some rambling thoughts, prayers and such

So one of my friends, well, our friend, he is going to have a biopsy done on a cyst on his kidney. No big deal right? I mean, I thought they just put a needle in & took fluid out to be tested. But after talking to him last night, and his remark about how he might be needing surgery (hence the request for information on quitting smoking) soon led me to believe maybe it’s not that simple. It all started with his hip bothering him. Went to a hip doctor who did a cat scan & said, dude, it’s your spine. Oh. Goes to the spine guy and in the meantime, the hip guy calls back that when the specialist was reviewing the scan, noticed an area on the kidney. So my friend makes an appointment to have someone read the scan and give an opinion. The last I had heard was it most likely wasn’t a big deal, blah blah blah. But he still gets a 2nd opinion back in Colorado. Now when he goes back to Colorado, he will have a consultation regarding the biopsy. Hmmm. Maybe it is a big deal afterall. Then I find out his mother died from kidney cancer (or is it kidney disease? Does it really matter at this point?). This, after his very very close first cousin just lost his battle to cancer a few months back. He is going back and forth as to where he wants to go … Denver cancer hospital (sorry, have no idea what it’s called), Mayo Clinic or John Hopkins. He has already lined himself up for the worse I believe. So the purpose of this, other than getting it off MY chest is to ask for thoughts and prayers from those of you out there who do read to the end of my post. Thank you from all of us, but most of all, JR.