Beginning an unknown journey, any advice appreciated

Hi Cathy

I read your post and didn't want to not reply.

I had a double mastectomy at different times and an incidental finding was found on my kidney and has and is being monitored since.

I can't tell you what to do but I know without my husbands support and daughters I would have struggled.Everyone handles things differently and I'm a believer its also good to talk.the phone line with mcmillan is a great chance for your voice to be heard when you are ready in a safe place and this forum is good to put everything down as well.hou will find what works for you.

All the best.

• Hi Cathy. Bad luck.. I so empathise. I have had my kidney, containing a large Grade 3 tumour, removed by laparascopic surgery 8 weeks ago. They also removed a small tumour from my bladder. I am recovering slowly and steadily and have been told I need no further treatment .. they will just monitor me every 6 months for the next 2 years. I understand your reluctance to worry your family with it at the moment... I like to get on with/deal with things on my own so I can understand. So maybe wait until you have firmer answers after your MRI (I had CT scans, not MRI) and presumably a biopsy ... but then I would most definitely tell them, whatever it turns out to be. It may be benign but you will still need treatment/monitoring.. or if not treatment/removal. It is amazing what they can do now and how effective treatments are. Do let us know and do ask me any questions as things move on. Very best of luck. Tilly

Well said tilly.

I'm new to the kidney forum myself so it helped me too.thank you.

Thanks for the really helpful reply. I told my daughter and son-in-law today which really helped take some weight off. I'm going to wait until I have a proper result and plan before telling my husband.

Hi, i get what your saying, i think my brain is wired differently as i only worry when i have to, i was told they found a 6.7cm lump on my left kidney and the dr just said they get it out and then told me to go home and have a beer, so i went home had a beer and done what most people say not to do and googled it, and from what i found out its one of the better cancers to get as most people have it out and thats it, some will have other treatments but the rate of success is very high, i told my mum and we would make jokes about it, shes recently recovered from breast cancer, my partner doesn't understand how we were so chilled about it and i told her that the drs havent given me anything to worry about so there was no point getting upset until theres a reason to, I was more nervous of the op as it was an unknown for me but even that wasnt bad, the only bad part for me was the shoulder pain caused by the gas they use in the op. We are all different in how we deal with things but having your husband know will take a bit of stress out of it as then you're not keeping a big secret from everyone, a bit of support does wonders.

Good luck going forward