Still terrified

Mandy0414
Mandy0414 Member Posts: 6

Hi everyone,

 

thank you for all of advice!!! I go to the doctors on friday to get blood results.. I am still terrified!! I have also leaned that where I love In New Brunswick that there really isn't any drug coverage for kidney cancer because it is a rare cancer.. If this does turn out to be kidney cancer and it spreads I will never be able to afford the drugs to prolong mY life.. if I get this diagnosis this will be as death sentence to me!!! 

Comments

  • icemantoo
    icemantoo Member Posts: 3,361 Member
    Kidney Cancer

    Mandy,

     

    You haven't even been diagnosed with Kidney Cancer and already your imagining that it has spread and is incurable. Hold on there, You are not going to be diagnosed one way or the other until you have a CT scan or MRI. A good share of the time Kidney Cancer is cured by the surgery alone. Every time you have a headache you do not have an incurable brain tumor.

    Lets hold up worrying about the big C word until and unless there is something to worry about. If we have to cross that bridge we will and all of us on this board will help you.

     

    Icemantoo

     

  • garym
    garym Member Posts: 1,647
    Don't put the cart before the horse...

    Mandy,

    From your posts, so far, it is much more likely that you do not have any dreaded disease, your imagination is running wild.  As you know, Rcc is pretty rare and curable by surgery when caught early, what you have expressed could hardly be called symptoms especially of advanced disease.  That said, the fear an emotions you are feeling, though magnified, are normal and not easy to regain control of once unleashed.  Try working on the things you can control, concentrate on the things in life you most enjoy, force all of darkness to take a back seat to what matters most like family, friends, job, etc.  Little by little the darkness will fade away and you'll gain a better understanding of how to deal with whatever lies ahead.  My guess, there is good news ahead and you have nothing to worry about.

    Godspeed,

    Gary

  • Djinnie
    Djinnie Member Posts: 945 Member
    Still terrified

    Hello Mandy,

    Please don't get yourself in such a state, right now your imagination is not your best friend. In your first posting you said you took antibiotics for a UTI and that the symptoms cleared but there is still trace amounts of blood. This would not be unusual after the bladder has been irritated by a UTI.

    However having said that finding trace amounts of blood in the urine is relatively common, the average healthy person excretes red blood cells in their urine everyday. Your bladder could well be irritated because of the UTI or alternatively this is not unusual for you anyway and has come to light because of the infection. 

    My concern for you is that you seem totally convinced you have cancer, if and when you get the all clear from your doctor will you be convinced.

    Believe me it is hard enough to deal with your emotions when you have actually received a cancer diagnosis, why would you want to step into that space prematurely.

    Terror is a very extreme emotion, try to stay on the level of concern instead. Do you have any friends and family close by to help you keep a balance to this.

    Keep in touch with us on this site, and let us know how you are getting on. This is a brilliant place to come and there will always be someone on here to provide a sympathetic ear and offer advice, I have found it very helpful.

    Try to stay calm for now and take care.

    Best wishes,

    Djinnie

     

  • Alexandra
    Alexandra Member Posts: 1,308
    Dear Mandy

    As everybody else said - stay calm, get it checked out and you most likely don't have cancer.

    As a fellow Canadian, I just wanted to mention that your drug coverage depends on whether you are insured and not on what type of cancer or another disease you have.

    If you happen to be one of 150,000 uninsured residents of New Brunswick, your provincial government is working on the "Insurance Plan for Prescription Drugs for Uninsured New Brunswickers" http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/story/2012/12/18/nb-drug-plan-catastrophic-committee.html

    Best of luck to you,

  • MeMeJoy
    MeMeJoy Member Posts: 70
    Consider this?

    Hi Mandy -

    While I am not in a position to give any advice on any type of cancer - I don't even know if my "mass" is malignant yet - I am quite familiar with reoccurring UTIs and reoccurring "not a UTI but we have no idea what’s wrong so here are some antibiotics" so ...

    Since I was a teen I had what I thought were UTIs constantly - like 8-10 times a year. I would go to the doctor in pain and they would say nothing was wrong OR I would go for something routine and find that there was all kinds of stuff in my urine, blood, staph, etc. Antibiotics rarely seemed to do anything. Even if they said nothing showed up on the tests they would give me meds, call it a UTI and call it a day. This went on for over 10 years with multiple doctors.

    Finally I had a Gyno who looked at me and said, "I think you have interstitial cystitis - go see this Urologist" So I did and he was right. On top of the IC I also have what we jokingly refer to as a "staphy bladder" and constant kidney stones. 9 times out of 10, even with a cath. catch, I have staph in my urine and every CT or ultrasound I have ever had shows at least 1 or 2 kidney stones floating around somewhere (apparently the stone part isn't normal - who knew lol)

    Now, many moons later, I still have IC but I only have 1 or 2 mini-flares a year. And I chose to go the all natural route. I don't take any meds for the IC (there is no "fix" - only pain management and such that would cost around $200 a month - no thanks) I have diagnosed my triggers - No carbonated liquids for this gal, limit my coffee,etc. When I do have pain I pop a few AZOs and go on with the day. And since I don’t drink soda anymore I’m actually SAVING money :)

    I guess my point is, with your symptoms, there could be a range of issues going on - many of which may simply require lifestyle adjustments. Many things including stress, heat, exercise, and cold can cause protein in your urine. And if you have a lot of unexplained or unconfirmed UTIs you may want to look at other possibilities if all of your tests come back ok.

    But that’s just my 2 cents.

     

  • foxhd
    foxhd Member Posts: 3,181 Member
    MeMeJoy said:

    Consider this?

    Hi Mandy -

    While I am not in a position to give any advice on any type of cancer - I don't even know if my "mass" is malignant yet - I am quite familiar with reoccurring UTIs and reoccurring "not a UTI but we have no idea what’s wrong so here are some antibiotics" so ...

    Since I was a teen I had what I thought were UTIs constantly - like 8-10 times a year. I would go to the doctor in pain and they would say nothing was wrong OR I would go for something routine and find that there was all kinds of stuff in my urine, blood, staph, etc. Antibiotics rarely seemed to do anything. Even if they said nothing showed up on the tests they would give me meds, call it a UTI and call it a day. This went on for over 10 years with multiple doctors.

    Finally I had a Gyno who looked at me and said, "I think you have interstitial cystitis - go see this Urologist" So I did and he was right. On top of the IC I also have what we jokingly refer to as a "staphy bladder" and constant kidney stones. 9 times out of 10, even with a cath. catch, I have staph in my urine and every CT or ultrasound I have ever had shows at least 1 or 2 kidney stones floating around somewhere (apparently the stone part isn't normal - who knew lol)

    Now, many moons later, I still have IC but I only have 1 or 2 mini-flares a year. And I chose to go the all natural route. I don't take any meds for the IC (there is no "fix" - only pain management and such that would cost around $200 a month - no thanks) I have diagnosed my triggers - No carbonated liquids for this gal, limit my coffee,etc. When I do have pain I pop a few AZOs and go on with the day. And since I don’t drink soda anymore I’m actually SAVING money :)

    I guess my point is, with your symptoms, there could be a range of issues going on - many of which may simply require lifestyle adjustments. Many things including stress, heat, exercise, and cold can cause protein in your urine. And if you have a lot of unexplained or unconfirmed UTIs you may want to look at other possibilities if all of your tests come back ok.

    But that’s just my 2 cents.

     

    Mandy, there are always options. That means possibilities. Which is a positive. Stay here and find them. We do not encourage negative outcomes. Don't leave us. Read old posts. Not too old. We will help.

  • dhs1963
    dhs1963 Member Posts: 513
    It is not time to panic...

    Panicing does not help.  Until you have the result of a CT with Contrast, there is no reason to suspect cancer.  There are many things that can cause blood in the urine.

    And if it is cancer, and it is caught earlu, then you are in good shape.

     

    Fox and Texas have had so many tumors, I can't count that high (and I am a computational physicist).

     

  • foxhd
    foxhd Member Posts: 3,181 Member
    dhs1963 said:

    It is not time to panic...

    Panicing does not help.  Until you have the result of a CT with Contrast, there is no reason to suspect cancer.  There are many things that can cause blood in the urine.

    And if it is cancer, and it is caught earlu, then you are in good shape.

     

    Fox and Texas have had so many tumors, I can't count that high (and I am a computational physicist).

     

    so many tumors

    If I had to buy a seat for every tumor I've had, when flying, I'd be better off buying American Airlines!

  • Limelife50
    Limelife50 Member Posts: 476
    HMMMMMM!!!!

    Iceman is dead on no pun intended but where did you come up with kidney cancer why not bladder issues or whatever were you doing google searches and ended up at the CSN doorstep,well i hope this really turns out to be a false alarm.

  • Djinnie
    Djinnie Member Posts: 945 Member

    Hi Mandy,

    I hope all goes well with your results today and that your mind is put at rest. Let us know how you got on.

    Best wishes

    Djinnie x

  • Mandy0414
    Mandy0414 Member Posts: 6
    Update

    Hi

    Well I got the results of my blood work and my urine test back.. My blood work was great everything in my urine was great except I have 50 occult blood which I think is like +3. My doctor said that they consider anything over 500 excessive. He is sending me to a urologist bc of the blood. It it will probably take me a while to get into a urologist. Waiting list here in Canada are long. I gonna uturus and call today to see how long of a wait. I am still praying that this Is going to be a simple fix. My doctor keeps trying to reassure me that this is probably nothing to worry about. I am hoping that he iS right. I will keep u all updated as I slinging and will probably will post when I having a bad day which seems like everyday lately. I am really trying hard tfirst forget about it for now but, my wild imagination  creeps up on me a lot.. I have Been praying a lot lately!! I hope all is well with all of you. And thank you all for being there as I am struggling with this.  

     

  • Mandy0414
    Mandy0414 Member Posts: 6
    Djinnie said:

    Hi Mandy,

    I hope all goes well with your results today and that your mind is put at rest. Let us know how you got on.

    Best wishes

    Djinnie x

    Hi

    I did get my results rot my blood work and urine test.. Blood work came back all normal. My urine test came back normal except I have 50 occult blood in my urine. The doctor told me they consider anything over 500 excessive. He also gave me something for my nerves. I am not usually like this but I did do a google search and it scared me to no ends. And now I have myself totally convinced that there is something terribly wrong with me. I am just waiting for an appointment to the urologist. Which will probably be a while. There is always a waiting list here iN Canada. I want to thank you for being a listening ear to me. I will keep i you posted. I have been doing a lot of praying lately not just for me but ever everyone. 

     

  • Djinnie
    Djinnie Member Posts: 945 Member
    Hi Mandy.I am glad to hear

    Hi Mandy.

    I am glad to hear you got your results back on time. I see that your Doctor is sending you to a Urolgist for tests. I know it is difficult to accept any reassurance once you have an idea fixed in your mind. Your Doctor my be of the opinion that it is the UTI that is causing the blood in the urine but is acting in your best interests by getting a firm conclusion for you.

    I hope you don't have too long to wait for your appointment, if only for the sake of your sanity. It might be worthwhile you asking the Urology Dept if you can keep in touch with them just in case a cancellation comes up. Or they may keep a list of people who can come along at short notice should an appointment become free.

    In any event I hope get a result soon. In the meantime I would stay off medical sites for now, they are just feeding your fear.

     

    Keep strong and keep calm

     

     

    Djinnie