Hi @Effie    I just thought I'd pop by and say hello, see how you were doing?   Don't be too hard on yourself. There's every chance that there was nothing more you or anyone else could do. Sometimes it's a fight that you can't win.   Take care... ... View more

Another little progress update...   This week I had my first 6 monthly surveillance check. Abdominal and Kidney/Bladder function ultrasound   I wasn't expecting any spread...I had a FDG PET scan only a few month ago, so it's early days...but it was still a relief to hear there was no sign of any tumours in either kidney, liver, gallblader, bladder or prostate.   Now I'll try and push cancer to the back of my mind and set a reminder for 5.5 months time and start worrying around the time of my CT scan!   I've been walking, playing barefoot bowls, playing golf, gardening, and trying to push myself at the football...I didn't score any goals this week, but had two assists, so fitness is still increasing (and every joint and muscle still aches the next day!)   The scan results still don't mean I don't wonder if every cough is spread to my lungs, or a pain in my ribs is spread to my bones (rather than where the foot ball hit me or where I got an elbow from an opposition player,) but this is all part of life post op. There's a chance it might come back, but a decent chance it won't so I'm getting on with life, and will stick to my surveillance schedule religiously. ... View more

Hi @Catty    It can be a real shock to be told you have cancer. Hang on in there!   If it can be removed by surgery and you don't need any more treatment, then you're off to a good start. If you're otherwise healthy ,you'll be out of commission for a little while, have to take it easy for a bit more, but then you have a pretty good chance of getting back to a very similar life to pre-cancer times.   It's a big operation, but one that Urologists carry out regularly, so you'll be in safe hands. There are a few people here who have gone through radical or partial nephrectomies, so feel free to ask any questions.   Good Luck! ... View more

Hi @Effie    I just wanted to say I read your post and I really feel for you. I haven't been in your position, but it sounds like you and your family have gone through an awful lot.   There are probably better people to give you insight here, and in your local area. Grief and loss are very real, and there is support available. Posting here is a great first step. Well done for making it this far, it must've been really difficult for you. ... View more

Congratulations, that's great news!   Stay vigilant, get periodic scans to monitor it and hopefully it never causes you any worry in the future!   ... View more

Just a little progress update...   According to my GP, my sore back was likely to be...drum roll...a sore back.   I've got my first post op Ultrasound booked for the start of December, so starting to worry about those results even though there is nothing I can do, and a fairly good chance they should be clear. But I just need to get used to it...this is going to be something I do every six months hopefully for a very long time.   In other news, I played football (soccer) for the first time since my op last night. Today is exactly 5 months since my op. I felt I had to go back and give it a go. I haven't been running or jogging yet, so I was a bit worried. It was strange to be running, bits were jiggling about that haven't jiggled for a while   I didn't run anywhere near as much as I used to, but I did OK. I didn't do any 100% flat out runs, but definitely did some medium pace runs, and was jogging around a lot. I play in an over-45 social game. We play 7-a-side on grass across half a full pitch. Two x 40 minute halves. There's a lot of ground to cover and it's a long game. My feet and knees were sore to begin with, and my back was a bit stiff, but it eased off and I was OK. I made sure I had plenty of water before, half time and after the game.   The morning after I can honestly say there is not a muscle in my body that isn't in agony! It's a good feeling though. It's down to effort and use rather than anything I need to worry about. No blood in my urine either, so I'm confident I haven't burst anything internally ether. I'm going to try and go back weekly if I feel up to it. I'm not back 100% fit, but I'm improving every week. This was a big step for me.   The partial nephrectomy was major surgery, but you can get back to where you were before the op. I'm not quite there yet, but I'm not far off it and I'm optimistic about progressing further (check ups going well of course!) ... View more

Hi @JC56    Glad to hear you are feeling well after the biopsy. I couldn't agree with you more about info you should be provided. For me personally, I know I deal with things much better if I know exactly what is going to be happening. No matter how daunting it is, I think it's better to be informed.   I didn't have a biopsy done, so don't know what that was like, but I have had some CT guided steroid injections in my back a few years ago. I described that as like having the dentist putting in a filling in your spine! I didn't know they could 'do stuff' to you while you were in or around the CT scanner, so that came as a bit of a surprise to me then.   I've learned to ask lots of questions. Specialists will give you the basic details, and miss out a whole heap of info. We all have different things that we will worry about, so its hard to know what everyone needs to know. Some people get claustrophobic around CT machines, but I don't. I do, however really don't like needles. I've had a fair few of them in the last few months, and every time I tell the person putting it in...talk me through what you're going to do, and also talk me through what you're doing while you're doing it...I look away and grimace, and they get on with what they are doing. The communication just makes it easier for me to deal with.   Fingers crossed you get good news from the results.   When you post in the forum, anyone can see it. Only registered users can reply. There is a Private Message facility to contact people directly (privately.) Click on your username up at the top of the screen it will show you a little menu including a symbol like an envelope. Click on that and you can see any messages you have, or write your own messages. ... View more

Hi @JC56   I was diagnosed with Stage 1 Kidney Cancer in May and had an op to remove it in June. Mine was slightly smaller (3.3cm in scans, then revised to 2.8cm once removed.) I was Stage 1a, hadn't spread, phew. The only fly in the ointment, it was Gradee 3, so relatively aggressive, although caught small. Like you, mine was an incidental finding when I went for a CT scan for suspected appendicitis (which turned out to be an appendix stone, didn't even know that was a thing!) On reflection, I maybe did have some minor symptoms that I ignored...5 months earlier at Christmas I felt a bit run down, had a bit of a sore belly/side and put it down to having just moved house (moving lots of boxes and furniture) and Christmas/New Year overindulging in food and alcohol. The aches and pains went away just after New Year, so I did nothing about it, and I had no recurrence even after my diagnosis.   My Urologist took one look at my scan and said definitely cancer, it's almost never anything else. He said we had three options, do a biopsy now, do nothing and scan in a few months time and see how much it has changed, or take it out. His advice was, I am relatively young (47) and mostly healthy, we could to a biopsy but we are already very sure it's cancer so a biopsy might increase the risk of it spreading. We could scan and wait, but even if it was slow growing it would need to come out some point in my life. I could wait until it got bigger but there wasn't really much point, I was just increasing my risk of it spreading, so surgery was really my only sensible option. I definitely didn't have it 3 years earlier as I'd had other CT/MRI imaging for my back surgery, in his opinion I'd probably had it about 6 months (so just before Christmas...)   I had a partial nephrectomy (left) which removed the tumour and a small amount of kidney. I'm lucky in that I have more than 1.5 kidneys left. Surgery was a hand assisted laprascopic partial nephrectomy. I have a scar vertically from just under my belly button to just above it, maybe 6-8cm. I also have a 1cm scar about 8cm above my belly button (If I tense my core muscles it looks like a second belly button!) I also have a small 2cm scar down at the bottom left of my abdomen, roughly where underwear would sit. There's a drain hole mid way between those two small scars. Three small scars, one a bit bigger, but not huge.   Radical Nephrectomy might be a bit different. In terms of recovery, Radical probably has different complications than partial...my repaired kidney started to leak. I had a lot of blood in my urine, and scans revealed urine pooling in my abdomen. I went back in to get a kidney stent inserted, which stayed in for 6 weeks. You won't have the risk of that complication if your kidney is removed (you may have different issues obviously!) Radical is also usually a shorter op, it's quicker to take a kidney out than it is to repair one.   The stent was a bit limiting for me. It got installed at week 2 and was in for 6 weeks. My surgeon told me to avoid all exercise until the stent was out. This is because any increase in heart rate increased my chance of developing a bleed in the repaired kidney. This may or may not be the case for radical nephrectomy, I don't know. I generally felt OK, I was off pain meds about 10 days post op. I could maybe have come off sooner, but chose not to. I was told to avoid lifting anything over 2Kg for 6 weeks, then no more than 10Kg until 12 weeks. After that, slowly return to normal activity. Most of this is to allow your internal wounds to heal and avoid complications with hernias immediately and further down the line. At 12 weeks I moved some floorstanding speakers in the house. Maybe 20Kg each, moved them 20 meters. My belly was aching the next day. I'm a bit more careful now, but I can pick up my 13Kg dog and carry him with no issues (he's deaf and blind so gets himself into stupid places and needs picked up!)   I was in hospital for 5 days I think (might've been 4.) When I came out I could look after myself...toilet, cleaning myself, making light meals. I didn't drive for 6 weeks through choice. You also feel every single lump and bump in the road. You shouldn't drive on the strong pain killers, so that may be limiting. My doc said I could go back to my desk job after 4-6 weeks, but we pushed that back 2 weeks due to the stent.   I now do a lot of walking, up to 10km per day. I feel generally OK, but still need to build up some fitness. I've got a bit of a sore back this week, so I'm going to go see my GP. I have a slight complication in that I had back surgery 3 years ago as well, so I may have sore back that is a sore muscle, a disc issue or my slight pain could be kidney related. I had been to my GP once in 10 years prior to cancer, but now I'm not going to mess about and at least talk to a medical professional rather than keep it to myself. I get the odd twinge around my main scar. 1/10 pain for a fraction of a second if I twist the wrong way too quickly. In the grand scheme of things, nothing really.   Eating and drinking...no change. I had nausea in hospital as they gave me morphine. As soon as they stopped that, the nausea stopped. No issues with lack of appetite. My surgeon told me to eat a normal, healthy diet, nothing special for kidneys. Drink plenty of water, keeps the kidney's flowing. As for drinking, again, he told me nothing special other than plenty of water. Alcohol is also fine, but as a doctor he insisted alcohol in moderation. He said this was general doc advice rather than specific to kidney cancer. He also told me to wait until the stent was out before drinking alcohol, but once that was out, just normal medical advice/guidelines.   I found my appetite went down a bit as I was sitting around a lot. I lost about 8Kg in total, most of it would be muscle mass. I lost a lot of fitness in a short time. I used to walk loads, jog a bit, and play football. I'll get back to all of them, but getting that fitness and stamina back is a slow process. I'm doing the walking but feel the running and football are still beyond me. I've played two rounds of golf using a buggy...no issues with swinging a golf club. Shot distance is a bit less, but that's fitness rather than feeling restricted in any way.   I have been fortunate and didn't need any medication for cancer, so I don't have any of the side effects these treatments can cause. The operation itself was relatively straightforward for me, I did have some complications, but in retrospect, I was really lucky. No allergic reactions, no wound infections, etc.   Sleeping...for the first week I slept on my back. I then slept on the opposite side from the opp (so my right) but now I can sleep any way I want. I might get the odd slight twinge if I'm stretching that main scar but it lasts as long as you are tugging your skin and goes away if you move. It never wakes me up. For the first few weeks I did need to get up during the night to pee. This went away and now I don't have any urgent need to go, or wake up because of it. I probably drink more water than I used to, so I do go slightly more often than I used to but that's probably no bad thing. It's not something that bothers my sleep any more though.   Gardening...I'm mowing the lawn, pushing a petrol mower. Maybe 300/350sqm of pretty flat grass. I have planted some pot plants, repotted others, etc. Nothing too heavy, no digging potatoes, laying turf, etc, but I've carried big bags of soil recently with no ill effects. Just be a bit careful and use a barrow to move things that you might've picked up before, etc. I was mowing the lawn at about 8 weeks, post op but that made me tired rather than sore.   Other than my sore back...my next step in treatment is an abdominal ultrasound in December. 6 months from my operation. My Urologist has said he hopes there is no recurrence, and if that is the case I will have an abdominal ultrasound then CT scan rotating every 6 months for at least 5 years. Quite probably for life. ... View more

Hi @Itstime    I read your post and wondered what I would do in your situation. I honestly don’t know. I thought about not replying, but then decided I would. I just wanted you to know that I read your post and I understand how difficult things are for you.   I don’t really have any advice for you other than to say that there might be other people here or elsewhere who can give you advice...or who can at least listen to you. For me personally I feel better sharing my worries with friends...or failing that, with complete strangers on the Internet. There are lots of us here. We might not all reply, but we are listening. When I share my woes,  I might not actually get any resolution or direction, but the process of sharing is in some way liberating and that freedom makes me feel better.   Nobody knows what the future holds, but I wish you well. You can vent here, or seek professional help. Either way, there will always be someone willing to listen. Sometimes asking questions isn’t just about the answers...it’s about clearing your mind of the thing you are focussing in. ... View more

Bit of an update, all news is good.   I've had my stent removed. I didn't think it was holding me back much...but once it was removed I realised that it really was. Walking became so much easier...I could just walk faster and I wasn't slouching so much.   I had nightmares about the stent removal process. My surgeon had told me they use a little local anesthetic, put a flexible camera up and pull the stent out using that. As I was going in, the anesthetist suggested some light sedation so I said yes. I went out like a light and woke up 15 mins later and finished the sentence I had just been saying...The stent was out, no pain and I didn't need to hear them doing it. I was over the moon. There was a tiny bit of discomfort doing a pee the first time, but after that, absolutely no issues.   A couple of weeks later I then had a final ultrasound on the repaired kidney. There are no signs of leaking or bleeding around the kidney, so the stent has done its job. No signs of other tumours, but maybe a bit early for that to appear anyway. I've now got an abdominal ultrasound to organise in December, then a CT next June. The plan is to do scans like that for the foreseeable future every six months depending on the results. Apparently only a small amount of kidney was removed, I was lucky in that it was well defined on the edge of my kidney. The surgeon has told me to go back to any activity I want, but I'll need to build up strength. He wasn't wrong. At first, even going up a flight of stairs left me exhausted. I had lost about 8Kg since the op, the vast majority of which I think was muscle mass. I'm back walking 5km+ per day. I haven't started running yet, but I aim to be back playing football (soccer) in around 3 months. I play Seniors, over 45s, so it's a good level for my fitness...that said, it isn't great for morale when you are 47 and a 70 year old who has had a hip or knee replacement could run past you before your surgery!   My external wounds have healed well. I have a tiny bit of numbness around my belly button, but that's hardly a disaster...I used to be very tickly, so if anything it's an improvement. The recovery process has on the whole gone pretty well. I had the leakage issue that was fixed by the stent, and its removal was pain free. I had to do little or no exercise while the stent was in, but that was OK. I don't have any major aches or pains now...and I suspect anything I do have is because my muscles are weak and out of use, so exercise will help. I had no issues with eating or drinking. No change in appetite or ability to hold things down. The surgery sounds scary, but so far, touch wood, for me the recovery has gone well.   I also got an X Ray on my toe that had been sore. No signs of bone deformity, so unlikely to be a tumour. Also no signs of arthritis...the hospital think it may be a soft tissue injury. I thought I'd get it checked out in case I had some other problem! I don't want to put off going to the Doctor ever again...as getting checked out for something else may have saved my life.   I'm currently cancer free but will need to be vigilant. My surgeon and GP seem to think there is a real chance I have been 'cured' but I'll always be looking over my shoulder. I'm looking at that as a good thing. These investigations are really just 'big check up' and who knows what else they might find early that's unrelated to my original issue.Early is good. I found my kidney cancer when I was looking for something else, so I welcome the scans. If anyone else is concerned about this surgery, I can say it went well for me. The recovery was good, I had very few problems and there really wasn't much pain involved (other than catheters!) If you are in a similar situation and are a candidate for this surgery, go for it. ... View more