My mom, 84 years old now, was a very healthy person-only took Tylenol once in a while.
3 years ago her blood pressure became fluctuating, took her to the emergency room, was kept until stable and was prescribed Atenolol-25 mg.
She was diagnosed with Sarcomatoid RCC, and operated in April 2008. At that time the left kidney, the adrenal gland and the adjoining lymph nodes were removed-they were all cancerous (stage III). Turns out that the adrenal gland monitors blood pressure hormones, so had someone checked further 3 years ago she would now be ok. However, they only treated the effect-high blood pressure-so the cancer went unchecked.
She had no symptoms prior to surgery, except fatigue and extreme weight loss (50 lbs).
In July 2008 she was entered in a study where she was taking Sutent + Sorafenib or Placebo. The oncologist (Fred Smith, Chevy Chase, Md) and myself believed she was on the real thing. She had a reaction to the Sutent, which may have helped.
The CT scan in April 2009 showed the cancer returned to the exact spot, from where it was removed. On May 26 she was prescribed AFINITOR, a new Novartis drug FDA just approved. It helped my mom, but she is gradually getting weaker-if only she had this drug a year ago!
Novartis will provide the drug if insurance reimbursement is not available
Hope it helps someone!