Recovered

matchframe
matchframe Member Posts: 58
edited May 2012 in Kidney Cancer #1
I found out last July that I had a mass on my left kidney. I went to MD Anderson in Houston which I live very close to. They performed a partial nephrectomy (sp?) on 15 September 2011. After 5 days in the hospital I went home for my 6 weeks of recovery. I have since been back to work but it took me a while to really feel like myself again. I just had my 6 month follow up CT Scan and they said I am all clear - cancer free. I never thought simple words can lift such a heavy load.

I cannot express enough gratitude for my wife always being there during my stay in the hospital and during my recovery at home. Her Dad lost a kidney to cancer when she was a child and later in life his other kidney ended up failing on him. I think that was always in the back of her mind as she helped me during my ordeal.

Anyway, I have not been able to really discuss with anyone who has been there what I went through. I found out really quick that when someone hears you have cancer, they have a totally different out look about you. Some are very sympathetic while others tend to stay away and try to ignore the situation. Only thing is I could not ignore it, but had to face it head on. I went to a relay for life a couple of weeks ago as a survivor and it was a pretty emotional time for my wife and me. The support we had along with other survivors in our community was overwhelming.

If I can be of any help to anyone here I will be glad to.

Bill

Comments

  • alice124
    alice124 Member Posts: 896 Member
    #2
    Bill - Congratulations. That's beautiful music to the ears.

    Sometimes we hit these "bumps in the road" to remind us how lucky we really are. With a great wife, a wonderful prognosis, a great attitude, and renewed spirit, that sounds very true for you.

    Thanks for your offer of help. I'm sure many os us will be taking you up on it.
  • icemantoo
    icemantoo Member Posts: 3,361 Member
    #3
    Welcome
    Bill,

    Sorry for the initiation (surgery), We all go thru it to join our little club. Now that the surgery is over and you are hopefully cancer free for life, it was all NBD (no big deal), yeah. Our relay for life will be June 2, 2012. My surgery was on August 1, 2002. Hopefully you will be able to help me with the newbies who usually start on this board bedazled and bewildered and need our help. One of the problems with outsiders is that they have no conception of Kidney Cancer and the fact that it is not treated like other cancers and have no idea what you are facing or faced. We are a minority of only 3% of all cancers and are not as popular as the others.


    Icemantoo
  • foxhd
    foxhd Member Posts: 3,181 Member
    #4
    icemantoo said:

    Welcome
    Bill,

    Sorry for the initiation (surgery), We all go thru it to join our little club. Now that the surgery is over and you are hopefully cancer free for life, it was all NBD (no big deal), yeah. Our relay for life will be June 2, 2012. My surgery was on August 1, 2002. Hopefully you will be able to help me with the newbies who usually start on this board bedazled and bewildered and need our help. One of the problems with outsiders is that they have no conception of Kidney Cancer and the fact that it is not treated like other cancers and have no idea what you are facing or faced. We are a minority of only 3% of all cancers and are not as popular as the others.


    Icemantoo

    Hi.
    It's funny how some people think that having cancer is a contagious disease.
  • matchframe
    matchframe Member Posts: 58
    #5
    icemantoo said:

    Welcome
    Bill,

    Sorry for the initiation (surgery), We all go thru it to join our little club. Now that the surgery is over and you are hopefully cancer free for life, it was all NBD (no big deal), yeah. Our relay for life will be June 2, 2012. My surgery was on August 1, 2002. Hopefully you will be able to help me with the newbies who usually start on this board bedazled and bewildered and need our help. One of the problems with outsiders is that they have no conception of Kidney Cancer and the fact that it is not treated like other cancers and have no idea what you are facing or faced. We are a minority of only 3% of all cancers and are not as popular as the others.


    Icemantoo

    Thanks for the welcomes!!
    Thanks for the welcomes!!

    I had not heard that Kidney Cancer is only 3% of all cancers. Interesting!

    Looking back on the surgery and recovery, it does seem like NBD, especially since that is all I had to deal with compared with most who are fighting cancer. I now have a real heart for anyone who has to go through any kind of cancer treatment. I hope one day that I can be of help so someone, if for nothing else, just to be there for them.

    Bill
  • garym
    garym Member Posts: 1,647
    #6
    matchframe said:

    Thanks for the welcomes!!
    Thanks for the welcomes!!

    I had not heard that Kidney Cancer is only 3% of all cancers. Interesting!

    Looking back on the surgery and recovery, it does seem like NBD, especially since that is all I had to deal with compared with most who are fighting cancer. I now have a real heart for anyone who has to go through any kind of cancer treatment. I hope one day that I can be of help so someone, if for nothing else, just to be there for them.

    Bill

    Welcome...
    Hi Bill,

    Seems I'm a little late to the welcoming party, but better late than never. Catching it early, usually because of something else is key to a surgical cure, there are many here for whom the battle is still raging. Stick around, read the stories, and help welcome others if you've a mind to, you'll receive much more than you give, I promise.

    A fellow survivor,

    Gary
  • matchframe
    matchframe Member Posts: 58
    #7
    garym said:

    Welcome...
    Hi Bill,

    Seems I'm a little late to the welcoming party, but better late than never. Catching it early, usually because of something else is key to a surgical cure, there are many here for whom the battle is still raging. Stick around, read the stories, and help welcome others if you've a mind to, you'll receive much more than you give, I promise.

    A fellow survivor,

    Gary

    Thanks Gary! I plan to hang
    Thanks Gary! I plan to hang around.

    When I was first diagnosed, my Doctor at the time wanted to wait six months and do another CT Scan to see if there was any growth. I called a good friend of mine who is an Anesthesiologist at MD Anderson here in Houston, and he said the biggest mistake they see is mis-management at first diagnosis. He said too many Doctors want to "wait and see" when they should be going after it. After he said that to me, I was at MD Anderson the following week, and in surgery three weeks later. Interesting thing is, I requested my friend to be my Anesthesiologist so I had a friendly familiar face before and after my surgery.

    Good to be here. Hopefully I can be of help and encouragement to someone here.

    Bill
  • littledarlin
    littledarlin Member Posts: 102
    #8
    matchframe said:

    Thanks Gary! I plan to hang
    Thanks Gary! I plan to hang around.

    When I was first diagnosed, my Doctor at the time wanted to wait six months and do another CT Scan to see if there was any growth. I called a good friend of mine who is an Anesthesiologist at MD Anderson here in Houston, and he said the biggest mistake they see is mis-management at first diagnosis. He said too many Doctors want to "wait and see" when they should be going after it. After he said that to me, I was at MD Anderson the following week, and in surgery three weeks later. Interesting thing is, I requested my friend to be my Anesthesiologist so I had a friendly familiar face before and after my surgery.

    Good to be here. Hopefully I can be of help and encouragement to someone here.

    Bill

    Welcome Bill
    So nice to have you on board..

    LD..
  • littledarlin
    littledarlin Member Posts: 102
    #9
    matchframe said:

    Thanks Gary! I plan to hang
    Thanks Gary! I plan to hang around.

    When I was first diagnosed, my Doctor at the time wanted to wait six months and do another CT Scan to see if there was any growth. I called a good friend of mine who is an Anesthesiologist at MD Anderson here in Houston, and he said the biggest mistake they see is mis-management at first diagnosis. He said too many Doctors want to "wait and see" when they should be going after it. After he said that to me, I was at MD Anderson the following week, and in surgery three weeks later. Interesting thing is, I requested my friend to be my Anesthesiologist so I had a friendly familiar face before and after my surgery.

    Good to be here. Hopefully I can be of help and encouragement to someone here.

    Bill

    Welcome Bill
    So nice to have you on board..

    LD..
  • littledarlin
    littledarlin Member Posts: 102
    #10
    littledarlin said:

    Welcome Bill
    So nice to have you on board..

    LD..

    Sorry about the stuttering..
    :0) Still a bit early here..

    LD
  • matchframe
    matchframe Member Posts: 58
    #11
    littledarlin said:

    Sorry about the stuttering..
    :0) Still a bit early here..

    LD

    Thanks LD!! Good to be
    Thanks LD!! Good to be here!

    No worries! Mornings are tough sometimes :)
  • foxhd
    foxhd Member Posts: 3,181 Member
    #12
    matchframe said:

    Thanks LD!! Good to be
    Thanks LD!! Good to be here!

    No worries! Mornings are tough sometimes :)

    stuttering
    We tend to do that often.
  • foxhd
    foxhd Member Posts: 3,181 Member
    #13
    foxhd said:

    stuttering
    We tend to do that often.

    stuttering
    We tend to do that often.
  • foxhd
    foxhd Member Posts: 3,181 Member
    #14
    foxhd said:

    stuttering
    We tend to do that often.

    stuttering
    We tend to do that often.
  • foxhd
    foxhd Member Posts: 3,181 Member
    #15
    foxhd said:

    stuttering
    We tend to do that often.

    stuttering
    We tend to do that often.
  • matchframe
    matchframe Member Posts: 58
    #16
    foxhd said:

    stuttering
    We tend to do that often.

    LOL :)

    LOL :)

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