Ann Hull

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Wow!  What a month!  On September 26, while I was at work at Liberty Middle School, my heart started racing and I felt like my blood pressure was through the roof.  My wonderful co-workers encouraged me to stop by Urgent Care on the way home, so I did.  The Dr. there wanted me to drive to the ER to get some tests run since they did not have the equipment necessary on site.  So off to Dublin Methodist I went!  One of the tests they ran was a chest X-ray.  On the image, they spotted numerous "nodules" on my lungs so they ordered a CT scan to take a closer look.  There were just a couple small ones that were measurable, but could be tumors, so they ordered a CT scan of my abdomen to see if they could find something (another tumor) that these were coming from.  Sadly, they found the source which is a large mass on my kidney.  I had a lung biopsy the next day, and it appears the nodules are a result of the kidney tumor.  


Kind of crazy to start your day off normal, end up in the ER for a racing heart, then be told you most likely have cancer an hour later.  Not quite how I was planning for that Tuesday to turn out!  Anyway, my heart looks great and they got my BP down so I am thankful for those issues being resolved.  I truly believe that God got my heart racing so that this could be discovered.  I could have been walking around for a long time not knowing I had this cancer if not for this random chest X-ray. I had zero symptoms of kidney cancer.  Scary, right?


The next step is to remove my kidney which will happen on October 25th.  After that, I will meet with an oncologist at The James on November 6 to figure out which treatment path will work best.  This will be decided after they figure out exactly which strain of Renal Cell Carcinoma this is.  Kidney cancer is typically a disease that you seen in males over the age of 60.  Because of my younger age and because I have no other health issues, there are a lot more treatment options available because my body is strong enough to handle it.


I've got this!!  I am optimistic and going to make the best of this unexpected situation!  I am thankful for each and every one of you and your love and support mean the world to me and my family.  Love you all!