Success For Now

On Jan 25th during an ultrasound the Radiologist discovered a tumor on my left kidney. We immediately followed with a cat scan to define the tumor and look for spreading.

The tumor was 9CM in size and growing primarily on the bottom of the kidney. It did not appear to have spread to any other organs. Lymphnodes in the area of the kidney appeared enlarged and thus suspect. Chest exrays and a bone scan indicated no visible tumors any where else.

Radical surgery was conducted on Feb 2 and the kidney, tumor, lymph nodes and surrounding tissue were removed in a two and a half hour surgery .

On Feb 7 we received the official pathology report that confirmed the cancer to be confined to the kidney with no sign of cancer in the lymphnodes.

It appears as though I was very lucky at this point and will need to continue to monitor the situation.

If you are confronted with this terrible disease just remember that good things can happen and fight it head on!

Congratulations on your successful surgery.

First, may sure your are being followed by a physician who has experience in treating kidney cancer patients. You can find one near you by calling the Kidney Cancer Association at 800.850.9132. I would consider having a chest CT scan soon; CTs can pick up things that are missed on x-ray. Second, because your tumor was rather large, have checkups beginning three months after your surgery, and continuing (at longer intervals) for the rest of your life. Occasionally, kidney cancer returns after many years, but when it does recur after a long time,it usually comes back in one or two places that can be treated with surgery--if they are found when they're small.

There is an email support list specific to kidney cancer. See http://cancerguide.org/kofaq/.

I am getting follow up care as you suggested and intend to be working with the University of Wisconsin. I know that there are many hurdles to clear before I can feel cured. Given the size of the tumor our current result could not have been better thus it feels great to at least smell the roses for a while.

Good for you Bigboy! Nice to hear good news for a change. I am rooting for you.

Salldee

Thank you for your support and the best of luck to you and yours.

Took Trishpm's advice and had a chest cat scan completed instead of just the xray. Results were clean so news continues to be good.