scared

Hi everyone,

I was diagnosed with kidney cancer aug.20th 09 and was found because i had a kidney stone in my left kidney and when they did a CT scan they found a 4cm mass in my right kidney. I am having surgery in 3 days to remove the kidney. My surgeon wants me to have another opinion with another urologist to determine if some of the kidney could possibly be saved so i will be doing that the day before the actual surgery. I have high blood pressure and of course it would benefit me greatly to save some of the kidney to help the other one out but my concerns are..If they are able to save the kidney somewhat i am scared that i will have a greater chance of the cancer returning again in the kidney that i had surgery on and afraid of going through that route again..i have heard a lot of stories here how people are doing great in there lives with just one kidney and i finally came to accept the fact of losing one so now im scared of saving a part of it and only making things worse...all i can do now i guess is trust my doctors and know they will make the right choice for me.

Good Luck everyone,

scared in Massachusetts 

Dear Cherri6

 

My opinion is STOP!!!!!!! Postpone the surgery. You have every right to be scared, by the way most of us are, you also should be angry and ready to fight. Do not guess your doctors will make the right choice for you. It has not even been a month since your diagnoses. There is absolutely no reason that I am aware of for the urgency of the surgery, unless it has something to do with personal timing. The idea that a second opinion will occur the day before surgery seems to me to be completely absurd how can you evaluate the information, sounds to me like a doc with CYA.  Yes, you need additional opinions before surgery and most importantly, you need time to understand the information presented to you in order to be part of your treatment, because you must understand that this is your fight not theirs and you need to be prepared to question everything. Insist on seeing both a Nephrologist and an Oncologist (ONC) one that has experience RCC. You need to discuss and understand what follow up treatment will occur and who will do the follow up (generally, the surgeon is only interested in making sure that the surgery healed correctly and they will almost say “Don’t worry I got everything”. Was there a discussion on what surgical technique will be used for the surgery, open nephrectomy or laparoscopic and the pro’s and con’s of each type?  Did you have a PET Scan which can better determine how aggressive the tumor is, which will help with what surgery is done and what follow treatment is appropriate. Did anyone do a renal function series? You mentioned you live in Ma. some of the best Cancer treatment and research facilities in the world are in Boston take advantage of that fact.

 

There are two boards here the one you posted this message on http://www.cancercompass.com/message-board/cancers/kidney-ca and

 

http://www.cancercompass.com/message-board/cancers/renal-cel

 

 This is also an excellent information source be sure to read the info

 

http://www.kidneycancer.org/knowledge/learn/about-kidney-can

 

I know this may seem to be a rather rude and blunt e-mail but this is very important and only you can control your treatment. BTW I am Stage 4 and have been fighting this thing for several years.

 

 

Best of luck please keep us posted

 

Tom

Southern Cal

 

Please feel free to contact me privately via e-mail.

I had my left kidney, adrenal gland and surrounding tissue removed 2yrs ago this past August.  Was Stage 2 and so far i have been lucky and it hasnt returned.  When i found out they wanted to remove it as soon as possible.  I had issues with my insurance and i live and work in Germany so the language barrier was a bit difficult as well thank God for my fiance lol.  The surgery went well and i was out of the hospital in like 2-3 days and home resting for another 4 weeks before i could go back to work.  I wish you the best of luck and my thoughts and prayers are with you!  Stay positive, Stay focused, Drink plenty of water and try to get mobile and slowy get back in shape.  God Bless!

 

On 9/17/2009 John1969 wrote:

I had my left kidney, adrenal gland and surrounding tissue removed 2yrs ago this past August.  Was Stage 2 and so far i have been lucky and it hasnt returned.  When i found out they wanted to remove it as soon as possible.  I had issues with my insurance and i live and work in Germany so the language barrier was a bit difficult as well thank God for my fiance lol.  The surgery went well and i was out of the hospital in like 2-3 days and home resting for another 4 weeks before i could go back to work.  I wish you the best of luck and my thoughts and prayers are with you!  Stay positive, Stay focused, Drink plenty of water and try to get mobile and slowy get back in shape.  God Bless!

 

Hi John,

I still have not had the surgery, It will be in a couple of weeks and of course im still scared but reading stories such as yours makes me feel that every thing will turn out ok and im happy there are web sites like these. Its so great reading how someone is dealing with what im going through and doing great,makes me that much positive and i'm so glad your doing great...Thank you so much for responding to me and giving me courage..good luck to you in the future and God Bless you also!!

 

On 9/13/2009 cherri6 wrote:

Hi everyone,

I was diagnosed with kidney cancer aug.20th 09 and was found because i had a kidney stone in my left kidney and when they did a CT scan they found a 4cm mass in my right kidney. I am having surgery in 3 days to remove the kidney. My surgeon wants me to have another opinion with another urologist to determine if some of the kidney could possibly be saved so i will be doing that the day before the actual surgery. I have high blood pressure and of course it would benefit me greatly to save some of the kidney to help the other one out but my concerns are..If they are able to save the kidney somewhat i am scared that i will have a greater chance of the cancer returning again in the kidney that i had surgery on and afraid of going through that route again..i have heard a lot of stories here how people are doing great in there lives with just one kidney and i finally came to accept the fact of losing one so now im scared of saving a part of it and only making things worse...all i can do now i guess is trust my doctors and know they will make the right choice for me.

Good Luck everyone,

scared in Massachusetts 

Please try not to be scared, and do trust your doctors. I am new to this situation, and it's my husband who has advanced kidney cancer. I have to admit that I am also scared, for reasons different from yours. I just do not want to lose my husband. Best of luck to you.

You are so fortunate to find the kidney cancer EARLY so few do.  You have great chance with treatment.  Our loved one in her 50's, found the tumor when it is 8cm in kidney, both lungs, both shoulder blades,both upper arms, and lymph nodes.  She had no idea till her shoulder hurt.She has no options of surgery or sucessful chemo.