Dear Blog,
Sorry to my 3 followers, and my Mom (HI MOM) who read my blog, or don't, I'm not really sure :-)
I haven't written in awhile, but a lot has been going on. My daughter turned 9. Which as I said earlier made me feel old. Half of my time with her (as me being in charge!) is gone. I hope I'm doing her right, because sometimes I wonder.
We had a health scare at our home recently as well. My husband so graciously interrupted girls night (one of the very few I get!) with extreme lower back pain. Now, let me tell my version of this story (my husband's is slightly different, but this isn't his blog):
My husband, who anyone who knows him would back me up on this, knows he does not go to doctors! He has to be dragged kicking and screaming, or I like to laugh and call him Dr. Delmar, because apparently he went to medical school sometime in the last 13 years of me knowing him without me catching on, because he sure seems to think he knows a lot about diagnosing himself. Anyway.... he calls, interrupting girls night, saying I need to come home, because he is in pain. I'm like, ok ok, I'll be there soon. Rolling my eyes and telling my best friend, I have to cut girl night short. Well, 45 minutes later I finally get around to leaving. My friend was right in the middle of a very intriguing story and I didn't want to be rude and cut her off!!! (although for the life of me, I cannot remember what she was telling me about). As soon as I get in my car, my husband calls, wondering if I'm almost home. When I tell him I just left, he starts yelling at me telling me to hurry and I should have been home an hour ago! At this point I start to wonder if this is something serious, but only slightly, because I know if it is, I'm going to have to fight him tooth and nail to get him to the ER.
I finally arrive home and both my children are in there coats and shoes ready to go. My husband gives me a look from hell and says, "Load the kids up, we are going to the ER."
HOLY CRAP!!!
Now I start freaking out. This cannot be my husband, or at least this is what extreme pains looks like on my husband. He is actually willing and READY to go to the doctor. I load everyone up, call my father-in-law to meet us at the ER and pick up the kids. (which is a true blessing, because we were there for awhile). I do all the good wifey things. Drive slow as to not cause him extra pain, fill out all his medical paperwork, undress him for his hospital gown, all the while apologizing profusely for not getting home quicker! Luckily I have a forgiving husband and he forgave me (as soon as they pumped him full of pain killers). Turns out he had a 4mm kidney stone in his right kidney. The doc finally sent us home at about 1:00 AM and told him he would just have to wait until it passed. The next day the ER called and informed me the radiologist didn't like the look of something in my husband's left kidney and that he needed to have a sonogram ASAP! Now, of course medical professionals are trained to only give the patient information like appointment times, account balances and prescriptions. They would not tell me anything, except it might be a cyst, but we need it looked at RIGHT AWAY. Not the best approach to a wife who has had very little sleep, a husband on pain killers, and no shower. We have the sonogram and make an appointment with a Urologist. In the meantime it takes a WEEK for my husband to pass his stone. Poor guy, he was pretty miserable.
Christmas and New Years come and go, and then we find ourselves in the Urologist's office. I know instantly, I DO NOT LIKE this doctor. He is unfriendly, avoidant, and blames my husband for not bringing him enough information. Basically all we get out of this $450 appointment is that my husband needs another CT scan before he can determine if it is Cancer or not. Yes, that is right, he used the C-word without any following information except for the fact that my husband is PROBABLY too young to have kidney cancer. Oh, yeah, (in a sarcastic tone) that is real comforting to someone who comes from a family with cancer all over the place. So I cried all afternoon, after I left my husband and son to go to work.
My husband has his second CT and we are back in the office of Dr. Zero Compassion. He walks in, says "I didn't see anything alarming, you can go." He starts to leave and I'm like... WHOA WHOA WHOA... get back here, so what do we need to do? Dr. Zero Compassion say, "Oh yea, you should get another CT in about a year to make sure the cyst is not changing, I'll see you in a year." Wife, to herself: "Like hell you will."
So to sum it up, my husband does not have Kidney Cancer, but he does have a cyst in his kidney that we will be monitoring. We will not be returning to Dr. Zero Compassion. When we left the urologists office, you'd think I would have been relieved, but I wasn't. There was something about this doctor's approach that made me want to get a second opinion, just to be sure he was right. My husband convinced me that was not necessary and that in a year he'd get checked and go to a different doc. I hope he's right.
I'm just reminding myself everyday how blessed I am to have my family, health insurance, and a great support system. If this had turned out to be the worst, I know we would have been surrounded with more love than I deserve.
