The Good News: It's Not a Carcinoma

 June 26, 2024

We met with Dr. McCarthy at Virginia Cancer Specialists today.  The good news is that the spots on Kenny's bones aren't carcinoma.  We are very thankful for this part of the diagnosis.

The bad news is that Kenny's condition still hasn't been fully diagnosed.  The pathology from the biopsy performed on June 13th is still not complete, even after encouragement from Dr. McCarthy's office.  More stains on the sample are being done.  Dr. McCarthy suspects that Kenny has some form of Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma which is low level.  So, a PET Scan is being scheduled.  Hopefully, this can be done in Fredericksburg to save us a trip to NOVA.  This will likely lead to an additional biopsy of one or more lymph nodes as indicated by the results of the PET Scan.  (Please know that I am in no way a medical professional, and this summation is from my best understanding of what the doctor said today.)

Dr. McCarthy suggested seeing an orthopedist for the original complaint, the pain in Kenny's left knee.  We've seen the Xray and MRI of his knee, both show multiple breaks in various stages of healing.  If steroids are used in the treatment of the knee it should help with the spots on his bones as well.  Kenny's weight is steady; he has no fever, and his energy level is the same.  While ultimately we are continuing down a path which has no clear destination none of this is an emergency.

We asked about RV travel and the doctor encouraged us to go ahead with our plans.  He felt that appointments could be scheduled around our travels.  We have already changed our plan for the Summer/Fall.  We had initially planned to spend 2.5 months going up through Michigan and into Wisconsin before making our way back home.  That plan has now be altered.  We are spending 2.5 weeks in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia.  With today's news we are now considering an additional trip, potentially going back to the Asheville, NC region.

Kenny and I both appreciate everyone's continued thoughts and prayers.  We are truly touched by all that reached out to us after the blog post a couple weeks ago.  We were both amazed and humbled with the response.  I will continue to do my best to keep everyone up-to-date!

Much Love to You All,

Ann

So, Where Are the Gwynns?

 6/18/2024

Colonial Beach, VA

The short answer to the question is that we are home for a while.  The long answer, well it's long.  We took off for Texas on Easter.  We had the joint goal of meeting some of our favorite YouTubers and to be in the path of totality.  We got as far as my cousins' house in SW VA.  Kenny went to the walk-in clinic at his doctor's off the week before as his knee had been hurting him for a while, especially after walking on it for a long time.  He had x-rays taken and the results showed breakage of his femur, not good.  The nurse practitioner who saw him told him he had bone cancer.  He called his general practitioner to follow-up.  She looked at the results of the tests and asked us how soon we could get home.  So, we turned around and were back in Colonial Beach that evening.  The next day he had bloodwork done and by the end of that week he had an MRI with contrast.

The bloodwork was normal, but the MRI revealed several spots on different bones, a growth on his left kidney and confirmed the breakage of his femur.  We were referred to a urologist and an oncologist.  The appointments for both were on the same day.  Both were iffy about the initial cancer diagnosis.  More tests were scheduled.  To date Kenny has had a Nuclear MRI, a CT Scan, and more bloodwork.  All are inconclusive. The urologist is certain that the growth on the kidney is nothing to worry about.  His GP says he is an enigma.  

Last week he had a bone biopsy on his sternum, one of the places he has spots on his bones and the one that is easiest to biopsy.  We should get the results of that when we meet again with the oncologist on June 26th.  

And so, this morning I spent time cancelling our trip to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, Indiana, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia.  I gave up many water front campsites on the Great Lakes that we stayed up until midnight 6 months in advance to book.  Now I will modify our plans to take a couple of shorter trips closer to home.  

While it seems that this is not cancer as the original diagnosis indicated, he is still in pain after putting much pressure on his leg for any period of time. So, if it isn't cancer we will need to find out what it is so that we can get back to travelling and seeing all of the beautiful places this country has to offer.