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.
A lazy day indeed, I have been so sleepy I cannot remember much about it. I popped to the shops to get a couple of bits for our journey to Oxford tomorrow, then slept for most of the day. My couple of days at work has certainly taken it out of me and is a stark reminder of what I can and cannot do yet. Since Linda and Kate have been home I have awoken a bit and have walked Molls but feel so, so tired. I do hope things improve soon.
A brilliant nights sleep was had by all of us and we all feel refreshed and ready for the journey ahead. Linda has popped to the gym and Kate is getting dressed. I have just taken my pills and am about to walk Mollie. Linda has just checked and changed my wound and it is still doing well. The district nurse came out yesterday to check it but I was so tired I didnt hear her and missed her so I ended up popping to the surgery where they checked and redressed it. The sun is out and so I am hopefull for better weather in Oxford for the weekend.
linda is getting barnet cut whilst I'm with Kate at one of her counceling sessions. Soon we will all meet back at home before setting off for Oxford , we intend to have a great time chilling and sightseeing (and of course eating).
Well , after a two and a half hour drive we arrived at our hotel. I must say it is rather grand. It's a bit like staying at a castle. After unpacking we had evening dinner which was very nice and by then we were all beat so were in bed early. The bed was huge, nearly the size of our bedroom. A reasonable nights sleep followed, by me anyway as I had nicked all of the quilt so Linda woke up a bit cold. Today we have had. Breakfast and will be off exploring soon.
Oxford is a beautiful city, and the college part is fairly compact, my brainy brother was up at Pembroke college, so remember it a wee bit, (though as he is now in his 70s, it was a while back, lol!) quite a small college, opens into the road opposite Christ Church (or used to!)
Enjoy your time there, Bob.....take care and get plenty of rest, love to you all
A really good day yesterday, we viewed a national trust property and also an art museum before going back to thehotel. We then took Kate swimming in the hotel pool before an exellent evening dinner. Today we have travelled down to Weston supermare and had a paddle in the sea. The sun is shining and it is really hot, lovely indeed.
Glad you are enjoying it all, Bob, wow, Weston, and the sea was in, eh? I remember that place, have been once when the way to the sea was a four mile walk over the sands, haha!
Well, we are back home and its time to own up to a slip up on my part. Because we had booked to stay at the Oxford spires hotel, I thought we were staying at Oxford. After putting the hotel in the sat nav and setting of I soon realised we were going further than Oxford, we in fact stayed near Bristol. The hotel was realy nice and we were pampered beyond belief for a few days. The food was exellent and the bed was the biggest one I had ever seen. I awoke in the morning and reached out to touch Linda and could not reach!!. We had a steady drive home stopping at another national trust property near reading. We have now dropped Kate off at her cousins and we have walked the dog and got some washing done before bed tonight. Tomorrow we have a meeting with myOncologist in London to discuss my next move. I have felt quite well during our trip but really tired at times. I had to resort to a wheelchair at one of the properties and as Linda was pushing me down this hill I felt like Andy from little Brittain, you know "I want that one"
