Edwin Poots: My appendix operation went well, but then doctor told me I had kidney cancer

The DUP MLA had woken around 6am on Monday, December 7 in good spirits, having undergone emergency surgery the previous night for a perforated appendix.

The operation at the Royal Victoria Hospital had been a complete success and despite Mr Poots also having tested positive for Covid-19, he was already looking forward to getting back to work.

He soon received an early morning visit from his surgeon who confirmed that the operation had taken two-and-a-half hours and that they had managed to remove everything they needed to.

However, what the surgeon told Mr Poots next turned the 55-year-old’s life upside down.

“I had woken up about 6am. The surgeon arrived about 6.30am and I was feeling in very good form,” said an emotional Mr Poots, speaking for the first time about his experience.

“The surgeon told me the operation had gone well, but that when they were looking at my scan they noticed there was a growth over part of my right kidney and they regarded it as suspicious.

“On the back of that I have been visiting hospital getting tests and so forth done and I need to have my right kidney removed. All the signs would be that it is a cancerous tumour and that it’s growing on my kidney. They haven’t tested it but all the knowledge that the specialists would have would indicate that it is cancerous.

“Their desire is to remove it, and they are of the opinion that the removal of the kidney will cure it. I should not require chemotherapy or radiotherapy.”

He didn’t think so at the time, but the Stormont minister was fortunate.

He is adamant that without the unexpected surgery for the perforated appendix, he would have had no knowledge of the tumour growing in his kidney.

He had deliberately lost well over a stone in weight during 2020 and had been feeling as well as he had ever had before the appendix episode.

“I was feeling well and had absolutely no signs, and absolutely no symptoms,” he continued. “I wouldn’t have known about the cancer growth had it not been for the appendix. I’m hugely grateful that I have felt the hand of God upon my life, with that happening.

“I feel that it’s providence that it did happen. I’m feeling very confident that on the back of this, there are things for me to do in life and ultimately I have a purpose for being here.

“Otherwise, it is something that could have worked away unknowing to me and then appeared in other important organs, and been much more problematic.

“I’m hugely grateful that that is the case and in terms of managing it all and being in hospital, I have been looked after very well.”

There have been hugely difficult moments, not least a low point in hospital after surgery when he felt he desperately needed to see his wife Glynis in person, but visitation restrictions because of Covid-19 meant that wasn’t possible.

“By the Tuesday I was in a lot of pain because of the surgery, I was feeling sorry for myself, I started to think (about the cancer), I contacted my wife and asked could she come down to hospital. She said, ‘what’s wrong’, and I said, ‘I just want to talk to you, to be with you’, They didn’t allow her and I was quite emotional, your emotions take over and logic is cast to one side,” he explained.

“A nurse spoke to me and I got over it quickly but I was thinking after it, what about the poor souls who have come into hospital with a bleed from the bottom, and they have bowel cancer and it’s moved into their liver. They haven’t got a good prognosis and they have to stay in hospital for a week or 10 days to get the first bit of treatment started and they haven’t got a soul to hold their hand or be with them.

“That is one of the cruellest aspects of Covid, that those people who are in hospital can’t have input from their families that they otherwise would.

“There is a difference between talking to someone on the telephone and having them beside you, and just the empathy that a person can share with you by their attendance.”

In many respects, recent weeks have been more difficult for his family, he maintains.

“I said to my wife one day, ‘I actually don’t think a lot about this’. She said, ‘I don’t think about anything else’, and that struck home. Sometimes it’s easier to absorb something when it’s for yourself as opposed to someone else, somebody else that you love.

“Clearly it’s very difficult for my family to absorb news like this. I had 24 hours when I was told I had needed my appendix out, I was told I had Covid-19 and a growth in my kidney, it wasn’t the finest 24 hours of my life. It wasn’t pleasant, but it has been more difficult for my family.”

Thank you for reading this story on our website. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our advertisers - and consequently the revenue we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you taking out a digital subscription.

Subscribe to newsletter.co.uk and enjoy unlimited access to the best Northern Ireland and UK news and information online and on our app. With a digital subscription, you can read more than 5 articles, see fewer ads, enjoy faster load times, and get access to exclusive newsletters and content. Visit https://www.newsletter.co.uk/subscriptions now to sign up.

Our journalism costs money and we rely on advertising, print and digital revenues to help to support them. By supporting us, we are able to support you in providing trusted, fact-checked content for this website.

Alistair Bushe

Editor

Alistair Bushe