BOB JK My diary of kidney cancer (to be continued)
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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.
I am back home and its so lovely, all the kids have popped in to see me including Tom and Katie who are fresh back from their honemoon..This is all I wanted, to be surrounded by the people that I love, not stuck in a hospital miles away. I know I have to rest as i am far from recovered and will be very good as far as that goes. I do feel a bit weak but hopefully now home ill eat a bit better.
All things considered, a pretty good nights sleep, certainly much better than I was getting in the hospital. We went to bed around ten and after a bit of experimenting with the cushions we managed to gat me comfortable and I dropped off quite soon. I woke up 4 times to go for a wee which is unusual for me but might be usual after this type of surgery. I have woken this morning and taken my main tramadol painkillers and they have kicked in a bit. Although I am weeing good im not doing so good on the other front having not gone since last thurday, but im sure with regular doses of Lactulose it wont be long. Things are certainly trying to move as wind is abundent and my tummy sounds and feels like a washing machine on slow spin.
On the way home we both felt a bit strange as its a job to know where im at now as far as treatment goes. Potentialy both kidneys are hopefully clear of cancer as is my chest wall. There is still the question mark of mets on my lungs but far from confirmed, Not bad from someone who was considered terminal and palitive care only last year. I am still in bed at the moment whilst Linda has taken Kate to school. It was really good to see her last night and she gave such a squeal of delight when she saw me sitting at home
Dear Bob so glad to hear that you're home and doing well.It must be a relief for Linda to have you there and not have to contend with the travelling. Bet Katie's thrilled to see daddy back as well. Keep on eating those prunes!!! Sue x
I am doing ok and really rested up all morning before mooving downstairs later. Wound site is reall hurting but im sure will feel better when the staples come out on Monday. Its been relaxing but frustrating as Linda is so busy trying to keep up with all the jobs that need doing. I have district nurse comming round tomorrow to bring Linda more dressings and bits. So far im not reacting too badly to the dressings as before but i guess its early days.
didnt sleep welllast night but none the more I do feel rested as I managed to stay in bed and relaxed.untill the morning. I am dosing myself up with painkillers to keep some control on the pain and also dosing myself up with Lactalose to hopefully loose control of my bowels.(sorry, still all wind no action)
Another restfull day trying to get mobile enough to watch Kate and Linda complete the "Race for life" on Sunday. At the moment I dont think I could do it, even with my wheelchair as just a small amount of movement is excrutiating. (talking of movement, none yet). I think with all the offline donations we are on course to meet our final target of £2500.00. The district nurses have been round so we now have an abundence of dressings for my wound. The actual wound itself almost looks better than the first kidney scar which is still so red and a bit inflamed.The only slight bit of leekage is from the drain hole. Linda will tonight probably pack it to encourage it to granulate. At least this time we are not under pressure to get it healed to go back on the Sutent as we do not know untill after the scans if that will be in my best interests..
A much better sleep last night for the first half of the night anyway and I am awake early today and sitting downstairs with Mollie. One way or another I will be watching Kate and Linda on Sunday and will just have to suffer the consequences afterwards. I do think Monday will be better with stitches out. As today looks like being a sunny day and I am under orders from doctors and Linda to do nothing I am looking foreward to a day in the garden.
