Today is 24th November 2025. Four years since my urology appointment informing me I had incurable metastatic kidney cancer.
I don’t feel like I have incurable cancer any more and it’s not a worry.
It does inconvenience me. I find the traipse into Edinburgh a bit of an incumbrance, but I am happy with the [in]frequency. Scans can be done locally, and it looks like we can do the annual onco discussion on the phone now. This is after I went in, in June, only for my onco to phone me whilst I was sitting in the onco waiting area at the ECC hub!
The false positive scan in July 2025, which meant I had a subsequent MRI, was a pain. The timing wasn’t good either. I was going to Lake Constance and I had booked travel insurance excluding the cancer! My go-to insurer wouldn’t insure a moving-on bike tour, supported by luggage transfer. Oh, for goodness sake!
I do have another niggly side-effect ongoing, a blurry eye. I have started a blog on it, but it’s too long. I’ll post about that soon, when I have a suitable “end” or “pause” to the story.
I feel quite relaxed with my situation. I can’t impact the outcome, whether it re-grows or not, so I’m not worried. I don’t get scan anxiety. If there was new growth, I’ve already been told I have incurable cancer, so I wouldn’t regard new growth as any worse than that. In 2021/2, I felt I already came to terms with the fact that I may no longer be here in a few years. I’ve had the “it’s going to return at some point, isn’t it?” conversation with my oncologist. I have all the answers I need. It’s like Scotland qualifying directly for the football World Cup last Tuesday. What a good night it was! I suspect many feel like they’ve already won the world cup! Same here - I feel I’ve won already!
I remember my 5 year prognosis (2026). I was really accepting of this, and prepared for the worst. What a different place I am in, today. I am very fortunate.
