1 met to one lung - is this it?

during the wait for radical nephrectomy, chest x-ray revealed a 8mm leison on one lung. is this it for my dad? i am so scared about losing him.

any positive stories anyone could spare?

Absolutely not!!! Since my radical nephrectomy I have had three lung resections to remove Mets ranging from 2 that were 4 and 6mm in lower lobe of left lung one 9mm from lower lobe of right lung and back to left lung for a 5mm. I also had lymph nodes removed. I have been treated with IL-2, Interferon-A, Torisel, Sutent and now Afinitor. Your Dad should already have been referred to a Thoracic Surgeon since the next logical step would be to remove the tumor. If he has not, ask the surgeon, a urologist, I presume why not and insist that he or your Dad’s PCP do to in now! In addition, insist that a RCC ONC be involved in all treatment options from NOW on! I know this can sometimes be a problem with some insurance but you need to be prepared to be obstinate, forceful and even if you will excuse the language “ offensive word removed y”. Presuming that both surgeries are accomplished follow up with the ONC will likely be one of the many drug therapies now available for Stage 4 RCC and many of us have done well on them. I will not say that it has been a pleasant journey but it is way better than the alternative. When I was first diagnosed with RCC my goal was to see my Sons graduate from high school recently I was at the 6th birthday party of my twin granddaughters.

Hang in there it ain’t hopeless!!

Regards,

Tom

Thanks so much for your reply Tom. I have already looked into the Thoracic doctors in my area to bring with me to my appointment.

 My only concern is that he has NOT had his raidcal nephrectomy done, I doubt that he could stand other surgeries to his lung. Has you heard of having both the kidney and lung surgery combined at the same time?

 I am pulling my hair out at this point not knowing what do to/to expect next. Seems like at this point the surgeon will still go ahead and operate.

Thanks so much for sharing Tom.

Chenny

Dear Cangelinc, I had a radical nephrectomy in 2007 and I had two nodules removed from my lungs this past June. I currently have a 5mm cancerous nodule in my lung. Tom is 100% right. You need a Kidney Cancer Specialist to handle your case. My regular oncologist wanted to put me on Sutent for the nodule but my RCC SPecialist said we aren't going to do anything at this time because the nodule is TOO SMALL to start any drugs. I was pleasantly surprised when I heard that he will wait and see what happens. The specialist( Dr. Motzer at Sloan Kettering ) said they usually don't start the drugs until the tumor is between 1-2 centimeters. The Kidney cancer drugs currently out there are very toxic. I am going to try and stall taking them as long as possible. Hopefully if the nodule gets too big I hope I can have surgery, just like Tom. Thus I feel that I would be starting from scratch again.

Good Luck

Hi

I was diagnosed in December 2007 with a 7.5cm tumour on my left kidney a 5.5cm tumour on my left ankle and a number of nodules on my lungs.

I was put onto Interferon for 4 months which reduced the size of all of my tumours and at the end of January 2009 I had my radical nephrectomy. The biopsey of my kidney showed that the Inferferon had completely destroyed the tumour on my kidney.

I had a CT scan at the end of April which showed only 2 nodules on my lungs one had shrunk from 20mm to 10mm the other had not changed. My last scan in August did not show any change and my Oncolgist does not think I need another CT scan for a year as my remaining nodules may not be active.

 My results have been very positive and I hope gives you hope for your father.

Steve