Be Careful What You Wish For and How I Learned the Hard Way

For quite some time, I've been complaining about Lumbar5 (L5) and the back and leg pain it was causing me.  My alarm clock was incandescent pain every morning.  I was beginning to dread going to bed at night.  No matter how I slept - pillow under knees, etc.  Surely something could be done to fix this.

So I made an appointment and saw my orthopod who promptly referred me to  his choice of a superior orthopedic surgeon.  We met; I liked him and went off to think about surgery; decided to do it and was all set for Monday 7/27, be at the hospital at noon for 2 p.m. surgery; choice whether to go home after or spend the night.  I spent time, daydreaming about being pain-free.  I had to have a pre-op okay to make sure I was up to it.  Apparently surgeons (of any kind) get all pissy when a patient pops their clogs on his operating table.

So off to the cardio, blood work, culminating in an MRI. And when that report came in, all hell broke loose.

Along with a good view of L1 to 5, the radiology doctor saw and reported a cyst on the top of my right kidney and a tiny dot at the bottom of my right lung to my GP who told me and got a barrage of fear-induced bad temper along the lines of, "What the hell is this?  This was supposed to be L5?  What were they doing messing around up by my kidney?"  Simmering outrage, freely expressed.

The kidney specialist said that because both growths were so tiny, that he just wanted to do careful monitoring and would see me next for ultrasounds (a machine handily right in his office suite) on November 2nd and then again in February 2021.

This reassured me terrifically.  And better still?  He cleared me for the back surgery "or any other kind of surgery you want."  Am now trying to reschedule.

And, in the future, am going to only wish for things like which restaurant for dinner tonight?


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