A month after Janet’s cancer was removed Joe got gangrene. In the process of curing the gangrene it was discovered that he had kidney cancer. I guess the kidney cancer had compromised his immune system and allowed the gangrene.
Possible Complications
Joe had terrible migraine headaches too and it was decided that before the kidney was removed he would have an MRI brain scan to see if the cancer had spread. As my neighbor for 30 years, I had all kinds of feelings and worries about them and what I could do to help.
Joe’s doctor arranged a brain scan two weeks into the future. When Joe asked why he had to wait so long the doctor explained that there was a shortage of machines. Two weeks seemed way too long. Why weren’t there enough machines?
Joe’s brain had him thinking the worst. What would Janet, suffering from severe memory issues, do if he had brain cancer and died? Would it be a horrible death?
Joe opened up to me. “I’ve had a good life. Better then I expected. I was the luckiest man on earth to have gotten Janet.” When he said “I don’t care if I die.” I told him “Yeah, but I do. And what about Janet?”
CBD Oil to The Rescue
His migraines got worse and his doctor told him to go get CBD oil for his head pain and anxiety because the drug store pills weren’t working. I went with him to a ‘vape shop’ and bought some with 1000mg in the bottle. It didn’t do much to help and his pain surged. I looked it up and decided that we needed to get some really strong CBD oil and once again we were back at the vape shop.
This time I asked for the strongest CBD oil he had. The owner reached under the cash register and brought out a bottle with a dark colored liquid that said 5000mg. Joe said it was worth a try and he dumped half a dropper under his tongue. Ten minutes later he had his head back with his eyes closed and was obviously relaxed. Joe said that this made it bearable where none of the prescription pain killers had worked. CBD was it!
First Attempt for MRI
Two weeks and a bottle of CBD oil and finally Joe was at the hospital on the MRI table sliding into the MRI’s tunnel. The waiting and claustrophobia were just too much and Joe had a panic attack. He needed sedation to calm him but on Wednesdays they did not have anyone available so he would have to reschedule his MRI.
The soonest they could get him back was two more weeks. Two more weeks of anxiety from not knowing what was wrong with his brain. It would be four weeks since his diagnoses and four more weeks for the kidney cancer to grow.
Second Time MRI – Success
Another bottle of CBD oil and two weeks with the fear he had brain cancer found Joe back at the MRI hospital. This time I went with him because you have to have someone drive you home if they sedate you. Much to our surprise when Joe went to check in they told him he was not on the schedule. The check-in person graciously called Joe’s doctor and was told by the doctor’s staff that yes they had made an appointment. Check-in then called scheduling to see what could be done and was told that no sedations were performed on Wednesdays and therefore he would have to reschedule. Didn’t anyone know about the Wednesday rule before scheduling Joe?
Joe, to his credit, was trying as hard as he could to control his anger. Joe was given the phone to speak with scheduling. The scheduler decided that Joe could wait two more weeks and Joe replied, “In two more weeks I might be dead.” Everyone in the room was listening when the scheduler decided that she did not like Joe’s comment and hung up.
The check-in people immediately went to work as advocates for Joe. One called the scheduling supervisor to ask why one of their people hung up ‘on their patient’. The other started calling in favors to get personnel to allow Joe to have sedation and to fit him in to the schedule. The hospital workers were incredible and showed tremendous concern for Joe. Joe got his brain scan and now has to wait for the results.
Summary
Even though the administration part of the hospital was a mess the medical personnel were miracle workers. Good with the bad. It is important to remember that there are concerned people to treat you and there are ones who just go to work and do not understand that no one is at the hospital because they wanted to be there. It might not be right but it is really important to hold your temper when things go wrong in the medical industry.
As an update, Joe’s brain scan did not show any cancer so now he is going to have his cancer kidney removed. Make sure you follow the links below for more information on all of this.
Chronic Headache as the First Symptom of an Undiagnosed Renal Cell Carcinoma
