Brian’s Story

Site created on November 23, 2021

Brian is pretty private when it comes anything related to his health but he has approved this CaringBridge site to communicate with friends and family about his upcoming surgery.  Many of you know that Brian had his only kidney removed on 8/17/21 because it had two large cancerous tumors on it.  He had his first kidney removed due to cancer 32 years ago and twice they removed small amounts of cancer in that second kidney.  This time there was just too much cancer and they had to remove the whole kidney.  Thankfully the cancer had not spread beyond that kidney.  As a result, Brian has been on dialysis three days a week since the surgery.   The ultimate goal is to have a kidney transplant in the future.

Fast forward three months.  Brian had been feeling so weak for several weeks and we just kept attributing it to low hemoglobin (common dialysis problem).  He was just feeling worse and worse and was having some chest pain, so in the morning on November 18th I took him to the emergency room at the Veteran's Hospital in Minneapolis.  They did some initial tests and told us that they saw some things in the heart that they wanted to check out further and that they were admitting him.   They did lots of tests the next day and found that the main artery to his heart was about 80% blocked, plus there are two more arteries that branch off from that one that also had a lot of blockages.  This was all quite overwhelming since he has been dealing with no kidneys and full blown dialysis - we just wondered how much a body can take!

Brian was scheduled for bypass surgery on December 7, 2021 at the Veteran's Hospital but this morning (11/30/21) I took him back to the Vet's Hospital Emergency Room because of increased chest pain and difficulty breathing.  After moving lots of things around they have arranged to move up the surgery to Thursday of this week (December 2).  He will be in the hospital until the surgery and about a week after.  This big surgery is complicated further because he has no kidneys.  The cardiologist told us in detail what will take place on the day of surgery and the recovery after.  Pretty overwhelming!  We have been told that there are two wonderful surgeons that are coming from the University of Minnesota to do his surgery and we're thankful for that.  A nurse also told him that everything around those blocked arteries looked very good.   The cardiologist that did the tests on the heart told me that they have to fix this so they can "move on to a kidney transplant" - so apparently that's still in the plan, but one step at a time.

Our hope is in the Lord and we're laying all of this at His feet.  We ask for prayer - especially as Brian undergoes this huge surgery and long recovery.  We're thankful for our friends and family (including our church family at South Isanti).  We are thankful to the Veteran's Hospital for their great care - they have been just wonderful throughout the whole kidney thing and now this.  Also, Brian has been concerned about keeping his glass business going and he has worked when he's able, around his dialysis schedule.  We are especially thankful for his work family, his partner Al of 20+ years, and employees Dianne, Kristi and Ravi.  They are beyond amazing and incredibly supportive.  They are family in every sense of the word.   

Brian has been pretty upbeat for the most part but when laying in the ER this morning - well, it was tough.  He's very ready to move on to the surgery.

I will update this site with any changes but certainly after his surgery on Thursday.  We are asking for prayer for Brian, the hospital caregivers and the surgeons.  Thank you!

Newest Update

Brian Update

Journal entry by Sandy Buckingham —

Brian had his "every three months" scan on Tuesday of this week.  Today we met with the oncologist PA Allison at the wonderful Veteran's Medical Center to get the results of the scan and blood work.  Nothing better than Allison walking in the room and saying with a big (huge) smile "Are you ready to hear great scan results?"  I love that woman!  Even if it were bad news, she'd make it sound positive - what a gift that is!

I will summarize the scan results with less detail than she gave us but still maybe more detail than you want.

  • Decreased (yes, "decreased"!) size of subcarinal and right infrahilar lymph nodes compared with the study dated 12/5/23.   (This is the lymph node that the cancer spread to - cancer not gone, but smaller!)  Yippee!
  • There are no new pulmonary nodules or areas of adenopathy in the chest, abdomen or pelvis.  Yippee!
  • No evidence for local recurrence in the nephrectomy beds.  Yippee!
  • Stable soft tissue mass in the subcutaneous tissues of the left flank, biopsy-proven schwannoma.  Yippee - I think  (not sure what this really means but Allison was happy about it.)
  • Stable cystic areas in the pancreas.  Yippee!

In summary - Quintuple yippee!

Brian's blood work was also pretty much perfect.  Allison was very happy with everything and said that the Immunotherapy is working!  After meeting with oncologist he had his every four-week Immunotherapy.  He continues to have minimal side effects from this, thank the Lord!

Of course, dialysis still happens every M-W-F in Cambridge.  We continue to be blessed that he can have it 5 miles from home and 1.5 miles from his shop!  Thank you Veteran's Medical Center!  Any side effects that he does have are generally more from the dialysis than it is from the immunotherapy treatments.  It's still very hard to live on a machine every other day but at the same time we're so thankful for it!

We continue to ask for your prayers for no cancer spread/growth.  Brian could especially use prayer for patience and acceptance in living with dialysis.  Dialysis and the side effects are so hard!  

God Bless you all!

Sandy Buckingham

1 John 5:14:  "This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.”

 

Read More of the journal titled "Brian Update"
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    Grandpa with Shawn and Ray
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    Grandma and Grandpa with Sophia
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    Grandma and Grandpa with Deacon and Isak ("like" a grandson)
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    Grandpa with Olivia
  • Grandpa with Ezra.  Shirt says "My Hero is a Veteran"!
    Grandpa with Ezra. Shirt says "My Hero is a Veteran"!
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