BOB JK My diary of kidney cancer (to be continued)
FormerMember
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Hi, My name is Bob and I live in Cambridgeshire. I am married with an 8 yr old daughter and three older step sons. Up untill the end of last year everything was tickety boo having recently moved to a new house which we love. Work was busy but enjoyable. I am Manager of an electrical companys maintenance department and my Wife, Linda was enjoying her job as a Nurse. The three boys are buying there own house nearby and all work locally. In November I went to my Doctors with a small "cyst" on my chest. After a couple of referals and many Xrays, pet scans, bone scans and CT scans I was told the news everybody dreads. My lump on the chest was a secondary cancer of which the primary was in my left Kidney. I was fast tracked to the Royal Brompton, under the expert care of Mr Laddas who informed a long and complicated operation would need to be carried out to remove the bone tumor and surrounding bone which involved two ribs,my collar bone and chest bone. I did not have time to panic, the operation was carried out the next day over 10 hrs. After nearly two weeks in the Brompton I am recovering well from this op but I have since been told that the Cancer is in both kidneys as well as small mets in both lungs. It seems at the moment further ops are out the question and i have been put on the drug Sutent. I am one week into this and so far so good. I do not know what the future holds but I have to remain positive.
She sounds very much like me, im trying to get all my bad bits out while im well enough, I constantly keep the pressure on my medics.to try and improve my chances
sure hope you get to see the race for life on sunday.....if you dont feel up to it maybe someone can make you a video of the race so you can still see K and L in the race...
I am gonna be there Graham, ive already made my mind up about that. Hope you are well mate and I am sure taking care of myself. Hugs and regards,
Today ive had a relaxing day out in the garden to top up my tan and feel quite a bit better than I have done of late. The sun is a sure way of making me fell better and I hope it's also worked for the rest of you And another thing, things are on the move again (if you know what I mean)
A fair nights sleep again and I awake feeling rested. Linda needs to pop into town with kate and I might go along for the ride just to get out the house for a bit. I did go for a short walk last night but that hurt like hell so I wont be doing that again anytime soon. Although real slow my appertite is getting a bit better and so I should start to feel a bit stronger.
I have been browsing on the net trying to find some people that are in the same situation as myself to be able to perhaps find inspiration, etc when the going gets a bit rough...I am 44 yo male and was diagnosed with Rcc in April 2007 and had the left kidney removed,,,In Jan 2009 had my first post op CT scan and found that there were mets to both lungs....3 at the time,,,just had another scan (April) and found that now there are 9 mets also in lymph glands as well,,,So they diagnosed me as terminal and my oncologist has put me on sutent...as this has not long been approved over here in the land of oz....So far no major side effects...but am finding it all a bit overwhelming....Any strategies for coping ??? and hi to all...Phil
If you get a chance to read this diary through you will see that Sutent has worked wonders for me. When I was first diagnosed with bi-lateral kidney cancer with mets to bone and lungs I was classed as terminal but things have changed a lot since those early dark days and some of it is down to luck but a lot of it is because of the Sutent. Once diagnosed, i had a huge op to remove chest tumour which went well but it was only after this op my kidney cancer was discovered to be bi-lateral. If the surgeon had known this he would not have putb me through the operation, he has told us that. Thats the luck bit. After the op I was put on Sutent and have had such a good reaction that i have been able to have two further operations to remove kidney tumours , both were partial nephrectomys. I am know at a point of feeling quite well apart from pain from the op and waiting for my next scan to see if any further cancer is present, not bad for a terminal so I would say give Sutent a chance and I really hope it turns out as good for you as it has for me. The side affects are varying but not too bad really and well worth it. I will gladly answer a request to be your friend and talk privately if required.
After sleeping well for the last few nights today I found myself wide awake at two in the morning and lay in bed watching every minute untill three before getting up. As usual Mollie has followed me down and is snoring beside me ,lucky thing. I wasnt particurlarly in pain in bed but did have a bit of a job to get comfortable. The recent wound on my right kidney is raw and the one on the left is still a bit throbbing at times and I cannot lay on my back becase of the recent surgery it leaves me few options..Usually with a build up of pillows and carefull mannagement I can lay propped on my better side. Linda and Kate are sleeping well in readyness for their "race. for life". After the race we will be heading back home and if weather is good will be having a bar b q in our garden. As all the boys will be over there should be no shortage of volunteers to do the cooking. I would love to do it myself but with Linda watching over me, that is out of the question.
