Picture_of_doom

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the picture of doom I had after being told I had a Cancer in my left kidney.
 

KEN HENLEY

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Discovery of my cancer :

On the ninth of September 2003, I was involved in a serious automobile accident from which I have now recovered.

I was transported to Warrington NHS Trust Hospital with internal injuries and detained there for four days. While assessing my injuries a cyst was discovered in my left kidney during an Ultrasound scan. On leaving hospital I was given an appointment for a CT scan followed a week later by a consultation with a Senior Urological Consultant.

The Consultation with the consultant took place on the 8th October 2003. After examining my CT scan he informed me that there was a 2.6 cm cancer in my cortex of the left kidney. He also informed me that based on his experience he was positive that it was malignant.

He stated that I should consider two alternative:

1: To live with the cancer, I was quite healthy and with considered monitoring by the hospital, my quality of life should not suffer over the short term.

2: To have the cancer removed by either a partial or complete nephrectomy (removal of the kidney). He explained that due to my age which is 80 any nephrectomy would seriously affect my quality of life and he would not recommend this alternative.

This news was quite a shock. What does one do or think when you are confronted with an impossible choice?

I asked how long could I live if I decided to live with the cancer, he could not say but added that with monitoring it would be the alternative he would recommend. He added that how often to monitor would be problematic as it is impossible to judge when the cancer would spread. Following further discussions stated that he was of the opinion that seeing an oncology specialist would not help.

When pressed he said that another possible solution would be to have the cancer removed having laparoscopy (keyhole surgery) for a partial or whole nephrectomy but he did not know who could perform this procedure. Finally he said he would investigate further alternatives for me over the next month.

I was devastated from the above unexpected news, I resolved to research my condition and not accept an easy option.

 

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