Then I think “Who cares?” I can spend a lot of time writing about my minor medical issue when there are thousands out there, including some very close friends, with issues that make my bit of kidney and gall bladder malfunction look like a hangnail.

Then I get an email from a friend with this link: http://www.scifiwright.com/2014/09/your-book-of-gold/ It basically says no matter what you write or how few people read it someone will be blessed. It is more complicated than that though. I think it also applies to art and making things too. I know my wood objects don’t appeal to everyone but eventually there is always someone that expresses a positive reaction to almost everything I make. Different strokes for different folks. It what makes life and people so interesting.

For those just joining this blog here is what I have posted elsewhere to bring you up to speed on how this whole thing started.

About 3:00pm Sunday Sept 7 at my booth at the Loveland Art Show I began to get a pretty serious bellyache. By the time the show was over and we got home and unloaded I knew I needed some relief. So off to the ER. After a CAT scan and a couple of hours waiting they confirmed a gall stone was the issue and gave me a couple doses of Morphine and the pain was gone. When I woke Monday morning the pain was still gone with no additional narcotic. The other not so good news was that the CAT scan showed a growth on my right kidney. Needed further investigation.

So Monday was filled with many trips up and down the halls of B-North Hospital on a gurney for mid section MRI, Ultrasound scan of kidney & gall bladder and chest x-ray to determine extent of issues and a course of action. Bone scan to follow. The gall bladder guy wanted to remove the offending stone that was no longer bothering me on Tuesday knowing the gall bladder will need to be removed later. Two general anesthetic procedures. I didn’t hit it off with him and it looked like a ‘make work’ project to me. I hit it off immediately with the kidney surgeon who is confident that the growth on the kidney is relatively small and treatable by laparoscopy and is not likely to have metastasized. He has vast experience and a very high success rate. We discussed options and decided that the best option would be to do both surgeries laparoscopically at the same time sometime later this month.

 So our ND trip has been cancelled. We have been assigned a different gall bladder surgeon at my request and I will spend the next couple of weeks seeing doctors, getting tests and setting up a dual surgery for later this month. 

I have been given a powerful pain killer to avoid another ER trip to use if the gall stone flares up in the next couple of weeks. Hopefully it won’t flare up. A gamble but I think worth it to get it all done at one time. Less risk, less expense, less everything. Our daughter Jenny dealt with her gall stone problem this way for most of a year before having it removed.

So continued prayers are still needed for no flare up, quick and easy coordination of surgery, successful uneventful surgery, no metastasis, no need for chemo and quick full recovery.

My take on it is that God gave me a bellyache so the cancer would be found early enough to be treated successfully. Praise the Lord. His will be done. I am at peace. Thanks for your prayers.