July 10, 2024
Busy day of appointments.
Three year anniversary transplant nephrology appointment first. My transplanted kidney is doing well. Beyond that, we discussed what may happen when I go on immunotherapy for the cancer in a few months. There's anywhere from 30 – 60% chance of damage to or total rejection of the kidney within three weeks of starting immunotherapy. So nothing could happen to it, or I could lose it, or something in between. We dicussed the different varieties of dialysis should things come to that since I never had to do it before the transplant. That bit is kind of a wait and see what happens thing.
Then my first radiation treatment was next. Went over potential side effects with my nurse beforehand, which will mainly be feeling a bit sunburned on the areas they hit, and a bit of effects in my throat. I can definitely see a little redness on my skin graft, and it feels warm to the touch like it's been out in the sun. The treatment itself is pretty easy. In lie on a table with the aforementioned mask clamped down over my face so I can't move my head, and stay there while machines move around me that I can't see because I don't have enough room to open my eyes.
Last up was a return visit to the pulmonary doctor. The surgeon who removed the melanoma on my head and the lymph nodes had ordered a series of CT scans of my chest to keep an eye on a nodule in my left lung. It grew a small bit each time, so he referred me back to the pulmonologist, who said there's basically two options for it: Do another bronchoscopy and biopsy, which may just come back with no new information, or just go ahead and remove it surgically. The nodule is up at the top of my left lung, so the surgery would entail going in and basically going right below the nodule and cutting off the portion of the lung above that. That would take about 3% of my lung function, which the doctor says I won't notice once I recover. The whole thing is much less major than it sounds. It's done with a small incision between two ribs and a scope goes in through the incision and the surgery is done robotically. He and I agreed that surgery is the way to go. Just get it out, be done with it, and then it goes to pathology and then I'll know for sure exactly what it is. So, one more surgery in my near future, but worth it.
