It's not unknown any more

Friday 17th February 2017

The day has finally arrived to discover what all this is about.


The day started with walking the dogs just after 7am - Mornings are getting lighter much earlier now. Back home - Change into my running gear and off for another stage of working up to a 5K run again.  Half an hour later I'm back for breakfast. Sandra is out with our friend Ann and I'm just pottering about killing time.  After lunch Sandra pops out again and I have a shower. Just dried and dressed and I ge a phone call from my consultants secretary - My immediate thought was that my appointment was cancelled - Could I get to the hospital for an earlier appointment - 4pm instead of 5:20pm.  I phoned Sandra who came straight home - A quick walk with the dogs and an early dinner for them.  We had an hour to get to the hospital and we needed just about all of it - The traffic was horrendous but we made it with 5 minutes to spare. Eventually we were shown into a consulting room to be met by Mr Varadaray (Raj) who explained the results of my CT scan.


I had cancer on the base of my right kidney - about 4cm in diameter. This type of cancer grows at about 1cm per year so there is a good chance that it has been growing there for 4 years!  The good news is that there is a recognised procedure for dealing with this. My case has been referred to Leicester Hospital which is the Centre of Excellence for this operation. It will probably be keyhole surgery where the cancer and part of my kidney will be removed - Then that's it - Job done!  Maximum stay in hospital likely to be 3 days but could be just overnight.  No chemotherapy or radiotherapy required but regular check ups and scans for up to 5 years.


To say we were relieved doesn't do it justice - we were really really chuffed - It felt like we were walking on air on our way back to the car.


So now we know what we are dealing with.  Leicester will discuss my case next Thursday and I should hear from them soon afterwards.


So all in all a good result with a positive outlook for the future - It could have been so much worse.


We are down in Sussex for a few days for Emma's Birthday - More news as it comes.