Thursday, May 29, 2014

Staples Removed - thrid stage complete

The third stage of this saga is now complete. The first stage was the discovery of the tumour, the second the surgery and the third the immediate post-operative recovery stage.

The staples were removed this morning from the incision. there were 14 of the things. These are heavy-duty bits of wire that really are staples. Fortunately, there was not much discomfort involved - I told my doctor that I was a real wimp as far as pain goes and he just laughed. I imagine these things would have really hurt going in - fortunately I was unconscious with the anesthetic at the time.

It also seems I am incredibly fortunate. The serendipitous discovery of the tumour meant that it was removed before it expanded out of the kidney. Once that happens, the outcome is much less positive. I also learned the type of cancer is clear cell renal carcinoma. In Canada, 6,000 people will be diagnosed with kidney cancer this year and over 1,700 will die from it. Roughly 1 in 57 Canadians will be diagnosed with kidney cancer sometime in their lives and 1 in 141 Canadians will die from kidney cancer. Those are fairly sobering statistics.

Donna is again participating in the Canadian Cancer Society Relay For Life event, this time in Hants West. I encourage everyone to support the various fights against cancer. There are very few of us who will not be affected by one of the variants of this disease as it attacks us or our loved ones.

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