I used to carry a print out of this everywhere I go because I find it very soothing. Â This print out was in a plastic page saver. On the other side there is a Psalm 116, part of the post from Day Nineteen of the 2015 Cushing’s Challenge. Â These days, both these readings are available on my phone.
Today, when I awoke, I suddenly realized that this is the best day of my life, ever! There were times when I wondered if I would make it to today; but I did! And because I did Iâm going to celebrate!
Today, Iâm going to celebrate what an unbelievable life I have had so far: the accomplishments, the many blessings, and, yes, even the hardships because they have served to make me stronger.
I will go through this day with my head held high, and a happy heart. I will marvel at Godâs seemingly simple gifts: the morning dew, the sun, the clouds, the trees, the flowers, the birds. Today, none of these miraculous creations will escape my notice.
Today, I will share my excitement for life with other people. Iâll make someone smile. Iâll go out of my way to perform an unexpected act of kindness for someone I donât even know.
Today, Iâll give a sincere compliment to someone who seems down. Iâll tell a child how special he is, and Iâll tell someone I love just how deeply I care for her and how much she means to me.
Today is the day I quit worrying about what I donât have and start being grateful for all the wonderful things God has already given me.
Iâll remember that to worry is just a waste of time because my faith in God and his Divine Plan ensures everything will be just fine.
And tonight, before I go to bed, Iâll go outside and raise my eyes to the heavens. I will stand in awe at the beauty of the stars and the moon, and I will praise God for these magnificent treasures.
As the day ends and I lay my head down on my pillow, I will thank the Almighty for the best day of my life. And I will sleep the sleep of a contented child, excited with expectation because know tomorrow is going to be the best day of my life, ever!
When Iâm feeling down, depressed or low, reading my 2 special pages can help me more than anything else.
Todayâs Cushingâs Awareness Challenge post is about kidney cancer (renal cell carcinoma). You might wonder how in the world this is related to Cushingâs. I think it is, either directly or indirectly.
I finally started the Growth Hormone December 7, 2004. Was the hassle and 3 year wait worth it? Stay tuned for tomorrow, April 15, 2016 when all will be revealed.
So, as I said, I started Growth Hormone for my panhypopituitarism on December 7, 2004. Â I took it for a while but never really felt any better, no more energy, no weight loss. Â Sigh.
April 14 2006 I went back to the endo and found out that the argenine test that was done in 2004 was done incorrectly. The directions were written unclearly and the test run incorrectly, not just for me but for everyone who had this test done there for a couple years. My endo discovered this when he was writing up a research paper and went to the lab to check on something.
So, I went off GH again for 2 weeks, then was retested. The âgood newsâ was that the argenine test is only 90 minutes now instead of 3 hours.
Wow, what a nightmare my argenine retest started! I went back for that Thursday, April 27, 2006. Although the test was shorter, I got back to my hotel and just slept and slept. I was so glad that I hadnât decided to go right home after the test.
Friday I felt fine and drove back home, no problem. I picked up my husband for a biopsy he was having and took him to an outpatient surgical center. While I was there waiting for the biopsy to be completed, I started noticing blood in my urine and major abdominal cramps.
There were signs all over that no cellphones were allowed so I sat in the restroom (I had to be in there a lot, anyway!) and I left messages for several of my doctors on what I should do. It was Friday afternoon and most of them were gone đ Â I finally decided to see my PCP after I got my husband home.
When Tom was done with his testing, his doctor took one look at me and asked if I wanted an ambulance. I said no, that I thought I could make it to the emergency room ok â Tom couldnât drive because of the anaesthetic they had given him. I barely made it to the ER and left the car with Tom to park. Tomâs doctor followed us to the ER and instantly became my new doctor.
They took me in pretty fast since I was in so much pain, and had the blood in my urine. At first, they thought it was a kidney stone. After a CT scan, my new doctor said that, yes, I had a kidney stone but it wasnât the worst of my problems, that I had kidney cancer. Wow, what a surprise that was! I was admitted to that hospital, had more CT scans, MRIs, bone scans, they looked everywhere.
My new “instant doctor” felt that he wasn’t up to the challenge of my surgery, so he called in someone else. Â My next new “instant doctor” came to see me in the ER in the middle of the night. Â He patted my hand, like a loving grandfather might and said “At least you won’t have to do chemotherapy”. Â And I felt so reassured.
It wasn’t until later, much after my surgery, that I found out that there was no chemo yet that worked for my cancer. Â I was so thankful for the way he told me. Â I would have really freaked out if he’d said that nothing they had was strong enough!
My open radical nephrectomy was May 9, 2006 in another hospital from the one where the initial diagnosis was made. My surgeon felt that he needed a specialist from that hospital because he believed preop that my tumor had invaded into the vena cava because of its appearance on the various scans. Luckily, that was not the case.
My entire left kidney and the encapsulated cancer (10 pounds worth!) were removed, along with my left adrenal gland and some lymph nodes. Although the cancer (renal cell carcinoma AKA RCC) was very close to hemorrhaging, the surgeon believed he got it all.
He said I was so lucky. If the surgery had been delayed any longer, the outcome would have been much different. I will be repeating the CT scans every 3 months, just to be sure that there is no cancer hiding anywhere. As it turns out, I can never say Iâm cured, just NED (no evidence of disease). This thing can recur at any time, anywhere in my body.
I credit the argenine re-test with somehow aggravating my kidneys and revealing this cancer. Before the test, I had no clue that there was any problem. The argenine test showed that my IGF is still low but due to the kidney cancer I couldnât take my growth hormone for another 5 years â so the test was useless anyway, except to hasten this newest diagnosis.
So⌠either Growth Hormone helped my cancer grow or testing for it revealed a cancer I might not have learned about until later.
My five years are up now. Â WhenI I was 10 years free of this cancer my kidney surgeon *thought* it would be ok to try the growth hormone again. Â I was a little leery about this, especially where I didnât notice that much improvement.
