Hi gang. I’ve been out of the loop for a while because I had my left kidney removed Tuesday. This was a radical nephrectomy, done because an MRI in December spotted a tumor in the middle of the kidney. It did indeed turn out to be cancer. The doc is sure this has gotten all of it since these tumors are relatively slow growing and we managed to find it early,

They used the laporascopic procedure, with a series of small incisions and a scary looking robot, but I was able to leave the hospital the next day.
The problem is that they inject CO2 into the body cavity during the procedure, it cannot all be removed, and this causes the worst case of gas bloating I have ever imagined. They tell me it will go away if I walk as much as possible and use stool softeners. In the meantime it is extremely painful, especially when I try to get up or down.

This is the SECOND time I have had a potentially fatal cancer detected at a very early stage during an MRI that had been conducted for a completely different reason.

People who don’t have insurance cannot get these preventive procedures done, since they are quite expensive (though they can save many lives and many millions in treatment down the road). Hospitals will usually treat cancer for indigent patients, but it is often too late by the time it is found.

My disgust with the “let em die” crowd could not be any higher. I have private insurance, but God bless Barack Obama and everyone associated with him for making this available to others, and doing so against ferocious opposition from the pitiless and short sighted elements who are, themselves, such a cancer upon this society..