May I ask how your kidney cancer was detected?

135

Comments

  • myboys2
    myboys2 Member Posts: 50
    Misdiagnosed for a year
    My son had a small bump on his head and was misdiagnosed for a year. He had a physical during that time and all well in blood and urine. BTW the last misdiag was an oncologist in Kansas City. So There can be no signs. So unless you get at least an ultrasound of the kidneys to see a mass, it can go undetected.
  • Beingbless
    Beingbless Member Posts: 46
    myboys2 said:

    Misdiagnosed for a year
    My son had a small bump on his head and was misdiagnosed for a year. He had a physical during that time and all well in blood and urine. BTW the last misdiag was an oncologist in Kansas City. So There can be no signs. So unless you get at least an ultrasound of the kidneys to see a mass, it can go undetected.

    How I found out
    Hi, I'm deeply sorry for the loss of your sister. I am considered myself a healthy and active lady. I exercise and eat right all my life. I did not have any pain or symptom prior to that. In this year Jan, after dinner, I started to have some blood in my urine, then, it followed by pain when I urined each time. That night, the blood in the urine was getting heavier till the early morning, it turned into dark red. I was freaked out and did not know what to do. I then took some pictures of it.

    I called the GP for appointment in the morning, I went in for urinalysis, but the urine was not showing anything issue even bacteria. The urine was pure clear, the doc asked me to go home and pay more attention to it. I did not understand it, I then showed him the pictures I took, he was shocked, and told me definitely need further investigation.

    I came back and started dialing urologists insistute of Michigan, and asked them to get me in ASAP to any board certified urologist. I was lucky to get in sooner appointment at the next day. The ultrasound came back with a mass detected at my right side, and I went through ctsan. Cts scan has then confirmed that it was a solid mass about 6cm. The doc told me and my husband that it was 85 percent cancer. I do not believe what I heard, my response was what was the next step.

    We then went for 2nd opinion, the answer was obvious. We then agreed to go with surgery. The mass was located close to the hilum, the doc told us it will be better to remove the whole kidney due to the mass was at the central location, this will also eliminate any reoccurrence if I go with partial removal. Therefore, everything moving so fast, in feb 22, I was in the surgery for laposcopic radical nephrectomy .

    Now, I am at the recovery phase. The whole experience was scarring but God has given us lots of peace and strengths to go through every single step of our lives. We Thank the Lord we discovered it at the early stage and the cancer was confined in one kidney but no other place else.

    My advice here is never take thing for granted, go for a check out and follow your infernal voice if you feel something is not right in your body. For my case, if I ignore my symptom, since it went away after one night, and my GP told me it was cleared,i will never find out what was exactly went wrong.

    May the Lord keeps everyone here with a good health. Hope this helps.
  • Texas_wedge
    Texas_wedge Member Posts: 2,798

    Another accidental find
    I was having leg pain and due to my breast cancer 3 yrs ago, my oncologist ordered an MRI of my spine. Showed no bone mets thank goodness, but caught a glimpse of an 8.5 mass on my left kidney. Never had any symptoms.

    With all these accidental discoveries it's led me to the ridiculous belief that most of the people out there are walking around with kidney tumors, but they just don't know it. Guess I'm still dilerious from my surgery 2 wks ago.

    Not knowing
    Good point, Dog Rescuer! I must admit I've never stopped to think and wonder how many (especially older people) actually have kidney tumours that have not yet been discovered. Everything we know indicates that there must be a hell of a lot of them.
  • SeanT
    SeanT Member Posts: 2

    How I found out
    Hi, I'm deeply sorry for the loss of your sister. I am considered myself a healthy and active lady. I exercise and eat right all my life. I did not have any pain or symptom prior to that. In this year Jan, after dinner, I started to have some blood in my urine, then, it followed by pain when I urined each time. That night, the blood in the urine was getting heavier till the early morning, it turned into dark red. I was freaked out and did not know what to do. I then took some pictures of it.

    I called the GP for appointment in the morning, I went in for urinalysis, but the urine was not showing anything issue even bacteria. The urine was pure clear, the doc asked me to go home and pay more attention to it. I did not understand it, I then showed him the pictures I took, he was shocked, and told me definitely need further investigation.

    I came back and started dialing urologists insistute of Michigan, and asked them to get me in ASAP to any board certified urologist. I was lucky to get in sooner appointment at the next day. The ultrasound came back with a mass detected at my right side, and I went through ctsan. Cts scan has then confirmed that it was a solid mass about 6cm. The doc told me and my husband that it was 85 percent cancer. I do not believe what I heard, my response was what was the next step.

    We then went for 2nd opinion, the answer was obvious. We then agreed to go with surgery. The mass was located close to the hilum, the doc told us it will be better to remove the whole kidney due to the mass was at the central location, this will also eliminate any reoccurrence if I go with partial removal. Therefore, everything moving so fast, in feb 22, I was in the surgery for laposcopic radical nephrectomy .

    Now, I am at the recovery phase. The whole experience was scarring but God has given us lots of peace and strengths to go through every single step of our lives. We Thank the Lord we discovered it at the early stage and the cancer was confined in one kidney but no other place else.

    My advice here is never take thing for granted, go for a check out and follow your infernal voice if you feel something is not right in your body. For my case, if I ignore my symptom, since it went away after one night, and my GP told me it was cleared,i will never find out what was exactly went wrong.

    May the Lord keeps everyone here with a good health. Hope this helps.

    MY INTRODUCTION TO CANCER
    I am fairly new to the cancer scene and have had to learn a heck of alot in a short amount of time. I am a 46 year old married man in Calgary Canada who has a 15 year old son and a 10 year old heating and air-conditioning business.

    Back in October of 2011, I began to notice that I was favoring my right leg and that it hurt when I walked. When the condition didn't get any better after a few weeks and I had to start rely using crutches to get around, I started going to physio therapy as I was convinced it was related to a sciatic nerve issue I have always had. Physio did help a little, but only in small doses and I had only gone for my three sessions when on the morning of December 15, 2011, my crutch slipped slightly on ice and I felt and hear a large CRACK sound from my leg. I didn"t fall and there was no pain except when I tried to move. Eventually my wife and son called in EMS who promptly drugged me up and took me to the hospital with a "possible dislocated hip". I spent a drug induced morning and afternoon undergoing scans and xrays - a doctor then came in and told me that I had indeed fractured my right hip. He went on to say that since it was extremely rare for a man ofd my age to do that WITHOUT falling, they wanted to do more tests to see why it occurred. I then went for a CT scan and later that night, a doctor awoke me in the hopsital and told me the news that changed my life......the cause of my hip injury was a small cyst that had weakened the ball joint of my hip so much, it snapped when I slipped. The CT scan confirmed that I had a 9.5 cm tumor on my left kidney - further tests revealed that the cyst was indeed cancerous and I was diagnosed a Stage 4 renal kidney cancer victim. Of course, it was a total shock...I cried and cried over it for a week or two. I underwent hip replacement surgery on December 18, 2011 and immediately went into rehab mode for that. My oncologist told me that I was extremely lucky in that NO other tumors or signs of cancer were found anywhere else in my body. He recommended that the entire kidney and surrounding lymph nodes be removed, a procedure I underwent on February 8th, 2012. We just got the pathology report back and it showed no evidence of cancer in any of the surrounding lymph nodes, something both doctors couldn't believe and are extremely optomistic about. So, here I sit, still trying to slowly heal from both procedures....the kidney removal was alot bigger surgery than I thought. I am recovering slowly but it still feels like I took a baseball bat to the gut - I pray that will eventually go away. My next step is a CT scan on April 17, 2012 at which time they will continue to monitor me for further cysts or tumors. Until that point, my oncologist says there is no need for any drugs. He has told me I have a 30 - 40% chance of cancer never coming back again and that, in cases like mine, that is an extremely lucky position to be in. My wife and son have been great and have kept me strong and able to accept what has happened to me. No longer do I question WHY this happened to me.......I treat it as something I have to take care of just like painting the house or taking out the garbage. I refuse to let cancer rule my life - I cant worry about the unknown, so why not try and enjoy life while I can. It has taken a few months but I am truly at a point in my life where I can focus on what is important and what is in front of me........something I think all of us take for granted at times in our busy lives. I have always lived my life doing what I wanted to do .... and I can truly say that I am NOT afraid of dying, but I AM afraid of NOT LIVING. I owe it to myself, my friends and family, as well as though of you who are suffering from cancer or know someone who is, to not take life for granted and to show cancer it may cause me to bend but it wlll never break me. I hope that any of you who read this and are inspired will share your stories with me - I would love to hear from you. Peace , Love and Strength to all of you.
  • Texas_wedge
    Texas_wedge Member Posts: 2,798
    SeanT said:

    MY INTRODUCTION TO CANCER
    I am fairly new to the cancer scene and have had to learn a heck of alot in a short amount of time. I am a 46 year old married man in Calgary Canada who has a 15 year old son and a 10 year old heating and air-conditioning business.

    Back in October of 2011, I began to notice that I was favoring my right leg and that it hurt when I walked. When the condition didn't get any better after a few weeks and I had to start rely using crutches to get around, I started going to physio therapy as I was convinced it was related to a sciatic nerve issue I have always had. Physio did help a little, but only in small doses and I had only gone for my three sessions when on the morning of December 15, 2011, my crutch slipped slightly on ice and I felt and hear a large CRACK sound from my leg. I didn"t fall and there was no pain except when I tried to move. Eventually my wife and son called in EMS who promptly drugged me up and took me to the hospital with a "possible dislocated hip". I spent a drug induced morning and afternoon undergoing scans and xrays - a doctor then came in and told me that I had indeed fractured my right hip. He went on to say that since it was extremely rare for a man ofd my age to do that WITHOUT falling, they wanted to do more tests to see why it occurred. I then went for a CT scan and later that night, a doctor awoke me in the hopsital and told me the news that changed my life......the cause of my hip injury was a small cyst that had weakened the ball joint of my hip so much, it snapped when I slipped. The CT scan confirmed that I had a 9.5 cm tumor on my left kidney - further tests revealed that the cyst was indeed cancerous and I was diagnosed a Stage 4 renal kidney cancer victim. Of course, it was a total shock...I cried and cried over it for a week or two. I underwent hip replacement surgery on December 18, 2011 and immediately went into rehab mode for that. My oncologist told me that I was extremely lucky in that NO other tumors or signs of cancer were found anywhere else in my body. He recommended that the entire kidney and surrounding lymph nodes be removed, a procedure I underwent on February 8th, 2012. We just got the pathology report back and it showed no evidence of cancer in any of the surrounding lymph nodes, something both doctors couldn't believe and are extremely optomistic about. So, here I sit, still trying to slowly heal from both procedures....the kidney removal was alot bigger surgery than I thought. I am recovering slowly but it still feels like I took a baseball bat to the gut - I pray that will eventually go away. My next step is a CT scan on April 17, 2012 at which time they will continue to monitor me for further cysts or tumors. Until that point, my oncologist says there is no need for any drugs. He has told me I have a 30 - 40% chance of cancer never coming back again and that, in cases like mine, that is an extremely lucky position to be in. My wife and son have been great and have kept me strong and able to accept what has happened to me. No longer do I question WHY this happened to me.......I treat it as something I have to take care of just like painting the house or taking out the garbage. I refuse to let cancer rule my life - I cant worry about the unknown, so why not try and enjoy life while I can. It has taken a few months but I am truly at a point in my life where I can focus on what is important and what is in front of me........something I think all of us take for granted at times in our busy lives. I have always lived my life doing what I wanted to do .... and I can truly say that I am NOT afraid of dying, but I AM afraid of NOT LIVING. I owe it to myself, my friends and family, as well as though of you who are suffering from cancer or know someone who is, to not take life for granted and to show cancer it may cause me to bend but it wlll never break me. I hope that any of you who read this and are inspired will share your stories with me - I would love to hear from you. Peace , Love and Strength to all of you.

    Some debut!
    That's one of the best forum joining messages I've ever seen.

    Welcome Sean and congratulations on your successes both in coping with disease and recovery and in "getting it". Even with the highest intelligence it can be difficult to get to the point you have. You've made the most important discoveries and you've expressed them very clearly:
    "No longer do I question WHY this happened to me" and "I am NOT afraid of dying, but I AM afraid of NOT LIVING. I owe it to myself, my friends and family."
    This is so often very hard won insight. There is a very poignant posting on the Sarcoma forum where the poster said with feeling:
    "I think I lost a lot of myself because I let the cancer define who I was, but cancer is just a diagnosis, not a death sentence! Don't let it beat you, find so mething you love and hang on to it! Don't let it define who you are!"
    You're a valuable addition to the team here - thanks for joining us!
  • alice124
    alice124 Member Posts: 896 Member
    SeanT said:

    MY INTRODUCTION TO CANCER
    I am fairly new to the cancer scene and have had to learn a heck of alot in a short amount of time. I am a 46 year old married man in Calgary Canada who has a 15 year old son and a 10 year old heating and air-conditioning business.

    Back in October of 2011, I began to notice that I was favoring my right leg and that it hurt when I walked. When the condition didn't get any better after a few weeks and I had to start rely using crutches to get around, I started going to physio therapy as I was convinced it was related to a sciatic nerve issue I have always had. Physio did help a little, but only in small doses and I had only gone for my three sessions when on the morning of December 15, 2011, my crutch slipped slightly on ice and I felt and hear a large CRACK sound from my leg. I didn"t fall and there was no pain except when I tried to move. Eventually my wife and son called in EMS who promptly drugged me up and took me to the hospital with a "possible dislocated hip". I spent a drug induced morning and afternoon undergoing scans and xrays - a doctor then came in and told me that I had indeed fractured my right hip. He went on to say that since it was extremely rare for a man ofd my age to do that WITHOUT falling, they wanted to do more tests to see why it occurred. I then went for a CT scan and later that night, a doctor awoke me in the hopsital and told me the news that changed my life......the cause of my hip injury was a small cyst that had weakened the ball joint of my hip so much, it snapped when I slipped. The CT scan confirmed that I had a 9.5 cm tumor on my left kidney - further tests revealed that the cyst was indeed cancerous and I was diagnosed a Stage 4 renal kidney cancer victim. Of course, it was a total shock...I cried and cried over it for a week or two. I underwent hip replacement surgery on December 18, 2011 and immediately went into rehab mode for that. My oncologist told me that I was extremely lucky in that NO other tumors or signs of cancer were found anywhere else in my body. He recommended that the entire kidney and surrounding lymph nodes be removed, a procedure I underwent on February 8th, 2012. We just got the pathology report back and it showed no evidence of cancer in any of the surrounding lymph nodes, something both doctors couldn't believe and are extremely optomistic about. So, here I sit, still trying to slowly heal from both procedures....the kidney removal was alot bigger surgery than I thought. I am recovering slowly but it still feels like I took a baseball bat to the gut - I pray that will eventually go away. My next step is a CT scan on April 17, 2012 at which time they will continue to monitor me for further cysts or tumors. Until that point, my oncologist says there is no need for any drugs. He has told me I have a 30 - 40% chance of cancer never coming back again and that, in cases like mine, that is an extremely lucky position to be in. My wife and son have been great and have kept me strong and able to accept what has happened to me. No longer do I question WHY this happened to me.......I treat it as something I have to take care of just like painting the house or taking out the garbage. I refuse to let cancer rule my life - I cant worry about the unknown, so why not try and enjoy life while I can. It has taken a few months but I am truly at a point in my life where I can focus on what is important and what is in front of me........something I think all of us take for granted at times in our busy lives. I have always lived my life doing what I wanted to do .... and I can truly say that I am NOT afraid of dying, but I AM afraid of NOT LIVING. I owe it to myself, my friends and family, as well as though of you who are suffering from cancer or know someone who is, to not take life for granted and to show cancer it may cause me to bend but it wlll never break me. I hope that any of you who read this and are inspired will share your stories with me - I would love to hear from you. Peace , Love and Strength to all of you.

    your story
    Great story of stength, determination, and awakening. I'll be thinking of you on the 17th. Thank you for sharing; you are inspirational.
  • garym
    garym Member Posts: 1,647
    SeanT said:

    MY INTRODUCTION TO CANCER
    I am fairly new to the cancer scene and have had to learn a heck of alot in a short amount of time. I am a 46 year old married man in Calgary Canada who has a 15 year old son and a 10 year old heating and air-conditioning business.

    Back in October of 2011, I began to notice that I was favoring my right leg and that it hurt when I walked. When the condition didn't get any better after a few weeks and I had to start rely using crutches to get around, I started going to physio therapy as I was convinced it was related to a sciatic nerve issue I have always had. Physio did help a little, but only in small doses and I had only gone for my three sessions when on the morning of December 15, 2011, my crutch slipped slightly on ice and I felt and hear a large CRACK sound from my leg. I didn"t fall and there was no pain except when I tried to move. Eventually my wife and son called in EMS who promptly drugged me up and took me to the hospital with a "possible dislocated hip". I spent a drug induced morning and afternoon undergoing scans and xrays - a doctor then came in and told me that I had indeed fractured my right hip. He went on to say that since it was extremely rare for a man ofd my age to do that WITHOUT falling, they wanted to do more tests to see why it occurred. I then went for a CT scan and later that night, a doctor awoke me in the hopsital and told me the news that changed my life......the cause of my hip injury was a small cyst that had weakened the ball joint of my hip so much, it snapped when I slipped. The CT scan confirmed that I had a 9.5 cm tumor on my left kidney - further tests revealed that the cyst was indeed cancerous and I was diagnosed a Stage 4 renal kidney cancer victim. Of course, it was a total shock...I cried and cried over it for a week or two. I underwent hip replacement surgery on December 18, 2011 and immediately went into rehab mode for that. My oncologist told me that I was extremely lucky in that NO other tumors or signs of cancer were found anywhere else in my body. He recommended that the entire kidney and surrounding lymph nodes be removed, a procedure I underwent on February 8th, 2012. We just got the pathology report back and it showed no evidence of cancer in any of the surrounding lymph nodes, something both doctors couldn't believe and are extremely optomistic about. So, here I sit, still trying to slowly heal from both procedures....the kidney removal was alot bigger surgery than I thought. I am recovering slowly but it still feels like I took a baseball bat to the gut - I pray that will eventually go away. My next step is a CT scan on April 17, 2012 at which time they will continue to monitor me for further cysts or tumors. Until that point, my oncologist says there is no need for any drugs. He has told me I have a 30 - 40% chance of cancer never coming back again and that, in cases like mine, that is an extremely lucky position to be in. My wife and son have been great and have kept me strong and able to accept what has happened to me. No longer do I question WHY this happened to me.......I treat it as something I have to take care of just like painting the house or taking out the garbage. I refuse to let cancer rule my life - I cant worry about the unknown, so why not try and enjoy life while I can. It has taken a few months but I am truly at a point in my life where I can focus on what is important and what is in front of me........something I think all of us take for granted at times in our busy lives. I have always lived my life doing what I wanted to do .... and I can truly say that I am NOT afraid of dying, but I AM afraid of NOT LIVING. I owe it to myself, my friends and family, as well as though of you who are suffering from cancer or know someone who is, to not take life for granted and to show cancer it may cause me to bend but it wlll never break me. I hope that any of you who read this and are inspired will share your stories with me - I would love to hear from you. Peace , Love and Strength to all of you.

    Welcome to the club...
    Hi Sean,

    That's quite an introduction, spend a little time on the various threads here and you will learn much about this group and, more importantly, about RCC. It sounds like you are maintaining a positive attitude and approach to the battle, that is one of the most important aspects of the fight. There are survivors here who's original prognosis was far worse than yours so try not to worry about the odds. "IF" it does come back there are effective treatment options available that did not exist a short time ago and there are more in the works, we all pray that a cure is on the horizon. Keep us posted.

    Good luck and Godspeed,

    Gary
  • PK_Chicago
    PK_Chicago Member Posts: 58
    Detection...
    My 14.5 EVCRCC mass was found during a CT scan looking at my colon. I had no symptoms of any kind related to the mass. I had it removed in January - along with a resection of my colon. It was my first week back a work this week.

    A pretty big shocker!!!
  • Texas_wedge
    Texas_wedge Member Posts: 2,798

    Detection...
    My 14.5 EVCRCC mass was found during a CT scan looking at my colon. I had no symptoms of any kind related to the mass. I had it removed in January - along with a resection of my colon. It was my first week back a work this week.

    A pretty big shocker!!!

    EVCRCC
    PK, that was a pretty big tumour to be asymptomatic and that was a lot of surgery. However, you may have seen this 2011 report of two cases in India, where the outcome was very encouraging - the Abstract says this:

    "Chromophobe renal cell carcinoma is a relatively uncommon variant of renal cell carcinoma. Eosinophilic variant of chromophobe renal cell carcinoma (EVCRCC) is still less frequent and is composed predominantly of small to medium-sized cells with abundant granular eosinophilic cytoplasm. We report two cases of EVCRCC, with one having a rare association of right atrial myxoma. We present these cases, due to the rarity of EVCRCC and an unusual association of right atrial myxoma in one of them. Both patients recovered well after surgery, with no recurrence or metastasis after 2 years of follow-up."
  • ejones_pa
    ejones_pa Member Posts: 8

    EVCRCC
    PK, that was a pretty big tumour to be asymptomatic and that was a lot of surgery. However, you may have seen this 2011 report of two cases in India, where the outcome was very encouraging - the Abstract says this:

    "Chromophobe renal cell carcinoma is a relatively uncommon variant of renal cell carcinoma. Eosinophilic variant of chromophobe renal cell carcinoma (EVCRCC) is still less frequent and is composed predominantly of small to medium-sized cells with abundant granular eosinophilic cytoplasm. We report two cases of EVCRCC, with one having a rare association of right atrial myxoma. We present these cases, due to the rarity of EVCRCC and an unusual association of right atrial myxoma in one of them. Both patients recovered well after surgery, with no recurrence or metastasis after 2 years of follow-up."

    Confirmed Kidney Cancer Feb 2, 2012
    My only sypmtom was blood in urine, called dr on Thursday and was in on Monday, sent for kidney scan, perhaps kidney stones, only to find that was not the case. Ultrasound found suspicious mass in right kidney. Dr said 90% sure is was cancer. Devastating to hear. CT scan confirmed 11cm tumor on/within right kidney Feb, 2, 2012, open radical nephrectomy Feb 24, 2012. Sugery went well, no lymph nodes involved and CT shows no metastisis anywhere else. But they did say there were microscopic cells in the renal vein that was removed. I am having a tough time understanding how to treat a microscopic cell or cells? 1st oncologist offers 3 options, do nothing, clinical trial or treat it, but I still dont know what they will treat? 2nd opinion today....how do i know if i am asking the right questions? any advice? Anyone else had the pathology report state microscopic cells? So much to learn ! So much to live for, like all of you, 51 and want 50 more ! Thank you !
  • MikeK703
    MikeK703 Member Posts: 235
    ejones_pa said:

    Confirmed Kidney Cancer Feb 2, 2012
    My only sypmtom was blood in urine, called dr on Thursday and was in on Monday, sent for kidney scan, perhaps kidney stones, only to find that was not the case. Ultrasound found suspicious mass in right kidney. Dr said 90% sure is was cancer. Devastating to hear. CT scan confirmed 11cm tumor on/within right kidney Feb, 2, 2012, open radical nephrectomy Feb 24, 2012. Sugery went well, no lymph nodes involved and CT shows no metastisis anywhere else. But they did say there were microscopic cells in the renal vein that was removed. I am having a tough time understanding how to treat a microscopic cell or cells? 1st oncologist offers 3 options, do nothing, clinical trial or treat it, but I still dont know what they will treat? 2nd opinion today....how do i know if i am asking the right questions? any advice? Anyone else had the pathology report state microscopic cells? So much to learn ! So much to live for, like all of you, 51 and want 50 more ! Thank you !

    Hi,
    I am not an expert and don't want to speak incorrectly on something so important, and hopefully somebody here who knows more about these kinds of results will respond. What's your stage? Sounds like it would be Stage 3. And the Furhman grade? Grades 1 - 4, with 4 being the worst and 1 being the best (if we can use such a word as "best"). Although cancer wasn't found in the lymph nodes, the cells found in the renal vein indicate that you are at greater risk for metatasis than, say, a Stage 1 or Stage 2. In other words it COULD have spread elsewhere via the renal vein, but there is no evidence that it has. Microscopic cells that escaped the renal vein would eventually grow and become obvious. I would think the option of doing nothing would be to spare you the side effects of the drugs if there is no evidence that it has spread. The drugs option (a trial drug or one that is more commonly used) would work on the assumption that the cells have spread and try to kill them before they grow and spread elsewhere. This is my layman's understanding that comes primarily from reading a lot of stuff here and other places online about kidney cancer. I could be wrong. Your oncologist should be able to explain it to your satisfaction. Your treatment or "do nothing" option will be a decision that you will have to make after consulting with your oncologist.
    Wishing you the best,
    Mike
  • garym
    garym Member Posts: 1,647
    ejones_pa said:

    Confirmed Kidney Cancer Feb 2, 2012
    My only sypmtom was blood in urine, called dr on Thursday and was in on Monday, sent for kidney scan, perhaps kidney stones, only to find that was not the case. Ultrasound found suspicious mass in right kidney. Dr said 90% sure is was cancer. Devastating to hear. CT scan confirmed 11cm tumor on/within right kidney Feb, 2, 2012, open radical nephrectomy Feb 24, 2012. Sugery went well, no lymph nodes involved and CT shows no metastisis anywhere else. But they did say there were microscopic cells in the renal vein that was removed. I am having a tough time understanding how to treat a microscopic cell or cells? 1st oncologist offers 3 options, do nothing, clinical trial or treat it, but I still dont know what they will treat? 2nd opinion today....how do i know if i am asking the right questions? any advice? Anyone else had the pathology report state microscopic cells? So much to learn ! So much to live for, like all of you, 51 and want 50 more ! Thank you !

    Welcome to the club...
    ejones,

    I'm sorry to meet you under these circumstances, but you have come to the right place for support and help as you deal with RCC. We have all been on the roller coaster ride of fear, emotion, and WTF, you are not alone and what you are experiencing is part of the process. I don't have personal experience with vascular invasion, there are others here who do and you will probably hear from them. There is also a vascular invasion thread that could be of help. If you could provide a bit more information from your path report like type, stage, and grade it would be helpful as the group lends a hand.

    Gary
  • MikeK703
    MikeK703 Member Posts: 235
    garym said:

    Welcome to the club...
    ejones,

    I'm sorry to meet you under these circumstances, but you have come to the right place for support and help as you deal with RCC. We have all been on the roller coaster ride of fear, emotion, and WTF, you are not alone and what you are experiencing is part of the process. I don't have personal experience with vascular invasion, there are others here who do and you will probably hear from them. There is also a vascular invasion thread that could be of help. If you could provide a bit more information from your path report like type, stage, and grade it would be helpful as the group lends a hand.

    Gary

    Vascular Invasion
    Hi Gary and Ejones,
    I'm still pretty much unclear about whether or not "vascular space" and "renal vein" invasions are one and the same. Raj's situation was very similar to mine regarding size and grade. He said he had "renal vein" invasion and was put at Stage 3. My pathology report indicated "vascular space invasion" and I was put in Stage 1 and told no treatment was necessary. I really don't know the difference. That's why I asked ejones about his Stage. I assumed it was Stage 3 because treatment was an option. It's worrisome at times to attempt to explain things here because of the possibility that we could be wrong and are just passing on our misinformation.
    Everybody, don't be afraid to ask your doctor questions. Yet sometimes that doesn't help much as you can see from my situation after asking about vascular space invasion two times already and still being uncertain about the exact meaning. I only know he has given me a >90% chance of survival. When I don't understand something and find myself worrying aboout it, I have to force myself to remember this and be grateful.
    Regards,
    Mike
  • ejones_pa
    ejones_pa Member Posts: 8
    garym said:

    Welcome to the club...
    ejones,

    I'm sorry to meet you under these circumstances, but you have come to the right place for support and help as you deal with RCC. We have all been on the roller coaster ride of fear, emotion, and WTF, you are not alone and what you are experiencing is part of the process. I don't have personal experience with vascular invasion, there are others here who do and you will probably hear from them. There is also a vascular invasion thread that could be of help. If you could provide a bit more information from your path report like type, stage, and grade it would be helpful as the group lends a hand.

    Gary

    Mike and Gary
    Mike and Gary, thank you for your responses. My husband and I are in quite a tailspin right now as I am sure you understand. There is so much to take in and try to evaluate. I am 51, female, and Stage 3, (T3 NO NX or is it MX) Still greek to me. I will have to have the oncologist today write this down. My surgeon who I saw yesterday is also anxious to hear what my second opinion oncologist has to say. My surgeon was confident that the cancer was contained within my kidney, no cancer cells in the lymph nodes and was quite surprised that there was microscopic cells in the renal vein that he removed. He stated that tumors can grow inside the vein but this was not the case. Am I fooling myself thinking that removing the kidney was enough? I see that others on here have definate types of cancer, including the type, stage and grade. I will ask the doctor today to better explain this to me. As you said fear, emotion and plain old WTF ! Thanks will keep you posted and will follow up on the vascular invasion thread.
  • MikeK703
    MikeK703 Member Posts: 235
    ejones_pa said:

    Mike and Gary
    Mike and Gary, thank you for your responses. My husband and I are in quite a tailspin right now as I am sure you understand. There is so much to take in and try to evaluate. I am 51, female, and Stage 3, (T3 NO NX or is it MX) Still greek to me. I will have to have the oncologist today write this down. My surgeon who I saw yesterday is also anxious to hear what my second opinion oncologist has to say. My surgeon was confident that the cancer was contained within my kidney, no cancer cells in the lymph nodes and was quite surprised that there was microscopic cells in the renal vein that he removed. He stated that tumors can grow inside the vein but this was not the case. Am I fooling myself thinking that removing the kidney was enough? I see that others on here have definate types of cancer, including the type, stage and grade. I will ask the doctor today to better explain this to me. As you said fear, emotion and plain old WTF ! Thanks will keep you posted and will follow up on the vascular invasion thread.

    Pathology report
    ejones,

    Here is a web page that might help with understanding the pathology report:
    http://www.cancer.net/patient/Cancer+Types/Kidney+Cancer?sectionTitle=Staging With Illustrations

    Mike
  • garym
    garym Member Posts: 1,647
    MikeK703 said:

    Vascular Invasion
    Hi Gary and Ejones,
    I'm still pretty much unclear about whether or not "vascular space" and "renal vein" invasions are one and the same. Raj's situation was very similar to mine regarding size and grade. He said he had "renal vein" invasion and was put at Stage 3. My pathology report indicated "vascular space invasion" and I was put in Stage 1 and told no treatment was necessary. I really don't know the difference. That's why I asked ejones about his Stage. I assumed it was Stage 3 because treatment was an option. It's worrisome at times to attempt to explain things here because of the possibility that we could be wrong and are just passing on our misinformation.
    Everybody, don't be afraid to ask your doctor questions. Yet sometimes that doesn't help much as you can see from my situation after asking about vascular space invasion two times already and still being uncertain about the exact meaning. I only know he has given me a >90% chance of survival. When I don't understand something and find myself worrying aboout it, I have to force myself to remember this and be grateful.
    Regards,
    Mike

    Invasion...
    Hi Mike,

    I know what you mean, I feel funny saying anything when the only space invaders I'm familiar with was the arcade game from about 100 years ago. Sometimes we just have to rely on what the "experts" tell us.

    Gary
  • pookiesue
    pookiesue Member Posts: 1
    cancer.
    my doctor found a spot on my RIGHT kidney,& blood in my urine so, she sent me to a surgeon .He said, I would rather not operate at this time because its not that big & im ,not sure it is cancer so lets wait 4 months for another test to see if it has grown.I told him my kidneys hurt so bad. He said there is no pain in the kidneys. I guess Ill have to wait & see in 4 months.
  • Texas_wedge
    Texas_wedge Member Posts: 2,798
    pookiesue said:

    cancer.
    my doctor found a spot on my RIGHT kidney,& blood in my urine so, she sent me to a surgeon .He said, I would rather not operate at this time because its not that big & im ,not sure it is cancer so lets wait 4 months for another test to see if it has grown.I told him my kidneys hurt so bad. He said there is no pain in the kidneys. I guess Ill have to wait & see in 4 months.

    Surveillance
    The advice you've been given is sound - wait and watch and don't do anything prematurely - this is now accepted as the best approach with small tumours.

    When did you start getting the pain that you feel to be in the kidney area? It will probably go away spontaneously. If not, then you'd better have it explored in case there's something else that needs attention.
  • Texas_wedge
    Texas_wedge Member Posts: 2,798

    Surveillance
    The advice you've been given is sound - wait and watch and don't do anything prematurely - this is now accepted as the best approach with small tumours.

    When did you start getting the pain that you feel to be in the kidney area? It will probably go away spontaneously. If not, then you'd better have it explored in case there's something else that needs attention.

    SeanT
    I wonder what has become of Sean who posted such an inspirational message on 16th March. Does anyone have any info? He deserves the best possible outcome and it would be so good to hear that he's doing well. He was due a CT scan on 17th April.
  • garym
    garym Member Posts: 1,647
    pookiesue said:

    cancer.
    my doctor found a spot on my RIGHT kidney,& blood in my urine so, she sent me to a surgeon .He said, I would rather not operate at this time because its not that big & im ,not sure it is cancer so lets wait 4 months for another test to see if it has grown.I told him my kidneys hurt so bad. He said there is no pain in the kidneys. I guess Ill have to wait & see in 4 months.

    Welcome...
    Hi pookie,

    Did the doc mention size at this stage? What were the blood in your urine and pain attributed to? Were kidney stones mentioned or possibly a UTI? Waiting is sound advice, but if you have unanswered questions use the time to get them answered.

    Good luck and Godspeed,

    Gary