Let's go to the Beach

Saturday 28th January 2017

Sandra went to a coffee morning in the village and I was phoning people to let them know the situation. Of course lots of people at the coffee morning were asking Sandra about the planned trip to Australia and so she had to spend a lot of the time explaining why we weren't going.

I actually feel alright and am quite confident that everything will be ok.  The only difference is that last week I had an unknown mass on my kidney and didn't know about it and now I do know.

Before Sandra went out this morning we had decided to drive to Anderby Creek, near Mablethorpe, to take the dogs to the beach.  When she arrived home she said that our friends, Dave and Ann, were coming to the beach with us together with their dog Bella.

It took about an hour to reach the beach and we had all dressed warmly but it was quite pleasant walking along the beach.  Our dogs, Zac and Jess, along with Bella had a high old time and they all managed to get soaking wet.  A quick towel down for the dogs and a hot drink for us all and we were on our way back home.

To tell or not to tell

Friday 27th January 2017

I had arranged a meeting this morning for a small sub committee from the bowls club to meet at our house to discuss progress on a current project we are working on. One of them knew the situation but the others didn't but they all knew I was planning to go to Australia within a week so I had no option but to explain the situation to them. They were all very supportive and we completed our meeting just before Sandra arrived home from visiting her good friend in Lincoln.

What a week this has been!

Thursday 26 January 2017

8 more sleeps and we will be on our way to Australia. We have booked our Campervan - Booked a powered site at a campsite for our first two nights - Bridge climb booked and paid - Lounge at Heathrow booked and paid - A$2,000 in cash ready for the trip. We are just about ready to go and our families in Australia have arranged time off work and also made plans to make our trip unforgettable. Clothes are out on the spare bed ready for packing at the weekend. All in all, we are pleased with our preparation and think we've got everything covered. Australia Here We Come!

Sandra is going to Potters today with a group of friend from our Bowls Club to see the Ladies Singles World Bowls Championship.

I'm planning a lazy day pottering about after I have been to North Hykeham for a routine ultrasound scan of my bladder - no big deal.

Scan completed and the lady operating the scanner informs me that she has discovered an 'unknown mass' around my right kidney! She suggests that I make an immediate appointment with my GP and she will send her the results of the scan. Within an hour I have had a phone conversation with my GP and 30 minutes later I have an appointment to see a consultant at the renal/urology clinic at Lincoln General Hospital. Things have moved pretty quickly and I'm trying to make sense of it all but all the time knowing that we are looking at a possible cancer on my kidney. I'm wondering how I'm going to tell Sandra when she rings me and says, "How did the scan go?"  What do I say?  I couldn't lie so I told her what had been happening all morning and that our trip to Australia was looking doubtful.  Fortunately she was with some very good friends who were very supportive and looked after her.

After Sandra arrived home we decided not to cancel our trip until we were more certain and decided to wait until after the consultation on Monday when we would know more.

We phoned our youngest daughter & husband, who live in Sussex, to let them know the situation and visited our eldest daughter, husband and grandchildren to explain to them too.  Messages via Facebook Messenger were also sent to Australia to let Sandra's sister & cousin and their families what was happening at this late stage.