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.
Well done for reading all of it and hope you found it to be of help.
I have had another really busy day again today. We started of by clearing out the garage and doing tip runs and then it was back to the decorating. First of all the garage personal door got a covering as did the back door and then the skirting in the downstairs loo. Whilst us boys did this, the girls washed down other paintwork and windows. This was after they sneaked off and done a bit of retail therapy, Im hoping it was for my birthday later this week !!!
I have tried altering the 'ascending/descending' stuff in my profile settings and it makes not a jot of difference! I still get the first page of any thread!
AAAARRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHH ! ah well, it will take time!
I hope you are going to do something special for your birthday Bob. And whatever day it is this week HAPPY BIRTHDAY! My anniversary is this week and my wife and I are going to Boston Mass to celebrate. We hope to travel up to Salem Mass (witches place) for a day of fun.
I see you are fixing up your house in case you are not here in the future. That is so thoughtful. I think you are a very special man. I just built a house last year so we have no deferred decorating. I keep trying to think of things to do today that would help tomorrow. I'll keep reading and follow your steps!
Hi Marc, moomy, quill and the housewife and of course everyone else.
My birthday isnt untill Thursday but thanks for the good wishes anyway. Marc , happy anniversary and have a great trip. I envy you for building a house, that is something I have always wanted to do but sadly will never do now.
Quill, my fingers and brain have just about recovered from being on "chat" the other night abd actually it was pretty good although definately very fast. I will be going on it again.
I have had to go to the Doctors today as my blood pressure has been creeping up to the point where it needed looking at, a well known side effect of the Sutent. My eyes have also been playing up a bit. As well as a marked deteriation of my general vision, especially close up, I have had a couple of episodes of vision interferance which is apparently the same as migraine sufferers get. That bothered me a bit. My doctor thinks the interferance is either down to mets on the brain or, most probably, where the Gamma knife has disturbed areas. It might settle down he thinks but "dont hold your breath". He checked my blood pressure and it has risen a bit so he has put me back on a reduced dose of tablets to control this. I have to keep an eye on pressure and if it continues to go up I will need a higher dose. Just for good measure he has also given me the flu jab. I am thinking at this moment not to go into work this week to try and recover enough to have a really nice birthday, but I could change my mind, knowing me!! Apart from myself being a tad off colour poor old Mollie has been comming out in sympathy. she is unwell at the moment and her toilet habbits are as irregular as mine. Hopefully we will both feel better in the next few days. I think Linda's sanity is dependent on it. Kate is very unsettled at the moment, especially at night times and causes Linda and myself great distress. I really hope the continuing councelling she is receiving kicks in and helps her settle for a bit. She has it tough, poor kid but in the future things are only going to get worse.
Bob, you have all been through so much recently, its not at all surprising but sad all the same, that poor Kate is affected.
Hope things will improve for you all now that the Sutent has kicked in, and the B/P and head pains get less and lower all the time.....love and hugs to you all
Hi Bob I've ventured back onto this site although I don't like it as much as the old one, not easy finding friends and blogs on here! Sorry to hear you're back on the blood pressure tabs, I find I can come off them in the 2wk break and for the 1st week on sutent then I have to monitor my pressure and usually end up back on them in week 2,3 and 4! Messes up the system a bit all these tabs and their side effects. I too have vision problems have been putting it down to old age, maybe it's sutent after all? I do card making and find the smaller work a lot harder to see and have resorted to weakest strength reading glasses, but should maybe get a sight test.
I think Katie is probably more resilient than you realise, kids always find a way of bouncing back so try not to worry too much about it and make good use of the precious time you have with her doing normal everyday things whenever possible! It's good that she has counselling I wonder if other cancer patients kids and family have such support? it's very important as no doubt you've found.
Oh well must try to negotiate this site a bit more and see who else I can find! Take care have a wonderful day Thursday and don't eat all the cake!
Im still frustrated by this site but will keep at it to try and find my way round it. I cant seem to get to the forum groups (general cancer discussions, just chat etc). when i try all i get are the seperate types of cancer. Luckily I have created a short cut for my own thread so can find that easily. Having said that I struggled to find the last posting and it kept taking me back in time.
Had a quiet day yesterday and slept for some of the day. That probably eplains why I have been up since 4.30 this morning though. I did tinker about with a paint brush in the hallway for a bit but my energy levels are subsiding as the Sutent kicks in more. This is normal and I will soon find a way to "push the boundarys" and keep doing the jobs I like to do. I would like to pop in to work for a time today but will see how things fare out.
Well I did get into work today and although I did have to drag myself through it at times I managed a good few hours. Linda took me this morning and Mum and Julie brought me home this afternoon. I now feel most of the old effects of the sutent and need to up my pills accordingly to try and control it. My face is beginning to feel a bit bloated and my tan has all but gone, being replaced by a sickly yellow with a nice hint of blotchy red, how nice. I have yet to get the hand/foot syndrome but im sure it will be back in good time. I was saying to Linda today that its only now these symptons have kicked in that I appreciate how good I have felt in the last three months whilst off the Sutent. I do feel a tad rough but not enough to hold me back, not yet anyway. Tonight I have been busy on farmville and have moved up to level 23, hows that. When Kate started doing farmville she asked me if I wanted it installed on my computer. "I dont want that rubbish" I replied. Now she laughs because I am doing rather well at it. It keeps me amused anyway.
