In May 2012 I was sent for a CT scan following an ultrasound procedure which I assumed would discover gall stones and sludge due to my rapid weight loss.  Turned out that I have kidney cancer.  I was lucky to be referred to the wonderful Dr. Stephen Pautler.  Dr. Pautler is one of London's leading urologists and was teaching others how to use the new Da Vinci Robotic arm in prostate and renal surgeries.  I also discovered that the hospital had only purchased the robotic system a few months prior to my surgery.   It was decided to do a partial nephrectomy (there are many cool U tube videos of the actual surgery) because of my age and the risk for future problems to arise on the remaining kidney if one was to be totally removed.  My surgery was scheduled a couple of weeks later in mid June.  With surgery date confirmed and very fast approaching we received an offer for the sale of our home in West Lorne. No conditions but the closing date was to be 3 weeks away, which was only a couple of weeks post op.  We tried to renegotiate the closing date but buyer insisted she needed to move ASAP. With not much choice in the matter we accepted the offer and that left Deb to pack up almost everything on her own.

Following surgery Dr. Pautler suggested that it would likely be 6 months for full recovery and that the surgery was successful.  My tumor was confirmed to be Renal Cell Carcinoma (R.C.C.) however, the margins were clear. There was no spread of the cancer and no further problems are anticipated from the cancer.  There is no further treatment required following surgery and at this point follow up appointments are simply to confirm that I remain healthy and cancer free. 

In light of the R.C.C. diagnosis, Deb and I decided it is time to partially retire and enjoy life while our health is good enough.  I informed my employer that I wouldn't be returning to work as planned and that I would be happy to work remotely or part time after I was feeling better.   We gave notice to terminate tenancy to one of our London tenants and then became homeless for a couple of months.  The month of July was spent at Linda's house since I was still unable to travel. Near the end of July Dr. Pautler gave me the green light to travel and do whatever I felt able to do so we hit the road and traveled east.