Bob Munger - Medical Bills -Kidney Cancer

Help out our friend...! We are hoping for your support! We want Bob and Sheryl to focus on Bob fighting this and not to stress on the mounting medical and treatment costs. Of course, this round of cancer starts just as the bills are rolling in from last years Kidney removal and treatments. If you are unable to help, Bobs faith in the power of prayer right now is strong and much appreciated.

SAVE THE DATE! On Saturday, Oct 14th, we wil be hosting a fun filled event for Bob. "Bobby Bash" will be complete with a great day to celebrate the guy everyone loves, and raise additional funds to offset the treatment costs. Details to come later.

We are hoping to keep updates in one place as well so Bob and Sheryl may not have to worry about keeping each person informed. We will keep things updated here as the treatment continues.

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From Bobby: My Cancer Journey

My cancer journey begins with UNMC Family medicine and Dr. Elisabeth Backer in the fall of 2019 with a standard colonoscopy that was a year overdue.......but better late than never. I do have my colonoscopy completed and the results were quite shocking. Not only do I have seventeen polyps throughout the ascending/transverse portions of my colon, but I also have a mass/tumor the size of a lime on my Right Adrenal Gland.

A biopsy is completed on the adrenal gland and a partial colon removal and adrenal gland removal are scheduled and on December 5th of 2019, I have my right adrenal gland, 1⁄2 of my colon and my appendix removed with successful double surgeon surgery and all the polyps and adrenal gland tumor comes back benign and non-cancerous after testing. We dodged a bullet!

Flash forward to spring of 2022 and I begin having stomach issues that are waking me from my sleep......this leads to a visit with Dr. Backer again and she requests a CAT scan of my torso and the results come back that are not what we wanted but there is a golf ball sized tumor in my right Kidney and a surgery will be scheduled for removal.

June 27, 2022, I return to UNMC for the Radical Right Nephrectomy (Kidney Removal) and the doctors tell us that they were successful in removing all the cancer and the margins are clear and I am now cancer free! The cancer center and my doctors want to discuss the treatment plan with immunotherapy following the surgery.

We are given all of the data and risks associated with Pembrolizumab (Keytruda) and begin infusions every 3 weeks which includes blood draws (labs) and infusions from July 22 until January 15th of 2023, when the team determines that the side effects are showing that the medicine/immune system is attacking my body (skin lesions) but the side effects are becoming more overwhelming than the good the medicine is supposed to be doing so we take a pause.

Winter of 2023, I get covid in January have a severe reaction to antibiotics in February and end up in the Hospital/Doctor’s office to get my thyroid, sodium, and other levels to normalize also am in the midst of a severe rhinovirus chest cold that takes me a couple months to get over. During this time, Feb-March, is when my left shoulder starts to really hurt, and I also notice when coughing my right hip hurts as well.

April 5, 2023, I am scheduled for my 6-month CAT scan and when this is performed, I ask the techs if they can catch my shoulder in the scan due to the pain I had been experiencing. I meet with Dr. Bergen of the cancer center after the CAT scan is completed and he says everything looks good and we will meet again in June 2023.

I continue to not feel well and cannot shake the rhinovirus/cold. I met again with Dr. Backer to discuss the cold and lingering cough and at the same time I mention that my shoulder has been really bothering me. Dr. Backer asks a different radiologist to look at the 4-5-23 scan.

Dr. Backer returns to my room and confirms that I have a one-inch lesion on my left shoulder blade. A PET scan is scheduled and then subsequently denied by our insurance, but a bone scan is completed, and the shoulder lesion is confirmed along with the one-and-a-half-inch lesion that is found in my right femur near my right hip. A Biopsy is completed by UNMC Bellevue on my left shoulder blade and the results are confirmed, that I have stage 4 Small Cell Carcinoma that has metastasized from my kidney cancer to my bones.

June 5th, 2023, I have begun 5 Days of radiation on both tumors and will begin oral chemotherapy 1 to 2 weeks after the radiation is completed at the Werner Cancer Center.

The radiation will hopefully kill the tumors that are in place and the chemo will hopefully keep the cancer from spreading.

Like Dr. Baine (Radiation Oncologist) explained to Sheryl & I.......this is like a game of Whack O Mole from here on out. If it appears we kill it and repeat as necessary, and the chemo keeps it contained.