Hello

Right, I'll start off by introducing myself. My name is Stacey and i live in Dublin. Im from London but i moved to Ireland 3 years ago because that is where my boyfriend, Lee, is from. I work in a creche, which i love, and my life is pretty happy.
A year and a half ago my dad was diagnosed with Kidney Cancer. He was only 43. On one hand it seems like so long ago but on the other had it seems to have gone way too fast. In August 2004, we were in Florida for a 2 week holiday. My dad had been suffering from pain in his side for a while but the doctor just thought it was simply kidney stones, so he'd been in for tests before the holiday and would get the results when we got home from Florida. I dont think any of us were too worried about it because we didnt think it was too serious, kidney stones are common and can be treated. Dad was a bit temperatmental during the holiday and was really struggling with the heat which was strange because we'd been to Florida a few times before and he'd never really been bothered by the heat even though he had a big fat belly. None of this stopped him and Lee sitting round the pool till 4 or 5 in the morning so we werent too worried. Then when we got home there was a letter for my dad to go to the hospital as soon as possible. This worried us a little bit but i know that i definately didnt think about cancer at all. Its something you never think will happen to you, so it didnt cross my mind. So you can imagine the smack in the face i got a while later. Me and Lee were back in Dublin and he'd just picked me up from work for lunch, when Mum phoned and told me Dad had Kidney Cancer. I just cried, i didnt know what to say, but it didnt seem real. I dont remember much about the rest of the day, i didnt go back to work that afternoon. I prayed to God that my dad would be ok, i didnt want him to die. I've never been religious but i think everyone preys to someone when something bad happens, you need something to cling to and hope for help from.
A week or so later Dad was in hospital having his kidney taken out. I dont really remember how i felt then because i must have shut it all out, that was the easy way to deal with it. The operation took almost 8 hours. The surgeon explained that it took so long because the cancer had wrapped itself around his aeorta (the major artery which goes down your spine), they'd had to unwrap it really slowly because if they had cut the artery my dad would probably have bled to death. This kinda made me realise how serious this was. The surgeon said that a lot of other surgeons would've just stitched dad back up and said there was nothing they could do rather than risk cutting the artery. Dad was lucky he had the surgeon that he did. My mum and dad were shown a picture of the kidney, which was a tiny pink dot amongst all the white cancer. The doctors said that the cancer had been there for up to 5 years. It explained the mood swings in Florida and the fact that he couldnt control his temperature, the cancer was pushing on the glands which control your mood and your temperature control so his body went a bit nuts!
A few weeks ago, on Monday 27th February, the nurses told my mum that she thought i should come home from Dublin soon because it didnt look like my dad would be around for much longer. So she phoned and we booked a flight for me to come over on the following saturday and Lee to come over on the Monday after (we've just bought an apartment and Lee's a taxi man so he has to work the weekends). I was worried but i was happy that my flights were booked and i didnt think dad was so sick that he wouldnt make it until then. Mum said that the nurses were underestimating his stubborn-ness. He wasnt about to give in. Then on the following Wednesday 29th my mum phoned me while i was at work. She said that the nurses werent sure whether dad would make it till saturday and they thought i should get home as soon as possible. The girls at work were brilliant. I let myself have a little cry to them for 5 minutes then it was all stations go. I phoned lee and he got our flights booked for that afternoon. The girls sent me home straight away even though our boss was away for the week, they covered for me until she got back, then they told her what had happened and she was really understanding. Me and Lee stayed here for a week, helping mum out. She is a childminder so she has to look after Dad at home as well as all the kids. So we did everything that we could while we were here, but a week later we had to go back to Dublin. Lee came up with the idea that i should see if i could get 2 weeks off work to come back here and give mum a hand. So i asked my boss and she was really good about it. So now im back in England, i came home last night, and my whole life is all over the place.
Im going to try and write in here as often as possible.
Thanks for readingxx