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.