I am new to blogging but not to cancer.  I took a bad fall in 1996 and from that I had a couple of broken ribs and lots of bruises and pain.  When the bruise on my back didn't get any better, and I was plagued with back pain, the doc sent me for an exray which showed a mass on my lungs.......from there I had to have an ultrasound of the abdominal area due to the back pain and at this time they suspected lung cancer and they requested a CRT of the lungs.  The tech who did the CRT said "....well that's odd"!  I asked her what she was referring to and she said "it's probably nothing, but I'm seeing some dark area just under you lungs and I'm going to take a few extra "slices" (a term used for the pics and how they are taken)  ONnce the tests came back they found I had a mass in my  kidney and the mass in my lungs was a hemoma (blood clot) caused by the fall but they weren't concerned with that now, they decided I needed an artereogram(sp?) They said this would determine for sure if it was a clot or if it was cancer.  Cancer would have blood going to it and the clot would not, but they couldn't tell anything til that was done.  Needless to say, I had it done and when I came to after the procedure I asked the Tech if the spot had a blood supply to which he replied NO.  Wow, what a relief......I finally slept for this first time in 3 weeks!

 I went home from the hospital with a new attitude!  Life was good and I would be fine.  Then came the call that changed my life.......the specialist from the hospital where the procedure was done called and said "well it's just as I thought, it's CANCER and you have to come in and get your pretesting and bloodwork............... Talk about your life turning upside down!  I told him he was wrong!  I already knew it wasn't!  Well, I guess the young man who told me what I thought was good news, didn't have any right to tell me anything.....who knew.

 I immediately broke down, I was not prepared for this and called my husband who was in a meeting and the sec'y didn't want to interupt him, I called my sister and didn't get an answer, I called my friends and still could find no one to talk to and just them my daughter-in-law to be called me and asked how I was doing?  Boy, poor thing didn't know what she was asking.  She immediately hung up, called my husband and told his sec'y she didn't care what kind of meeting he was in GET HIM OUT.

 From there my husband (who worked at UofM Hospital as Manager of Facilities) got hold of the top urologist at the UofM, Dr Montie, the Department Head and Professor, and pulled out all the stops to get me in to see him in 3 days!  This man was a saint and his bedside manner was fantastic, unlike what I had previously had with the Urologist at a local hospital who was cold and unfeeling.  After going through my xrays and explaining everything, Dr. Montie said and showed us where the growth was, at the top of the renal glan and right up to the adrenal glan and he said they would be taking out both glans,  He also said he would be going on vacation for 2 weeks and I could wait until he got back to do it, or he had a very competent associate, Assistant Professor who was quite capable of doing this and it was up to me what I wanted to do.  I told him "I want to get the pac-man out of me, it's eating me up!"  He then introduced me to Dr. Martin Sanda, who at 36 was the Asst. Dept Head and an Associate Professor......and he looked like Duggie Houser and all of 16!!!  He turned out to be my knight in shining armor and the operation was done 4 days later.

A final note to this - it ended up I had a small cell carcinoma, extremely fast growing and it was right at the wall of my kidney - Talk about lucky, had I waited  the 2 weeks, this would be a whole different story as it would have penetrated the wall and thing would be quite different. 

I am a very fortunate person and so happy to have friends, family, doctors and a support group.  We all need this when the big "C" comes out.  I walked in the Relay for Life for the first time last year and loved it.  Prior to that I walked with friend and for friends in Boston at the Jimmy Fund Walk, which I will be doing again this year.  It's a marathon walk, 26 miles and every mile is filled with children clapping and urging you on and what an inspiration when you see these smiling faces from young children who have cancer and you stop and think, what do I have to complain about when these kids are here have to endure this incidious desease....so you keep walking the whole 26 miles and somehow your feet aren't as sore as you thought!!

 I will keep giving back in the only way I can.....walking!!  I will survive!!