Hello!
Hope everyone had a lovely Christmas!
Just updating on my dad really as there's not long to go before the operation and I think we've got all the information we're going to before the big day on the 30th!
I think we've been told good(ish) things thus far. The main bad bit of news that we got was that the first doctor got it wrong about the size of the tumour. She told us that it was 7cm, but it's actually 12cm according to the consultant, which is quite a bit bigger and would maybe explain why my dad has been quite so uncomfortable! The cancer is also in the vena cava which means that they have to do open surgery and there are going to be two teams that carry out the procedure, one kidney team and one vascular team. That news was a little bit scary, I think because the idea of veins being involved is especially horrible! I know that my dad didn't really want to know much about how they were going to do it, he just said he's going to do as he's told with as little information as possible :') The thought of surgery in general is also just scary, I've heard complications are pretty rare but you can't help but worry a little! I think that for my dad as well, he's never had anything wrong with him before, so he's really not used to hospitals and especially not operations!
The doctor also said it's Stage 3b, which was actually weirdly good news for us as we were convinced it was much more advanced! After this, he's going to be put on Sutent for his lungs (I think anyways, my mum didn't know how to pronounce it but when I looked it up this was the closest to what she'd said :')), and the doctors seem pretty confident that it'll work. They said it has a 70% chance of working, but if it doesn't, they have lots of other things they're going to try which is comforting. Plus, they actually seem pretty calm in general about the lung mets, the doctor actually called them "negligible", which is a nice word to hear!
Still quite worried about the eating and weight loss though, he's dropped from his usual weight of 11st to 9st 7 in just a few months, and he's getting worse with his eating. He isn't vomiting at all or anything like that (though he occasionally feels a little queasy), but he just feels full all the time and the taste in his mouth is horrible. I also think that his fatigue isn't helping. He never feels like eating when he's sleepy (and he has been sleeping quite a bit), but he does seem to have this window early in the morning where he feels great, he just can't physically eat all his calories for the day during that period. The biggest winners seem to be coffee with cream, yoghurt, and he doesn't mind the odd mince pie with cream, but any meal no matter how big or small is becoming a struggle. I really hope his appetite comes back after the surgery, I've never seen him so thin and he wasn't a big guy to start with. He's aware he needs to eat but he also seems sort of convinced that after the surgery he's going to feel sore but essentially back to normal so he'll put on weight then. I've tried gently telling him that it might be a little optimistic but he's just finding food difficult and I don't want to squash any hopefulness that he's got about the surgery because as I say, he's understandably super nervous!
I thiiinnkk that's everything so far! Just quite nervous about the surgery - on the one hand, I want it to hurry up, on the other, I don't at all :') If anyone has any insight into the surgery or about recovery (especially with regards to appetite!), that'd be very much appreciated!
Hope you're all doing well and also another thank you to everyone who responded last time I posted, it really did help a lot!! :) x
Hi buttercup01 
Thank you for your reply!
I will definitely pass on that information to my dad, and I'm sorry you have to deal with that, my dad is quite miserable already with his tastebuds having changed so I can't imagine how frustrating it must be to have that continue when you're being treated. I'm glad to hear that he might feel less full though, that seems like it might be most of the eating problem at the moment so maybe he can enjoy some proper meals before he goes on the meds.
That's really incredible! I didn't know much about cancer before we found out about my dad (and I still don't!) but I had no idea that things other than chemo and radiotherapy worked so well on it.
I will do! :) My dad's op is on Monday morning, so getting quite jittery now and unfortunately he's probably going to see in the new year from hospital, but hopefully we can bring the party to him - albeit a very chilled out one!
Thanks so much again, and I hope your meds continue to treat you well!
Best wishes,
Jess x
