Hardway,
Let me tell you a story. My son Adam was born 7 years ago and every thing seemed perfect. When he was 3 my wife wanted another child and poof, identical twin boys. When Adam was 5 he began to start peeing his pants and had very sudden urges that he appeared to not be able to control. Doctor said is was from the twins and wanting mom's attention. We asked them to check anyway. They found bacteria and blood in his urine. We found out that his uretur exiting his kidney was blocked and his kidney was not functioning properly and was the size of an adult kidney. After all the tests they had to reconstruct his uretur, it was about a foot to long and the size of a pencil when it is supposed to be very small. They resized it and reattached it to his kidney and bladder hoping his kidney function would came back. This was a pretty intrusive surgery and they performed it the local children's hospital. They basically had to give him a "C" section to get to his organs. All the way up to the surgery I was very angry, I couldn't figure out why this happened to such a wonderful little boy. If his kidney wouldn't respond he would not be able to play sports and he would have to be very careful his whole life.
When we checked into the hospital my perspective changed. We were on the same floor as all of the children with cancer. Some of them had been there over a year. It was clear that some of the families were just waiting for the worst to happen, just horrible. I knew that Adam was going home with me no matter what, we were about the only ones around that knew that.
In the end the doctor did an amazing job and he has 50% function in his right kidney so his kidneys basically work at 75 and 25 percent. He will have to wear protection when playing sports but you would never know he had issues with his kidney. He has to be tested every six months but I will take it.
I guess I am saying that sometimes it seems to be the absolute worst news out there, but in the end you have your child and your family. That's what I am thankful for. Tell your wife it will be alright and your son will be absolutely fine in the end.
Rich