doctor assures me that “had” is the correct terminology. He feels certain that it had not spread. The margins and lymph nodes were clear. So I will not need chemo or radiation, for which I am grateful.

This morning I weighed myself – 140.6. Less than a pound away from a “new decade” (as I call them). I say the following with total sarcasm – although it is true. Having cancer surgery is a great way to lose weight. I have zero appetite. Yesterday Ron and I went by Miss Daisy’s to get some quiche. I saw the table of muffins and bought one pumpkin chocolate chip and one blueberry lemon. I came home and cut < 1/4 off each one and toasted the pieces in the oven. I enjoyed every bite until I finished eating them, at which time I became so ill I actually tried to throw up so I could feel better. . . but I couldn’t throw up. I had to go to bed and sleep for about an hour to get over it. I threw out the remainder of the muffins, and I’m sure I won’t be eating any muffins from Miss Daisy’s again in the foreseeable future.

Nothing appeals to me. I haven’t had any alcohol since a week before surgery, and I don’t plan to drink any alcoholic beverages anymore. I have only part of my left kidney remaining, and what’s left is now more vulnerable to injury and disease. Alcohol is bad for kidneys. While I might enjoy a Cosmo if we go out, I kinda doubt I will.

I am certain that, as I heal further from surgery, my appetite will return. And as life gets back to normal after all the renal cell carcinoma hubbub of the past few weeks, my tendency to return to bad habits will show up again. For now, though, I feel like my body is telling me it’s past time to get serious about eating only for health.

Ron is 76 and I am 74. Unless we both die in an accident at the same time, one of us will out-live the other one. I’ve always felt that Ron will outlive me. I don’t know why except he is so much like his Granddaddy Pierce who lived just a few months this side of 100. But then I am very much like my mother who lived to 98.

There are points at which the momentum of life shifts. One of us can’t outlive the other without things changing. I wonder if this “mass” on my kidney is that shifting point. I don’t want to be dramatic, but unknowns such as this makes one naturally think of all possible outcomes.

I know that (1) it may be nothing more than an atypical cyst, or (2) it may be something easily “managed,” or (3) it may be the beginning of the end. Or anything along that continuum. It could even be something entirely different. No one knows. Nothing so far indicates that it is serious. However, it COULD be. And even if this turns out to be no big deal, eventually something will come along that is a BFD, as they say.

It is fascinating to consider because of the implications. Talk about having to put one’s faith and beliefs into action – having to live out what one professes – words versus actions. All those nebulous “what I would do in that circumstance” thoughts are suddenly put to the test. WOULD I be brave going through chemo/radiation/surgery? Would/could I face death with my faith in God intact? I’ve certainly done poorly on many lesser tests of faith.

Only time will tell, and I am fortunate that we were able to get appointments for the CT scan and urologist consult so quickly, thanks to all the folks we know at Vanderbilt. And, of course, we are so closely associated with some head honchos at Vandy because of Lily’s battles with leukemia.

And speaking of Lily . . . I can only pray and strive to be as strong and determined as she was and continues to be.

Life consists of many great big chunks of unknowns. My most recent is the possibility of kidney cancer. Probably not, but the possibility is there, and of course that possibility gets me thinking. What if I DO have cancer? At the worst – Am I ready to suffer and to die? Can I handle going through chemo and/or radiation? And does it matter whether or not I’m ready or whether I can handle it? If I have to do it, I have to do it. At the moment my mindset is “What will be, will be!” And I’m not worried. I have never been seriously ill – but I know that there’s always a first time. No one gets out of life unscathed. I’m 74 years old and damned lucky to live this long without any major illnesses.

I hope I hear from my pcp tomorrow. I will likely have to have a biopsy done – although maybe not. I don’t know.

The more I read the MRI report, the scarier it gets. I should stop looking up stuff on the internet. It’s 2:42 AM – and I am wide awake. This is ridiculous.

As a result of some pain believed initially to be gall bladder related, I’ve been through lots of testing over the past few weeks – blood tests, a sonogram, a CT scan, a HIDA scan, and today an MRI scan. so far, there is no explanation for the five days of pain I experienced. And the pain has been gone since Christmas Day.

No worries at this point – just waiting for results.