At last – a breakthrough (or should I
cautiously say, a possible
breakthrough).
It’s unbelievable that it is 2 years ago
that I first experienced pain in my left hip and began to limp. It took around
3 months before the staggering diagnosis came to light of a metastatic Stave 4
kidney cancer. Because the hip was severely compromised, I have been unable to
weight-bear, hence I haven’t walked for almost 2 years, and have been
wheelchair bound for most of that time, apart from some careful hobbling around
with a frame. This has been quite a millstone for me to bear, as it has severely
compromised my independence – especially things like independent driving. It
has also placed a lot of extra responsibility on Brian’s shoulders, and there’s
so many extra things I’d like to be doing for him too.
So I was very disappointed in August
last year when the Orthopaedic team at St Vincent’s decided that hip surgery was
too invasive, and a less invasive procedure of injecting cement into the hip to
stabilise the area of tumour was also not considered appropriate.
Ok – fast forward 12 months.
Here I am, responding well to a Targeted
Therapy Drug, and feeling well in myself. So much so, that I have questioned my
oncologist as to the possibility of reviewing my left hip, and this has gone
through all the processes of referral until I landed back to the same
orthopaedic surgeon as before at St Vincent’s. When I updated my GP regarding
this impending appointment, I commented to her that I’m not expecting a
miracle, but just want to ensure that all possible options have been explored.
I was heartened to hear her response, “my dear, you already are a miracle”! I say this because it is
a reminder in whose hands I am in – and that God has indeed given me more
earthly days than was ever expected at my original diagnosis. Thanks God!
Anyway my appointment was this morning,
and I had no expectation of a successful outcome, so it was lovely to instead enjoy
a catch-up in Melbourne last night with some of the family. After navigating
our way through the end of the morning peak-hour traffic, we made our way past a series
of very crowded waiting rooms, before presenting for our appointment, and after
a short wait (that’s a miracle in itself) in we went. To my shock, the surgeon
was very sympathetic and supportive of my request. After a careful review of
last week’s CT scan, the surgeon pointed out areas where the bone has actually increased
and pushed back the tumour (other areas showed tumour presence that has ‘eaten’
a chunk of bone, though this area has not increased). Verbally, the outcome is that she recommends the non-invasive ‘cement’ procedure, and even asked ‘now are you
available to come back here on Thursday, or how about Monday?’ (Actually, no I’m
not as we are heading instead to a Renewal Conference at Mt Barker!) Basically,
if she does this procedure, there are some risk factors, but the intended outcome
is that I would be able to walk!!!!! Now
that’s a total miracle to look forward to!
So I basically walked (wheeled) out of
this appointment walking on air, wondering if I had truly heard correctly.
Really? Walk again? Perhaps with the aid of a stick… but then again perhaps
not? Would we sell the wheel-chair?
However – now comes Brian’s sense of
reason, and perhaps my natural caution too. There are some hoops to go through
first, the major one being that the surgeon needs to first discuss this with
her colleagues (this will happen on Wednesday). There are also risk factors to
be considered.
But for now, please allow me my excitement
and also pray for God’s will to be done regarding my hip.
I’ll update this blog when I know more –
maybe as early as Thursday.
