After I saw the specialist last week, he was to have a meeting with four of his colleagues, all cancer experts. It was, in his own words, a chance for me to get a second, third, fourth and fifth opinion all for free. Well, the meeting took place, and I saw the specialist again yesterday to find out the consensus of opinion.
They all had a close look at my test results, and have now discovered that the tumour has grown around the tube from one of my kidneys to the bladder (I forget the medical name for it), and that has caused the kidney to shut down. They also all agreed I need to start treatment a.s.a.p., but that I'm nowhere near well enough to do so yet (I have had a bad week this week, a lot of pain, very tired), so it's a bit of a catch 22 situation.
Unfortunately the general agreement was that "successful treatment is not a high probability" with things looking as they do at this time. I wish I could be reporting good news, but that seems to be in short supply at the moment.

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"The future's uncertain and the end is always near." - The Doors "Roadhouse Blues".