CT scans

Uncledenny
Uncledenny Member Posts: 13
edited March 2014 in Kidney Cancer #1
I had my left kidney removed 3 months ago. I'm terrified of CT scans because of the radiation. I had stage 2 cancer but a grade 4 tumor. Luckily the cancer was just localized to the kidney.( I'm a big believer in diet and exercise so maybe that helped the cancer from spreading). I eat lots of organic veggies,fruit, and some fish and chicken,all organic.I bike 100 miles a week back and forth to work. I have been told because I had a grade 4 tumor that there is a 50-50 chance the cancer will come back this year. Also if the cancer has spread it can spread to the lungs and brain.
I guess because I'm so health conscious the radiation from CT scans bothers me. Anyone can get cancer ,it does not discriminate. I have been very health conscious for the last 20 years,(I'm 49 now). The first 30 years of my life I was subjected to an enormous amount of second hand smoke constantly. This is a toxic world we live in. I'm a big believer in alternative healing methods and cancer prevention.
It just seems like every day we find out something new that causes cancer,and no matter how hard you try to stay healthy you still get cancer.
Well,problems are just opportunities in disguise. Maybe having kidney cancer was the best thing that ever happened to me.

Comments

  • icemantoo
    icemantoo Member Posts: 3,361 Member
    #2
    Better not wait
    Dear Uncledenny;

    With a diagnosis that the cancer has a 50% chance of returning this year and a concern that the CT scan may cause problems down the road, this is a no brainer. Go ahead and get the scans that are recommended. Sometimes the Doctor will substitute an ultra sound for one or more of the CT scans. As admorable as a healthy life style is you are playing with fire. Kidney Cancer which spreads causes a pemature departure from mother earth. A healthy life style which may reduce your 50% diagnosis a few percentage points is no substitute for the CT scan as needed and necessary. Discuss with your doctor your wishes about reducing the CT scans. Best regards, Icemantoo
  • donna_lee
    donna_lee Member Posts: 1,042 Member
    #3
    icemantoo said:

    Better not wait
    Dear Uncledenny;

    With a diagnosis that the cancer has a 50% chance of returning this year and a concern that the CT scan may cause problems down the road, this is a no brainer. Go ahead and get the scans that are recommended. Sometimes the Doctor will substitute an ultra sound for one or more of the CT scans. As admorable as a healthy life style is you are playing with fire. Kidney Cancer which spreads causes a pemature departure from mother earth. A healthy life style which may reduce your 50% diagnosis a few percentage points is no substitute for the CT scan as needed and necessary. Discuss with your doctor your wishes about reducing the CT scans. Best regards, Icemantoo

    CT's and catching a new mets
    Please go for a CT. With mine already metastacized at the first surgery, all the team felt a CT every 3 months was adequate. That was in May 06, with surgery in late June. Everything was OK in Sept, Dec., March. Oops, something was growing on the May 07 scan. More delicate surgery in July (the node was attached to the duodenum and the inferior vena cava).
    OK, it's recurred once...lets only do CT's every 6 months...11/07 and 5/08. Darn, it's back, this time a node attached to the aorta in the lower abdomen. So far my CT's have been good since the last cancer surgery in 08.
    Now, that doesn't count the multiple ankle xrays when I broke my ankle in 3 places and dislocated it; or the pneumonia, or the questionable CT's that were repeated 4 times in 5 months; or the mammograms, dx work on pancreatitis following surgery, bone scans, PET scan, ultrasounds, etc.
    What I'm trying to say, is do what the Doc recommends at this point in your effort to survive cancer. Then deal with the other stuff. After being "free" for 2 1/2 years, my oncologist is now going to have an abdominal ultrasound /chest x-ray at my next 6 mo check. If all looks OK, then a CT will be scheduled for the following 6 mo check and we'll rotate until 5 years clear.
    Kidney cancer is insidious. I had no symptoms whatsoever. What made me mention something to my Dr. on a yearly check, was caused by the mets to the liver and a complication with the gall bladder. Otherwise, I wouldn't be here to encourage you to follow the Docs recommendations.
    You're alive...now survive.
    Donna
  • Uncledenny
    Uncledenny Member Posts: 13
    #4
    donna_lee said:

    CT's and catching a new mets
    Please go for a CT. With mine already metastacized at the first surgery, all the team felt a CT every 3 months was adequate. That was in May 06, with surgery in late June. Everything was OK in Sept, Dec., March. Oops, something was growing on the May 07 scan. More delicate surgery in July (the node was attached to the duodenum and the inferior vena cava).
    OK, it's recurred once...lets only do CT's every 6 months...11/07 and 5/08. Darn, it's back, this time a node attached to the aorta in the lower abdomen. So far my CT's have been good since the last cancer surgery in 08.
    Now, that doesn't count the multiple ankle xrays when I broke my ankle in 3 places and dislocated it; or the pneumonia, or the questionable CT's that were repeated 4 times in 5 months; or the mammograms, dx work on pancreatitis following surgery, bone scans, PET scan, ultrasounds, etc.
    What I'm trying to say, is do what the Doc recommends at this point in your effort to survive cancer. Then deal with the other stuff. After being "free" for 2 1/2 years, my oncologist is now going to have an abdominal ultrasound /chest x-ray at my next 6 mo check. If all looks OK, then a CT will be scheduled for the following 6 mo check and we'll rotate until 5 years clear.
    Kidney cancer is insidious. I had no symptoms whatsoever. What made me mention something to my Dr. on a yearly check, was caused by the mets to the liver and a complication with the gall bladder. Otherwise, I wouldn't be here to encourage you to follow the Docs recommendations.
    You're alive...now survive.
    Donna

    Thanks Donna
    Wow,your a trouper. I too had no symptoms. I read a book titled, "Healing Cancer from the Inside Out" by Mike Anderson.,along with countless other books on cancer. I have read that because of the radiation, CT scans can put you at risk of getting cancer.How much radiation can the body tolerate? There are just as many articles that CT scans are safe as there are saying they are unsafe. Who do you believe? But bottom line is we live in a toxic world! I sometimes feel like i' m standing in front of a machine gun dodging bullets.
  • Uncledenny
    Uncledenny Member Posts: 13
    #5
    icemantoo said:

    Better not wait
    Dear Uncledenny;

    With a diagnosis that the cancer has a 50% chance of returning this year and a concern that the CT scan may cause problems down the road, this is a no brainer. Go ahead and get the scans that are recommended. Sometimes the Doctor will substitute an ultra sound for one or more of the CT scans. As admorable as a healthy life style is you are playing with fire. Kidney Cancer which spreads causes a pemature departure from mother earth. A healthy life style which may reduce your 50% diagnosis a few percentage points is no substitute for the CT scan as needed and necessary. Discuss with your doctor your wishes about reducing the CT scans. Best regards, Icemantoo

    Thanks for the reply
    There is so much information out there,how do you decipher through it all. I'm so afraid,so afraid of making a mistake.
  • lbinmsp
    lbinmsp Member Posts: 266
    #6
    Do the CT's
    Had I not had close and regular CT scans following my original RCC diagnosis, I'd probably not be here. It was the CT that found the metastasis to my lung - nearly 5 years later!
    I understand your concern over radiation - but - that danger is pretty slim compared to having the RCC metastasize and not discovered in time.
  • VeryAnxious
    VeryAnxious Member Posts: 67
    #7
    lbinmsp said:

    Do the CT's
    Had I not had close and regular CT scans following my original RCC diagnosis, I'd probably not be here. It was the CT that found the metastasis to my lung - nearly 5 years later!
    I understand your concern over radiation - but - that danger is pretty slim compared to having the RCC metastasize and not discovered in time.

    Hi. I agree it is a tough
    Hi. I agree it is a tough decision. I would, in your case, listen to your doctor and if he says to get the scan then get it. I had robotic surgery in October 2010 and had a stage 2 tumor removed. My surgeon wants to do a yearly CT scan and his reasoning in my case seems sound, but I still worry. I do see him every 3 months with kidney function tests and chest xrays. What I am saying is I guess we have to balance between what our doctor says and ask lots of questions, until you are satisfied. But it sounds like your doc wants you to have this. Good luck to you. I have learned not to let others make you feel that your uncertainty or questions or fears are unnatural.

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