The beginning of the cancer removal.

So my mother had exploratory surgery last week and during that time they operated to save one of her kidneys and remove the massive tumour.  I didn't even realise the tumour was encroaching on her kidney or just how dire her situation was until after the operation.  They did manage to save the kidney and declared the operation a success.

However, after more tests they have found that the cancerous cells are within her bladder lining and given the size of the tumour and the rate at which the cancer must be growing, their only solution is to remove the bladder entirely.  They don't believe the cancer has spread outside of the bladder and so removing her bladder would essentially ensure that all of the cancer is removed.

On the one hand all of this sounds very reassuring and the prognosis is very good.

But they are removing her bladder.

I don't know about you but I kind of like having my bladder.  I mean, yes it's not something I really think about on a regular basis or anything, but now that I am thinking about it, I really like having my bladder.

My mother will have to live the rest of her life with a catheter in place and a bag for storage.

Right now she is feeling very low about the outcome.  And while we should all be happy that the prognosis is not worse, it is hard right now to imagine life without such an important organ.