Pathology Report

Arms stretched out in front of us and palms facing the sky. That’s one of many great words of wisdom that was given to us by some wise mentors and dear friends. We physically have walked around and prayed like this several times. It has been a physical reminder of where our hearts and minds are and need to be- truly open and ready to have anything placed in our hands but being able to release it as fast as it’s set on our palms back up to God.  We got the call for the pathology report and as we listened to the pathology report we sat there ready to do just that - good or bad. 

The bad news first:

This is a malignant (cancerous) tumor called renal cell carcinoma. This is what it originally was expected it to be. Because of how it looked and with Jeff’s age we weren’t really sure what it would come back as and we were concerned it might be a more rare and possibly less treatable sub-type of cancer but it came back as one of the most common forms of renal cell which is good in this situation. 

The good news:

We knew going into it we were looking at a stage 3 or higher. Even after the surgery it looked to be at least a stage 3. This automatically put Jeff into needing treatments for a year and we were prepared and ready to do just that. We are extremely grateful to say that against all the odds this tumor was classified as a stage 2. It was a little less than 2mm (less then the thickness of a nickel) away from having a cancer party. The fact that this thing didn’t invade the surrounding organs let alone not even penetrate into the capsule  of the kidney with how large the tumor was we feel is nothing short of divine intervention from the great physician up above. 

Plans moving forward:

Jeff has a post-op follow up appointment next week. He will also have a genetic counseling appointment soon. If it is genetic we’ll then find out if there is anything further he will need do and also what we need to do for our kids. As of now, because it’s classified as a stage 2 he doesn’t qualify for any additional treatments so no immunotherapy. Going forward the urologist said the treatment will be to continue to pray and monitor. He will be getting checked every 6 months for at least the next two years to make sure it doesn’t show itself again either in the surrounding organs of the kidney that was just removed or in the other kidney. 

I always knew Jeff was something special but this just proves that he truly is in the less than 2% category. 🙂 Less than 2% of people who have renal cell carcinoma are in Jeff’s age group. We look back at the last 4-6 weeks and the last few years and are thankful for the path being prepared before us before we even knew it. We are in disbelief with how many little and big things had to be put into place just perfectly. We also are well aware of how close Jeff was to an explosion of cancer in his abdomen and do not take it for granted the protection that was put around him to not have that happen. The support system and prayers from our families, friends, and people we don’t even know have no doubt been instrumental in all of this. The surgeon said as Jeff was taken to the OR that day and the surgery started there was a big sense of calm and peace that filled the room. We fully believe there was a Holy Spirit presence in the room that day protecting Jeff and guiding the surgeon and OR staff and we are on our knees giving thanks. As we receive this news, we rejoice and take deep breaths of gratitude that this is as good of news as we could have received with the exception of it being benign and was very unexpected. With that being said, we will continue with our feet still on the same path and eyes looking straight ahead, knowing there may come a day we face another obstacle. We will continue to walk with our arms stretched out in front of us and palms facing the sky so we are ready- good or bad. 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=XmuRTMy1ZdQ - Kutless- No Wonder (Roar of the Rugged Cross)