The diagnosis was confirmed by the MRI. I obviously still held a hope of the original one being incorrect as I burst into tears over it.

I still have no surgery date set, as the hospital my urologist has privileges at doesn’t want to have my kidney removal performed there. Instead I am being sent to Johns Hopkins Hospital for the surgery. The huge downside of this is that it is 3 hours from our house. I am not able to get around enough on my own to go by myself so we are working on finding a place for Tony to stay, that we can afford, while I’m in hospital.

The good news is JHH is one of the best hospitals in the world for kidney cancer so that makes me feel a bit better. Unfortunately, it may still be a month before I can have the surgery. Damn it, I just want the tumor gone.

I am thankful we have the insurance we do as so far they have been fantastic. Without it, I don’t know what I would do as we have pretty much emptied our savings just for all the copays, medication changes, and gas expense of multiple doctors’ appointments.

Thanks again to everyone for your thoughts, it really is bolstering Tony and me through all of this.