Time for an update (it's been awhile)!!

Dad had an appointment on May 6th with Dr. Alkhatib at which time he was told that they found 2 new masses by his kidneys that were approximately 1" and had not been seen on his previous scans.  Mom questioned if it was for sure cancer and was told it was but that they didn't know what kind.  Because of the location of the spots, they ordered an ultrasound.  They need to make sure they wouldn't need to put a stent in dad's kidneys due to some blockage.  They said they would be doing another scan in 6 to 8 weeks to check the new spots for growth.  This was hard news to hear.  He has been doing so good.  There were lots of tears 😪  We decided not to put an update on this site until we had more information.

On May 20th we met with Dr. Alkhatib again.  We discussed the ultrasound that was done.  It showed mild to moderate blockage of his ureter (the tube that connects the kidney to the bladder).  Nothing more needs to be done at this time.  We will just watch it to see if he will eventually need a stent placed.  He then talked about doing a scan in 6 to 8 weeks to check those spots.  At that time we could order a biopsy.  My thought .... if you are saying that you know it is cancer, those spots will not do anything but possibly grow or spread, why are we waiting at all????  I see no benefit of waiting.  So, Dr. Alkhatib ordered the biopsy.  He says that once we know what kind of cancer it is, we can figure out how to treat it.  If it comes back the same as his previous cancer, we will probably use the same chemo drugs as before which would then be added to his Keytruda treatments.  If it is a different type of cancer, they may need to use different chemo medications.

Biopsy was done on June 3rd.  We met with Dr. Alkhatib on June 17th to discuss the results.  After a month of thinking dad's cancer was back ..... we got the news .... It is NOT cancer!  Dr. Alkhatib says that we can still consider him in remission!!!  The masses that were seen on the scan came back as "Non-necrotizing granulomatous Inflammation".   This just means that there is some inflammation to the lymph nodes in that area.  Why???  Don't really know for sure but thinking it could be some aggravation or scar tissue from when they did the stent in his aorta.  Honestly, I don't think any of us even cared about the "why"!!  We were all just so happy to hear that it is NOT cancer!  Again, there were lots more tears ... but this time they were HAPPY tears!!  He will have another scan in August.  They will still have to be watching those areas and make sure they do not get larger and cause a blockage with his kidneys.  Hopefully it is just inflammation that resolves on its own!  🤞

SO thankful to get this news and all be able to be together to celebrate on Father's Day!!  Again, we would like to thank all of our family, friends and everyone who has continued to pray for my dad.  God is Good!!  I always feel very grateful, thankful and blessed for the amount of people who think about him and ask about him all the time.  He has so many people that care ❤️