November 2010: Carolyn White

Featuring and Written By: 

Carolyn White

I live in Illinois (farm country USA) and I still live in the same general area where I was raised – in fact, for 14 years I worked at the hospital where I was born! Married for 37 years to my best friend – raised two successful, beautiful, happy and independent daughters and now have one absolutely gorgeous and adorable little granddaughter. Lived a healthy lifestyle of exercise, running, eating healthy (vegetarian), no smoking, no weight issues. My faith has always been a part of my life but the last 10 years, it’s been a major part of my life. I have a wonderful, close and personal relationship with my God. He led me to join a medical mission trip to the Northwest Haiti (not earthquake related). My cancer was diagnosed right after I returned home from Haiti this spring.


For most of my adult life, I have had urinary tract infections. Last year, I noticed a difference in the pain…more intense, not responding to antibiotics. I asked to be referred to a urologist. My first visit was with his nurse practitioner who determined that I was now dealing with interstitial cystitis and began testing to diagnosis it. Initial test was an ultrasound, which showed an infamous “shadow”. They decided to do a CT scan, which revealed a tumor. I was diagnosed on March 31, 2010 and had surgery on April 9, 2010. They did a radical nephrectomy, removing my entire right kidney due to the location of the tumor. The pathology report showed that the tumor was Stage 1 (yeah!), Grade 3 (not so much yeah), Clear Cell Renal Cell Carcinoma, encapsulated.


The night prior to my surgery, my prayer group had a going-away party for my right kidney, at the request of my left kidney. We decided that the two had been lifelong friends (I was 54 at the time), and the left kidney would certainly miss its mate. Having a going-away party, was a better alternative to crying and worrying


The surgery was my only treatment and I just had my first set of followup scans (chest, abdomen and pelvis, with and without contrast), ordered by my urologist – the results were good – pushing me out to one year now. After surgery, I had to ask to be seen by an oncologist, who gave me great support and some information on living with a cancer diagnosis. I changed primary care physicians to one who follows me closely and listens to my concerns. I now have a doctor that I can call and ask questions – she is a God-send.


My recovery has taken longer than I anticipated. I think I got comfy with the idea of having the procedure done by laparoscopy. What I didn’t take into account was how much actual demolition was done on the inside. It was much more than my little 4 inch scar. I went back to my part-time job after only 3 weeks. I would not recommend it again. I wore myself out completely. One of the most frustrating things I face now, is intermittent lack of energy and extreme fatigue. Some days I wake up and have a decent energy level. Other days, I’m not so fortunate. It makes it very frustrating to try to make plans in advance. I’m a fairly active person so I think I just figured that I would pop right back from the surgery as I have done all other surgeries I’ve had. I had never experienced the loss of a major organ before so my expectations were out of line with reality. Something I am also dealing with now is lack of appetite – I thought it would subside shortly after surgery but almost 7 months later and I still don’t like food. I have spoken with a dietician and she gave me some great information for cancer survivors. In reading it, I saw that anorexia is sometimes a problem after a cancer diagnosis. And not just for those who have chemo or radiation. It made me feel better to know that it’s not just me. Who knew? One thing I am learning is that now anything is game as far as things that can go wrong. Not exactly Murphy’s Law, but staying on guard and alert.


Now, I always feel like I have some sort of specter hanging over me – my tranquility has been taken from me. Every new pain, every new bruise, every new lump – they all take on a whole new scary possible meaning now. Being diagnosed with cancer has made me appreciate each day- in September, we took our whole family to Disney World for a few days. We had a blast and everyone acted like a kid. It is their Christmas present this year (right…..LOL). My sweet husband and I enjoy each day together. We take more time to laugh and have fun. I also have six little furry angels that take good care of mama – I have rescued 2 pugs (one black, one fawn), and 4 cats (their purrs are the best stress relief sent directly from God above). I love animals, which is why I chose to be a vegetarian. My husband calls me Ellie Mae (for those of you old enough to remember the Clampett family).


I have taken advantage of a local Cancer support group, I visit with a counselor on a regular basis (her best advice was this “for everything cancer takes from you, find something to give to yourself”). I now take water exercise classes and yoga, etc. It helps reduce the angst of cancer. The Kidney Cancer Warriors support group has been wonderful. I feel comfortable asking all kinds of questions and know that I will get straight answers. I try to remain as positive as possible and am trying to figure out why this happened and how God intends to use this. My favorite Bible passage is Jeremiah 29:11 –“ for I know the plans I have for you, I have good plans for you, plans to not hurt you. I will give you hope and a good future” €

Carolyn White