Things not to do.
Things not to do, say, etc, to someone with kidney cancer.
Things not to say to a kidney cancer patient:
My (insert relation here) had the same thing, and died six months after surgery.
Won’t you hate losing your hair? (nope, there is no chemotherapy for kidney cancer, plus, I’ve been bald twice for St. Baldrick’s Foundation Fundraisers.)
At least you have a spare.
Can you keep the kidney?
Radiation sucks, doesn’t it? (again, no radiation, unless it is in your bones, then it is only to alleviate pain, kidney cancer is a bitch and doesn’t die easily.)
Since your kidney is gone that means you no longer have cancer? (my tumor is gone but, I have to be very closely watched to make sure I don’t have any tumors show up elsewhere.)
Don’t tell someone they look tired. They know they do, the are tired, cancer, and/or surgery recovery is rough on the human body.
Don’t do this:
Treat them like they are a different person. (I’m the same person I was prior to my diagnosis, I’m just short one organ and up one scar.)
Don’t stop talking to us. You don’t have to even talk about the cancer, just talk like you normally would.
Don’t quit asking us to do things. We’ll tell you if we’re not up for it.
Don’t presume that there are certain things they can not eat, drink, etc. There maybe but, we know what that is, we do not need diet police.
Yeah, these are all by experience and this has only been going on 3.5 months.