On 5/7/2008
Richard2 wrote:
On 5/6/2008
allie1 wrote:
Hello,
My 27 yr old daughter has been diagnosed with a mass in one of her kidneys. She was sent by her primary care nurse to a Neprologist, however that Dr. was too busy to see her for a month, so we were then referred to a Urologist who is a surgeon. He has advised her to have a biopsy. We then went to get a second opinion to another Urologists who also turned out to be a surgeon. He wants to take the kidney out. I feel that we have made a mistake going to a surgeon. I feel that a diagnosis from a cancer specialist should first give their opinion then we find a surgeon if necessary.
It seems that if you do not advocate for yourself you could end up making the wrong decisions concerning your life. Wouldn't an oncologist or a neprologist be the first step instead of these surgury happy Dr'.s ? I am not in denial, or avoiding what 'may' be the inevitable but shouldn't this be approached differently? I would so much appreciate some advice. I also have asked about nutrition, excercise and these two Dr's do not believe that they help at all. Please give me your opinion's. Thank you, allie 1
Hi allie 1,
I had a mass on my left kidney that was discovered by an ultrsound. My primary care Dr. was concerned about my gall bladder. He sent me to an oncologist, who immediately ordered a biopsy and discovered it to be kidney cancer. We then did a full body cat scan to see if the cancer had spread, and it had, to my lungs. In his opinion, it wasn't helpful, and may be harmful, to remove the kidney. Surgery can perhaps cause the cancer to spread. If it hadn't already spread, then surgery would have been the first line of defense.
It sounds like you haven't done the biopsy yet. It may not be cancer. I think it is important to find out what you are dealing with and if cancer, what kind and has it spread. Then discuss options such as surgery. You are basically right in my opinion. I have been working with the different kidney cancer medications that have been approved in the last two years, and although it has not been fun, I'm still here.
Good luck to your daughter,
Richard
allie 1,
Hold fast on the biopsy. My second time with kidney cancer the doc said a biopsy has a very high risk of spreading the RCC demon to any organs it touches on the way out. ALL urologists want to cut. The first time I had an 8cm tumor encapsulated in my left kidney and had a radical nephrectomy, that REALLY sucked. The second time was a 2.4cm in my right kidney and we did an RF Ablation. Wham, Bam, Thank You Ma'am on the golf course 3 days later. Talk to your daughter's urologist and tell him/her that you want to consult with radiology about RFA (may take some convincing, most urologists think RFA is black magic). But in my humble opinion.......that is the only way to go.
Mark