there is no way that any doctor can say with definitive confidence that RCC has not spread to the lymph nodes by one cat scan. Any doctor who would say such a thing is probably one to be left behind. RCC-renal cell carcinoma-is one of the sneakiest cancers there is and it uses the blood and lymph nodes to spread. But the cells do not all follow the same recipe-some grow into mets fast, some slow, some never.. The larger the mass the more likely it has metastasized elsewhere. The only way to be sure a node is not cancerous would be to biopsy it and since we have thousands of nodes that would be obviously impossible. Get to an RCC specialist surgeon and oncologist immediately and attack the disease aggressively and without delay. Finally PLEASE: if a doctor says to a kidney cancer patient, "we got it all" and means you are cancer free, run don't walk to a new doctor. It is a sign that he/she does not know enough about the disease. An experienced specialist would never say such words-probably ever-because of the nature of the disease. We refer to it as NED-no evidence of disease, but never gone.
That said there are lots of survivors living great lives and my husband is one of them. He had a radical nephrecotmy-kidney removed-and has mets in his chest, and rear of his torso. But with great treatmetn and ongoing meds we are living our lives, enjoying ourselves, and occasionally forget we're still in the fight. We know it is there, we know we will face new challenges but in the mean time we are doing okay. You can too if you start right away demanding the right doctors, the right information and the right care. tagml