Living with Cancer Day 4

The sun is shining; the sky is a brilliant blue today. It's been so dreary that it is definitely good to see a beautiful day; it lifts my spirits.

I had forgot to mention what else had happened the day before my biopsy. Several weeks ago, Michael got a new job working in the kitchen of a nursing home. He had to have a physical beforehand which involved lots of the typical tests. When he went back for the final results, the doctor told him that he had protein in his urine and should go to his regular doctor. I looked it up online and I wasn't too concerned because he didn't have any other problem symptoms such as high blood pressure or sugar in his urine to go with it. I told him he should make an appointment but being 18, he pushed it off and it was at the same time my problems started and I'm sorry to say that it went to the back of my mind.

The afternoon before my biopsy, Michael went to his friend's house to help his family. His friend's dad had had hip replacement surgery and was coming home. Around 5 o'clock, Michael calls me and asks me if Beth is at work. I told him yes and asked him what he wanted Beth for. He just said nevermind and hung up. Argh!!! Ten minutes later, Beth calls me and says that Michael had texted her. It seems that when his friend's dad had come home, they had rented a blood pressure machine to use at home and they were all trying it out. It kept saying that Michael's blood pressure was 150/98 or so. He hadn't want to tell me and upset me but he called his sister the nurse and talked to her. Beth, of course, called me afraid that Michael wouldn't tell me. I immediately called him and told him to go to Kroger's or Walgreen's or some such place and check his blood pressure there. While he was doing that, I made the mistake of googling "high blood pressure and protein in urine" on the internet. A lot of scary stuff comes up when you do that! Michael called me and said that his blood pressure was 135/95 on Kroger's machine. I immediately called the doctor and talked to one of the nurses who talked to the doctor. They asked if he had a headache and when I told them no, they said to bring him in the morning at 8:30.

I hardly slept all night. I was more worried about Michael than myself after seeing all the possibilities of kidney disease that high blood pressure and protein in the urine can be symptoms of. I was so afraid that disaster was going to hit us twice and I knew that I would rather have something wrong with myself than with Michael. When we got to his doctor's office they tested his urine and blessedly, it was normal...no protein. But his blood pressure was still high so she told us to get his cholesterol levels tested and take him to a cardiologist. I was thankful that it's probably something we can deal with. His test results came back yesterday and the doctor called and told me that they were all in the good normal range and that it would probably help if he could lose a few more pounds and exercise more. His appointment with the cardiologist is on May 23rd and meanwhile, he and two of his friends joined a gym and they've been going every morning together and work out. I'm hopeful that this will all help.

I started writing this in the morning; it is now evening. I didn't have the best afternoon. I was supposed to have my MRI scan done today or tomorrow but the insurance company didn't approve it until this morning and the MRI office hasn't called yet to schedule so I know it probably won't get done until next week and my surgery will be put off longer. When the surgeon's scheduler called me, I asked her about scheduling my surgery and she said that we wouldn't do that until after the scan when we knew what we were dealing with. Her words froze my heart and for a few hours, I was scared again. But the dear Lord is good....I told a few people who I knew would pray for me and I spent a little time at church with our Lord and when Mark came home, I began to cheer up again.

I am off now to my usual hour of Adoration on Thursday...always a blessed, peaceful time. I am hopeful that I will feel once again His joy in knowing that He is calling me to the privilege of suffering with Him.

A peaceful night to you all....thank you again for your prayers...they are such a blessing to me.