S&C - 5 - Sherry

Daughter Dana

5 – SHERRY

Long Island, New York, USA

(REMISSION)

JUNE 22, 2007

Hi, I like to introduce myself, my name is Sherry. I am 40 years old, I live in New York, Long Island. I am married with one daughter who is 9. I started nursing assistant school May 3^rd. I go every day until June 29^th, and then I will graduate and apply at a local hospital by me. So far I did very well on tests in school. My last final I got a 96. We have our state board test June 26th. I am very active. I walk every day. I don't smoke. I quit almost 3 yrs ago. I have a strong, strong, and I mean strong family history of CANCER. My grandfather had kidney cancer, both grandmothers had breast cancer, my mom had appendix cancer in 2000, and is cancer free. The rest of my family past away. As far as my mom and I, we don't have a relationship anymore. Since I was dx with my cancer this past September, my mom didn't really know how to deal with it, and unfortunately, the relationship was very toxic. But I was there for her every day when she went through her chemo and radiation, so I have no guilt. But unfortunately when it was my time, when a daughter needed her mom the most, she wasn't there for me, not even the day of my surgery. We did try to rekindle things a few months after my surgery, but it was never the same, just grief, So she decided to end the relationship with me. I tried and tried and then exhausted the situation that it was affecting my health and my family (anxiety).

So it's been a few months now and I feel finally for the first time in my life I am free, and am able to take CONTROL of my own life. It’s okay, I am really fine. I just know I can never have her back in my life. I wish her well, and I have no guilt as a daughter. So here I am, on August 13, 2006. It was a beautiful Sunday afternoon taking my daughter out school shopping, and all of a sudden I had this horrible pain on my right side lower back, like a muscle pull out of nowhere. I could hardly walk. My hubby was working a 24 hour shift. He's a fireman, so my daughter, who is 9, said mom let's go see Kelly, who is a very good friend of mine who is a nurse. Anyway I went over to her house to show her the pain I was in. I thought I pulled a muscle maybe from the gym, which I go very frequently. She thought maybe it was a kidney stone and recommended that she take me to the hospital. I argued with her that I didn't want to go, that I would go the next day (Monday) to see a chiropractor. She insisted and drove me to the hospital. And I remember her saying to me, what's the worst situation you spend your Sunday afternoon in the E.R.

So I got there and they did blood work on me. All normal, and urine tests all normal as well. So even the doctor was convinced it might be a kidney stone on the right kidney. So they decided to do a cat scan. BY THIS TIME THE PAIN WENT AWAY. I felt like I was opening up a can of worms. The doctor came back and told me that I had a tumor on my LEFT KIDNEY, and that everything was fine with the RIGHT kidney, that I probably just pulled a muscle, that it had nothing to do with the tumor on the left kidney. So if it wasn't for the muscle pull that went away, I would of NEVER known that something was brewing on my left kidney. That is where my journey with kidney cancer began. They said how lucky I was, they call it an incidental finding, and boy it was. So the doctor told me it was probably cancer, that 90% of tumors on the kidney are cancerous. MIND you that I just got done having surgery on my foot for melenoma stage 1.

So they had me see a urologist the next day and to have ct with contrast to confirm if it was a solid or a cyst. The doctor that night (Monday). Called us in to his office and said it was a solid and plan on it being cancer. So I went for another opinion the next week, and I was highly recommended to a doctor who was a UROLGIST? ONCOLGIST? SURGEON, out of North Shore LIJ Hospital. So I went for my consultation, and by this time, now it was said to be 95% cancer, but I was like how without a biopsy. They just know when it is tumors on the kidneys. Anyway he said the tumor was in the middle of the kidney, that the whole kidney has to be removed with part of the 11th rib, and it would be open procedure incision across abdomen. He felt it was small and I was very, very blessed that it was found this way. So I really felt very confident in him, so we booked the surgery for September 11th 2006. What a day, of course no one can forget that that day with the world trade center. So I had my surgery. Everything went well. He removed my kidney and part of my 11th rib, and BIG incision across abdomen, big scar. I was in the hospital for 6 days with horrible pain. The epidural in my back did help, but not enough.

Anyway, 2 weeks later he called me with the pathology report. It was stage 1A, 2.5cm, no metastis, or lymph node involvement. It was NX,MX, clear cell carcinoma confined to the kidney uninvolved margins. It was a grade 3, so I go every 4-5 months more. Follow up, I had a CT in December. Everything was fine, but I had an allergic reaction to IV contrast. And then I was due to go in April, but I decided to go to a local oncologist by me. It was a very good experience. I still will be following up with my other doctor, but I feel more comfortable that this doctor is a cancer doctor. Every day since I went and she had me go for a sonogram of my abdomen and chest x-ray and blood work. All perfect. That was May 2nd. She says that the CT with contrast is not really too safe for the kidney being, that I only have one and that I am allergic to it. So I just made my appointment with her again for August and take it from there. So that's what made me want to go to nursing assistant school. God gave me a second chance on life and now I want to use it to help out others. I feel real good about that. Physically I feel good. Sometimes I get a pulling in the area, but it's probably scar tissue, and I still have some numbness in area and bulging. It's been 9 months since surgery, and I walk 3 miles every day. And believe me, when it gets close to my scans, I get high anxiety. But I am so blessed to be a cancer survivor 2 times. That's my story and look forward to being a part of other experiences. Sorry so long. Look forward to hearing back from you. Any questions, feel free to email me. Be well. Sincerely, Sherry