Possibly kidney cancer

Hi Dottydo.  So glad you've told your family.  Support from friends & family helps a lot.  I'm sure your husband will want to book time off.  He loves you & will want to be there for you.  As far as the surgery & after care goes, you will be in the very best hands.  Do let us know how everything goes for you so we can respond & encourage you.  Ray

Hi, I've  been and bought big knickers. And a couple of nighties. I'll  tell them I can have a cancellation if available  I think. Still can't  believe this is happening. My son is quiet , but every now n then comes out of his room and asks pertinent  questions.  My husband I think is plotting behind my back to take time off work, why won't  he just tell me. Suddenly people want to see me, why. Awkward  silences. Does cancer really grow that slowly, so at 5cm how long has it  been there, silently growing. Never had cancer in my family before. My only experience was my best and only friend ,8 years ago but she was stage 4 ovarian cancer when diagnosed, I watched it destroy her. Broke me but I'll  never forget her, so she lives on inside me. But I know I'm  a different case. Took my mum shopping , she told the checkout girl , this is my daughter she has cancer,,why did she do that, I was embarrassed. Your right I must prepare especially  with me being diabetic, I don't  think my husband could find the cooker, let alone switch it on. He's  a good man though, might not be much of a talker, but good gentle faithful true man. I shall be going to Holland and barrett over weekend to hunt out peppermint  oil and nettle tea. So thank you for the tip. Hope every thing is alright with you and yours. D

Hi Dottydo.  Mine was also a 5 cm tumour Had my kidney removed 30th November 2017, & I'm doing good.  All scans since the surgery are very encouraging.  Seeing my GP this afternoon for an 'MOT'.  They are looking after me & that's great.  Your family will come around, but as you haven't had to deal with cancer in your family before, it's understandable that your son is asking questions.  people want to see you because they love you & care for you.  I work with around 300 other people & they are mainly very young.  Mid to late 20s.  They are very supportive towards me & quite a lot of them see me as a kind of granddad, but that's nice.  They can't do enough for me.  Do let people support you.  Love & friendship from those close to you is priceless.  Blessings  Ray

Hi Dottydo

my tumour was also 5cms and I was told that I had probably had it about seven years. I had a radical nephrectomy three months ago. It wasn’t easy but I am now back to normal! No pain etc.

it was very hard telling my three sons. They are all in their thirties and all reacted differently. Mostly they couldn’t understand how I could have cancer. I’m not overweight, am fit, don’t drink or smoke. My answer was why not me? I actually have been very lucky as I was diagnosed with lymphoma and the kidney cancer was found incidentally. The hardest person to tell was my 92 year old mum. Her answer was ‘we don’t have cancer in our family’ having totally forgotten that my dad died of lung cancer!

it was very hard getting my head around a double cancer but for me talking about it was key to acceptance. I cried and talked to anyone who would listen! My husband was wonderful but had trouble understanding what had happened to his usually calm and rational wife! But the greatest support was from the wonderful people on this site. They knew what I was feeling as they had been through the same.

as soon as I had a treatment plan my fears calmed and I got on with it as you will. Keep in touch as it’s good to hear how your ‘friends’ are doing.

Jane

Hi everyone, went for my pre op yesterday. Weight height, do I smoke,any false teeth,stuff you'd  expect. Then the strange stuff like if I open my mouth as wide as possible how many fingers can I fit in vertically?  Anyway all fine till next starts  listening to my chest, tells me I have a problem,one of my tubes is decreased in size so my heart muscle has to work hard to push the blood through. So my heart muscles are bigger than they should be. So my nurse goes into overdrive , runs in and out of room am and phones around to get me an appointment for an ultrasound. My kidney operation  won't  go ahead until  we see what's happening  there. He said that because of that and my high blood pressure I will have to go on a high dependency unit after my op, which scared me a bit. So I'm  off today to have a scan. Hiding it but I'm  scared of operation.  

Hi ,

I have never heard of anyone testing how wide they can open their mouth, even if you are particularly petite they do surgery on babies so must be able to deal with this.  I also wouldn't have though using fingers was exactly and accurate measuring tool?  Having said that I have put my "foot in my mouth" often enough.

When I had my pre op they were concerned about my weight and also worried that I might have sleep apnoea.  When tested they confirmed that this was the case and I had to sleep using a CPAP machine, which blows air into your throat, to se if I could cope with it.  I had to take the CPAP machine with me to hospital and told that post op I would be taken to intensive care where they could monitor me better as I regained consciousness.

I did indeed come around in intensive care although they had not fitted the CPAP machine, neither was I fitted with an oxygen mask.  I was monitored on the intensive care ward for about three hours before I was transferred back to the general surgery ward where the CPAP machine was waiting for me.

On a high dependency ward you can be monitored more closely and there are more staff and equipment available should there be any cause for concern.  I think that there were about three patients in intensive care but two nurses looking after us.  On the general ward there were about two nurses for sixteen of us although in fairness to the nurses they were complaining that they should have had twice as many nurses but at that time were permanently understaffed due to a lack of nurses employed at the hospital.

If the consultant or the multi disciplinary team thought that you were at high risk from the surgery they would not be going ahead so they obviously believe that this is the best treatment for you.

I think that I was exceptional in that I woke up in no pain.  On the ward I had a button which dispensed a measured dose of morphine up to a maximum dose in twenty four hours.  When they came to replace it the next day they were surprised to hear that I hadn't used it.  I was in hospital for five days.  The amount of pain that someone experiences obviously varies from person to person and maybe I am particularly insensitive to pain.  I know that others have different experiences.  I did struggle with fatigue, not helped by the fact that I had a post operative bleed which left me struggling with anaemia for some time.  Is there anything specific you are worried about with regard to the operation?  It is only natural to be concerned about surgery in general but my experience was that it was fairly routine.

Wishing you all the best,

Gragon xx

How did your scan go ?

It's totally natural to be scared about the op. It's a huge deal for us patients as it's about more than just an operation. If you can keep busy it will help to keep your mind off it.

I'm not really into all this mindfulness stuff, it's a bit too hippy for me, but the one thing I have discovered, when I am thinking too much and not doing enough, is that a good book really does help. It's a total distraction from anything my mind is trying to throw at me. MIght be worth stocking up on a couple to see if it works for you?

I still await my operation date. People ask me if I have one yet and I say no. They think I should phone up and ask. I won't because I'm  hiding from this, I pretend it's not happening , then I remember like a bolt of lightening hitting me, bang you've  got cancer. I still don't  believe it I think they'll  find something totally  banal. I'm  scared of the op going wrong, of the incapacity, and of the pain. I'm  the one that sorts others problems out. I'm  the listener, if people around me thought about it they actually know very little about me, we always talk about them. I like being on my own and need time out from people. Never learnt how to chat and make friends. I feel too self conscious. It's  4 in the morning now and I'm  chatting to a machine. But I know there is very understanding people behind it , who might eventually see it. I think it's  the seriousness of cancer it's  such a big word. I think I'm  scared, I won't  ever admit that to anyone I know, that's not who I am. Echogram said my heart was  ok, having a bit of an mot done on me. Aware of the money I'm  costing ,,just feel like a fraud and i don't  know why .  But now I will pretend it's  all not happening and go back to normal.... how is everyone on here do you find yourselves getting impatient  with the silly complications of life , because secretly  your all full of bigger problems. Hugs to you all. 

Everyone feels like this.  I know my heart sank the first time I was told, and this was shortly after having my second child, almost 17 years ago now.  I don't want to frighten you, but I am still here, 3 operations and 2 different treatments later.  Things have improved enormously since I started down this track.  You do get like this; it's only normal.  Give them a ring and find out - it will give you some peace of mind.

Well I've  had a penciled in date for my OP 24th May. Was coping quite well until ive7 just read some recent post on here. People are not fully recovered years later! What's this rugby ball? In agony, never the same again. Now I'm  getting scared. I'm  not having a robot though, I'm having a man. I thought I'd  be tough and be up and about in a couple of weeks, I'm  not going to be am I, I'm  going to be in agony for months or years. I don't  think there 100% sure it is cancer. Could go through it all for nothing. Should I do it or not. Can I have a biopsy private? Is that expensive? Just scared.