Thursday, August 8, 2019. A day that will be forever etched in my mind. I knew I had not felt well for some time, but I had a LOT going on and I along with my doctor were able to attribute everything to something relatively minor.

At 49, I was exhausted all of the time: I chalked that up to my lack of sleep.
Lack of sleep: I assumed that was due to my extremely stressful and busy job.
Stomach issues: Well, I had dealt with digestive distress for as long as I could remember.
Night Sweats: Come on, at 49 it’s obvious. MENAPAUSE. In fact many of my symptoms could be attributed to that.
Recurrent cough: I honestly still don’t know if this is associated with my diagnosis. But I can say that it’s the symptom that gave us the answer.

The day after my 50th birthday I had a party planned. I don’t like surprises, so I planned it out myself. As my daughter, daughter in law and soon to be daughter in law got ready for the party, I became riddled with anxiety. The idea of going to the party sounded daunting and exhausting. But I went through with it and ended up having SO MUCH fun! Crisis averted. But the anxiety and fatigue came back with a vengeance. My stomach was a mess, the night sweats were worse than ever, the fatigue almost unbearable and the cough was back!

Ready to make a change I made a doctors appointment. I took charge at that appointment. “It’s time for a chest x-ray, I need new blood work and I’d like a urinalysis for good measure!” The PA I saw that day was more than willing to order the tests and because I was at an integrated care facility, I was able to head downstairs for all of the testing immediately.

I did NOT expect what came next. The chest x-ray showed 2 nodules on my lungs. Nothing to be terribly concerned about, but I should have a follow up CT. The CT confirmed the nodules (4 not 2), but it also caught my upper abdomen. I received the CT report quite casually via an email notification. I was reading it, not understanding most of it. And there it was…….. “impression: nodules likely a metastasis of renal cell carcinoma”. Woah, I am sorry, WHAT? I must have the wrong persons results. Nope, these were mine.

I will forever be grateful that my boss, a high level healthcare leader and brilliant doctor was in his office. He confirmed what I was reading and within 3 minutes had organized a “dream team” of doctors who would go on to care for me.

I had the best scenario in one of the worst of all situations. What happens now? I had no clue, but I would find out and knew from day one that I will beat this, but it will change my life forever. I am choosing to have that change be for the better.