Long time no see, friends. I have so much to update you on—so much to say — but, I'll start with the most recent reason I’m here. Matthew has a 6 cm tumor in his right kidney assumed to be a renal cell carcinoma / kidney cancer. Awesome. We are firm believers in the mightiness of prayer and God’s healing hands as well as the power of manifesting positivity intentionally into the universe so I will also be sharing specific prayer requests.

April 9th. Matthew woke up feeling fine but around mid afternoon had some major discomfort in his right side. By 3pm when I left to pick up the kids from school, he was in a lot of pain. (om, okay. Maybe you shouldn’t have eaten Tagg’s McDonald’s hamburger yesterday). When I got back home around 4pm the pain had escalated significantly. Matthew drove himself to the ED around 5pm— just in case. I agreed. Not really “just in case” something was wrong but “just in case” they could give him some pain meds and stop the mind spiraling so he could get some sleep. Anxiety sucks. Medical Anxiety is a total bitch. They started bloodwork around 7pm. Within 30 minutes i got another text update. So there’s a mass on my kidney. Get the prayer chain going. He left with (I assumed) stomach cramps and came home with cancer. While it was actually two kidney stones that were causing the pain, they found a large tumor and were able to all but officially diagnose him with a 6 cm renal cell carcinoma with a referral to urology.

April 11th. Met with a urologist here in Murrells Inlet at Tidelands Health who confirmed the original findings from the ED. 6cm mass on his right kidney suspected to be renal cell carcinoma. Kidney Cancer. At this point we already had an appointment booked for Monday at MUSC with one of the top urological oncologists in the state. It is not lost on us how many powerful strings were pulled to get an appointment not only so quickly but with the best around. Forever grateful for that gift of time not spent waiting.

April 14th. Met with Dr. Savage and his P.A. at MUSC who each spoke with us at length on what to expect and answer our questions. They automatically ordered genetic testing because of his young age (44) and there will be tests and scans and biopsies that will determine the coarse of action. As for now, there is no reason to believe that this can’t be cured with surgical removal. The immediate plan is to perform a radical nephrectomy in about 4-6 weeks. Dr. Savage explained that he would do everything possible to save part of the kidney but because of the size (5.99/6cm) and location (upper right pole) they would most likely need to take the whole thing.
April 17th. Today is scan day. CT with contrast on abdomen, pelvis, and chest. Our specific prayer requests are below.

Coming up:
April 22nd: First pre-op appointment with anethesiology.

Matthew is probably going to lose his mind when he realizes I not only snuck in some pictures but also posted them on the internet. Let’s just not tell him, ok?! Anyone who knows Matthew well knows that he will deal with this in his own way. This is mine.

PRAYER REQUESTS

Scans today show no evidence of disease outside of the right kidney.
The tumor remains under the 7cm marker used to help with staging.
Both kidney stones pass soon not only to offer some pain relief but also to eliminate the need for surgical removal prior to the nephrectomy.

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