Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Cancer sucks, take2

My little sister Amy found out yesterday, after her second CT scan, that she has a tumor in one of her kidneys. (yeah, I almost passed out when I heard her say that. My Dad said the life drained from him. It's not exactly good news.)She is having a biopsy done tomorrow. Apparently a solid tumor in the kidney is malignant 90% of the time. A biopsy has up to a 15% false negative rate, so they will likely remove the kidney even if the test comes back negative.

On the bright side, if it's localized to the kidney, it can usually be treated with surgery alone... no chemo or dialysis. All in all, it's very good news... as far as cancer is concerned. I mean, if you must have a tumor, this is definitely where you would want it! God blessed us with a spare kidney! If it came down to it, any one of us would donate a kidney to her. Not only is she a fabulous sister, but she's truly one of my best friends as well.
Still, I can't imagine dealing with this. You don't expect this kind of news when you're 25, with a new baby. Amy is such a precious person, very compassionate and sensitive, but she's also one tough cookie, and emotionally stronger than I am. We plan to have dinner together tomorrow night, after her biopsy, if she feels up to it. I just need to hug her now.

She is requesting specific prayer that the cancer has not spread. So please stop and say a prayer right now that this is localized, and can be quickly and easily removed, with no further problems.

Oh, and email me if you know of a good oncologist in the area!

Thank you,
Wendy

3 comments:

Shannae said...

Oh my word, Wendy. I know all to well that cancer sucks. We have lost so many friends and family members because of that horrible, horrible disease. I'm with ya...I HATE IT! And I don't use that word often. Anyway, sorry so depressing but I will say a prayer for Amy and for her specific request. God bless you and your family. BTW, how is Meme doing? I haven't seen an update lately.

sara said...

Oh my word! I will pray for her- and you too. That is shocking. But it sounds like it can turn out OK.

Jerri Dalrymple said...

Lifting her and family up in prayer.... She's a fighter!