Skip to Content

Life Changes In an Instant – I had my kidney removed

Thank you so much for sharing!

Well, December did not go how I planned. Not in the slightest. It’s crazy how in an instant your whole life can change. We’ve all experienced this to some degree, but it happened to me last month in a way I couldn’t have predicted. I wanted to share a bit about what’s going on, and where I disappeared to these past few weeks.

melanie in the hospital
Of course I brought a quilt from home to cuddle with 😉

whoa.

I will spare you all the little details… but moral of the story is that on December 5th, we discovered a mass on my left kidney. That was a terrifying phone call from my doctor. My husband and I immediately reached out to some close friends and I was able to get an appt with a top urologist here in L.A., less than 48 hours after knowing the diagnosis. After seeing the scans, our surgeon thought it was most likely cancer. Surgery was scheduled for the following week and I had my left kidney, the mass and 2 lymph nodes removed. I thank God everyday for how quickly my surgeon took action on this issue. My overwhelming thought was to just “get it out.” I didn’t want to wait a moment longer. After the surgery, we waited a nerve-wracking 5 days to get the pathology back…the tumor was benign.

melanie and robert in the hospital
The morning after surgery. My husband Robert has been my rock and the best support during this ordeal.

There are still some questions to be answered and doctors to visit because even though it was benign, it was a rare kind of benign.

melanie in the hospital
Breakfast the morning after surgery. I ended up going home later that day.

Grateful

Overall, I will make a full recovery. Well, as much as you can recover from a situation like this. I feel like I dodged a bullet in a sense though, so my outlook on life is going to be a little different I think. To be honest, I’m still processing all that has happened. I’m just grateful. Grateful for how quickly it worked out. Thankful that it was not cancer. Gratitude for our family and friends who have surrounded us with love, flowers and meals over the past month. Amazed that my husband was able to be with me every step of the way. And I’m grateful for all of you. I have the best community who has showered me with kind messages on my social media since I first shared a few details. You have kept coming to my blog and YouTube channel which means that my income has stayed steady even though I have been in bed most of the last few weeks. I appreciate that more than you know.

I’ll be back soon, once my kids head back to school and I get a little more energy back. I am sharing little bits over on my Instagram (melaniekham) if you’d like to keep up with me there. I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season and have many blessings for 2019!

Love,

Melanie

Rose

Thursday 24th of January 2019

So sorry you had to go through this ordea. Prayers for you to have a speedy recovery. God is good!

JeN

Thursday 24th of January 2019

Reading this flooded me with my ow feelings of this month. January is supposed to be a fresh start, but instead, we had our world turned upside down when we rushed my 2 year old to the ER. She was fine, and then she was screaming in pain and throwing up bile. It took hours for them to finally find that something in her intestines just wasn’t right. They within minutes of finding it on a CT scan they took her back to surgery. Turns out her intestines never formed perfectly. There where spots too narrow, and spots that were twisted. The surgeon is hopeful that he fixed the problem. But our whole month was ER, hospital, surgery, recovery and just turned upside down. It’s crazy that your whole life can change in an instant. I’m so happy you are recovering well and have such a good outcome from your scare. Much love. P.S. I finished my first quilt last week ❤️

Phyllis

Thursday 24th of January 2019

God Bless you and your beautiful family! Rest as much as you can .

Ethel

Thursday 24th of January 2019

GOD bless you & your family. I’m happy to hear you took such quick action. Wishing you a very quick recovery.

rita

Thursday 24th of January 2019

so glad every thing is fine ,reading your story bring tears .Hugs,love and prayers to you and your family .. ,you bring joy ,i re watch all your video ,thank you Melanie ...

Rachelle segi

Friday 18th of January 2019

So glad it was benign. My husband just recently went through the same thing only his was cancerous. So we were also fortunate because the docs got it all. But life does take on a whole new meaning and your grateful in a whole new sense. Wishing you and your family the very best.

xo, Rachelle from BC, Canada

Comments are closed.