Ram update

Monday we had a whirlwind trip. First to Saint Cloud (3 hours) for dentist appointments for the boys and then Ram visited a member in the hospital there that had a heart attack. His family was shocked to see Ram, but we were already going to the dentist. Then we drove to Rochester (about 3 more hours) and stayed at a hotel right by Mayo.
Ram had an 8am Tuesday appointment. We found Mayo to be large but many people available to help. We saw the scan that was taken last week and the mass is huge-you can't even see the kidney. They will not know if it is cancerous until it is removed. It doesn't matter if it is cancerous or not, it needs to be removed and the treatment either way is to remove it and watch it, watch it closer if it is cancer. There is no radiation or chemo that is helpful for this kind of kidney cancer. We had the impression that the doctor thinks it is benign, but he won't know for sure until he is in there. The biopsy will be done after it is removed. Most likely that kidney will be removed too. The doctor was leaving Tuesday night for a conference so the surgery is scheduled for next Tuesday. Ram's parents were waiting for their airplane yesterday when we called and told them the schedule change. Ram's dad had quite a time changing everything (flights, hotels, etc.) but they are staying in ID this week and will fly out next week.
I felt much better after talking to the doctor. The first specialist Ram saw normally sees people in their 60s and older so Ram was a little challenging for him. I was so glad to see a doctor at Mayo that regularly sees all ages. We are now at a point where we pray and trust the doctor to make good decisions once he opens Ram up.
We had to take the boys with us to the appointment yesterday morning and they were tired and grouchy. The doctor actually said their playing with cars (and they were becoming quite loud at that point) didn't bother him. It sounded like he's seen worse in the office. It was a relief that he wasn't annoyed that we brought them. We were not leaving our boys at home even if we could have found a babysitter when we were 5 hours one way away.
Ram will have a 6 week recovery time and he may be able to go back to visiting members and confirmation class, but he probably won't be able to handle 3 services at our tri-parish Sunday mornings for that whole time. Ram will preach this Sunday and then Ewe's dad is coming to preach after that. It's handy having a retired pastor in the family!
Thank you for all your prayers. This surgery will be major, but things could have been a lot worse. We have a lot to thank God for today and we're praying that on Tuesday we have even more to praise God about.
Next week I may not have very much computer time, but I will try to post to my blog first before e-mails, so check here for updates.