Update on Josh

Today was the follow-up appointment for Josh's scan. Josh I think felt he was kind of out of the woods. However, after the appointment this morning we are kind of at the same place we were at in October. The doctor had hoped to follow the tumor by doing MRI's, lowering the concern for the amount of radiation Josh would be receiving with all of the scans. Unfortunately, he is allergic to the gallium that they gave him during the MRI. We had talked about and given concern about the amount of radiation also. One of our friends that sells GE equipment also recommended another type of CT that has less radiation. However, the possibility of having scans every 6 months to a year for the next 5 years raises concerns on our end and Josh's doctors end.
The other options are to have the cyst removed surgically (either traditionally or with robotic assisted surgery). By having the surgery, we would know for sure if the cyst is cancerous or not. There is a small chance that it is the early stage of kidney cancer. The doctor is quite comfortable that he could do the surgery robotically even in the difficult location that it is in. This surgery would have a shorter hospital stay and recovery time.