Meeting the Top Man

21 March 2017

It's been a long time coming but today I'm due to meet the consultant, Mr. Kockelbergh. Sandra has gone to London with Petra and they are meeting up with Emma there. I drop off Petra & Sandra at Grantham Station before making my way to Leicester. Straight forward journey and arrive in plenty of time for a coffee and a Danish before my appointment. Just 5 minutes late getting in and I'm shaking hands with the Top Man.  The first thing he tells me is that the lymph node on my left adrenal gland is benign. We then go on to discuss the lump on my right kidney which, he says, is 90% likely to be cancer. Surprisingly, he then gave me a choice - I could have the whole kidney(and the lump) removed or just a partial kidney removal with the lump.  Apparently at my age (72) I am just on the borderline and if I was 75 he wouldn't have given me the choice - It would have been a full kidney removal. I chose to have the partial kidney removal which will be carried out using a relatively new keyhole surgery procedure using a robot! Mr Kockelburgh has carried out over 30 of these procedures over the past two years so I am pretty confident. He did explain that it will be about 15 years before I get the full benefit but I told him that I'm optimistic about reaching 87!

So now I'm on his list and should only have to wait between 3 and 4 weeks. He said that it will probably be nearer 3 than 4 but we will have to wait and see.  Between 3 and 4 weeks is Easter.

I think that considering I was told at the end of January that I probably have cancer of the kidney, the outcome is very positive.  We are all looking forward to the time after the operation and life can get back to normal.

 

Leicester General Hospital

Thursday 2 March 2017

Today is the day I hope to find out exactly what we are dealing with and what the treatment plan is.  Sandra and I set off to Leicester at 8:30am for an appointment at 11:05.  The journey should take less than 90 mins but the traffic could be busy.  The A46 was very slow but we didn’t see the reason for it. We arrived at the hospital at about 10ish so after we parked we went for a coffee before going to the clinic.  They took my details at the clinic – very busy with 9 consulting rooms!  I didn’t get in until 12:30ish.  We discussed the mass on my right kidney but he was very concerned about a lymph node near my left adrenal gland.  The scan doesn’t show any detail so it is important to find out exactly what it is.  As a result, I have to go back to Leicester next Wednesday to have another CT scan to identify what it is on my adrenal gland.  Hopefully it will not be significant but whatever it is I can’t do anything to change it.  They have also made a follow-up appointment for 21 March.

After the consultation we had a talk with a specialist nurse to explain all the possible outcomes and to answer any questions we had.  It was a very useful session and I have leaflets and books giving a detailed explanation of everything I need to know.

Just when we thought we were moving forward another problem has arisen that needs sorting out. We remain in limbo for a bit longer but continue to hope for a positive outcome.