I went from healthy dad to "cancer patient" in 3 days!
Fortunately, as a relatively small, encapsulated tumour, in an otherwise relatively fit and healthy body, I was a good candidate for robot-assisted surgery, to remove just the tumour, not the whole kidney.
The technique and technology are new, constantly evolving, and unfortunately, relatively scarce. But, if faced with the proposition of removing a whole kidney, you might want to know about it...
In 2013, this procedure had only been performed around 70 times, throughout the UK. It is available on the NHS and privately. A laparoscopic ultrasound probe, key to saving my kidney, had been gifted by a grateful patient. At the time of my operation, it was the only one in the UK. Thank you, Angela.
* It turns out, the prolonged discomfort was due to mild varicocele, which may, or may not, have been caused by the tumour. But, had it not been for the trauma, we wouldn't have discovered the tumour until it started presently symptoms of its own, and this would probably have been a different story...
