Nancy has asked me to start a Caring Bridge page to keep all her family and friends updated on her current health status. She would like to thank everyone for their kind words, thoughts and prayers at this time.
Here is a bit of an overview about the history of what has been happening: Over the last several months Nancy has been experiencing large amounts of fatigue, unintended weight loss, and shortness of breath. After numerous doctor visits and tests it has been determined that she has Renal Cell Carcinoma (RCC)-Clear Cell. This is the most common type of kidney cancer. She currently has a 10 cm (4 inch) tumor on her right kidney. Unfortunately, it was also has been discovered that the kidney cancer have traveled into both lungs. This is considered Stage 4 and is not curable at this time.
Nancy had her first appointment with the oncologist, Dr. Burns at Mayo Clinic in Eau Claire, yesterday and the conversation went very well. He explained that removing the kidney with the tumor would not help treat the cancer and the surgery itself would cause undue pain and suffering. The reason for this is, that although they could remove the cancer in her kidney, the lungs tumor would remain and removing her lungs isn't an option!! :-) Instead, the tumors must be controlled with some type of medication to stop them all from growing or help reduce their size. Instead of the standard chemotherapy and radiation treatment, that does not work well with kidney cancer, the option that was decided is to use Immunotherapy. Immunotherapy drugs tend to target specific cancers by using your own immune system to fight the disease. These tend to have less side effects than traditional chemotherapy and should help maintain Nancy's quality of life.
Nancy's first treatment will be July 1st and we will try to keep you updated on how she is doing. At this point, she is on medical leave from work and resting comfortably. She is almost no pain and is able to get around okay, with lots of naps! Emotionally, she is coping with all of this really well. Her attitude is that if she gets better that would be great but if she gets to go meet Jesus that would be great too! Please keep her in your prayers and we will keep you updated. Thank you all!
It's been a while again so I thought it's time for an update. I had CT scans on Thursday and saw my doctor on Friday. I found out that the cancer is slowly spreading and I also have a small mass on my brain. I've started new treatments so hopefully that will help. Overall I am doing ok. I've had some unpleasant symptoms but overall it could be a lot worse so I can't complain. I will try to let you all know how the new treatments go.
Thank you all for your continued prayers. They are being heard and felt.
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