Today was a great day for Dwayne. This is his story: Dwayne is 51 years old, very health conscious and eats healthy. In May of 2019 he was diagnosed with a tumor on one of his kidneys. He was living with his mom and caring for her. As he got sicker he convinced his sister that someone needed to take his mom and care for her because he could no longer drive due to severe headaches and poor eye site. They were living in the house they had been living in during Dwayne’s adolescent years. The house was a rent house in poor condition never repaired by the owner and was in horrible condition. I am Sandra Castille who got to know Dwayne through his employment at my daughters place of business. He is a very good hearted person, will help anyone and give you the shirt off his back. He was a jeweler when he could work but due to a medical condition and lack of insurance he was unable to purchase his medicine that he needed to remain employed which ended up causing him to be in a big depression and he was on a spiral down hill mentally. I found out about his diagnosis one day in July of 2019, when he was at my ex son in law’s visiting. Once I found out I asked him to see the report from the scan he took when he was diagnosed with the tumor. Once I read the report in July I advised Dwayne he could not put off getting medical care for the tumor and I explained the tumor was larger than he thought. He said he wanted to wait to get medical attention for the tumor since he couldn’t drive and would need someone to bring him to his doctor appointments. I volunteered to take him to get medical care but he insisted he needed to wait another week. Once I convinced him to get medical attention I brought him to the charity hospital in Lafayette and things got started. But it was slow him having an appointment to see the surgeon at the hospital in January 2020, and Dwayne is in extreme pain so I took him to LSU Medical Center in Baton Rouge thinking he may get faster help. Boy was I wrong! They did take care of him that day and confirmed his diagnosis needed to be taken care of right away! We were sent home to wait for a clinic appointment, which never materialized because they saw that he was seen in Lafayette so they refused to continue caring for him saying he would have to stay with the Lafayette Hospital. There was no way Dwayne could make it until January 2020. So I found him a family doctor to get pain meds and try to get him into surgery faster. One day Dwayne was in extreme pain so I took him to the emergency room at the Lafayette hospital. They refused to see him saying he would have to make an appointment with the clinic! I called a urologist in Opelousas to see if he would take his Medicaid card, which the hospital that diagnosed him had applied for. The receptionist said the doctor did take the Medicaid card but it was on a case by case basis. I was told to get his family doctor to send a referral and the doctor would make a decision. So I called the family doctor’s nurse and asked her to send a referral, she said that the doctor I was requesting a referral be sent to didn’t take Medicaid. I told her i had just gotten off the phone and the receptionist said he did but it was on a case by case basis! I told her to
makd the case so he would see Dwayne needed help immediately. That angel got him in!! That was a Friday and we got an appointment on the a Monday! The doctor was so kind and concerned and agreed the tumor had to be removed ASAP! Things were looking up!! He ordered a cat scan with contrast to be able to pin point every where the tumor was connected. Things weren’t good! Although he had a surgery date for October 1, 2019, he received a call on September 30, 2019 from the urologist letting him know the surgery would be extremely complicated and delicate and he wouldn’t feel like he should try to do such a complicated surgery because he needed a team of doctors due to how many organs involved and because the surgery would be near two main arteries and be dangerous. So we were back to square one! Thank God the people from the Medicaid office got him an appointment at L S U SHREVEPORT. We went over with the results of the Cat scan and the urologist agreed with the urologist in Opelousas. Surgery will be long and complicated as will his recovery which he may havevto
go to a rehab hospital to get him
bsck on his feet. The doctor will not say he can be cured but said we will
taje it one day at a time and he will be watched closely to catch it should the tumor or cancer return. The tumor is covering all of one kidney, a piece of his liver, a piece of his pancreas, maybe connected to parts of his colon, passing behind the large muscle in his hip and connecting close or to his spine. He will have surgery November 14,2019 please pray that God guides the doctors so the surgery goes well and Dwayne comes out of surgery and able to heal and get well enough to get back into the jewelry business. He is a simple man and just wants to be able to go back to work! Please pray for him. Right now the family doctor has him on pain meds and anxiety meds in order for him to survive until
the surgery. So for now we sit and wait. Please pray for Dwayne!