Just found out I have Kidney cancer

lovinlife23

garym said:

Yes, its normal...
ll23,

Good to hear that you are on track for a speedy recovery.

Its been 2-1/2 years for me and I have not seen an oncologist which has worked fine for me, I had an excellent pathology and trust my urologist, but I would advise that you do whatever will make you feel the best mentally and emotionally. If a consult will aid you in a return to "normal" then go for it, a second opinion is not a bad thing and will likely bolster your resolve.

Hang in there,

Gary

new diet with one kidney?
Thanks for the input. I will talk to my surgeon. Also wanted to ask you all, I asked my surgeon what kind of diet I need now due to only having one kidney and he told me to stay away from protein supplements, such as protein powders and protein bars. He also told me that I am only able to take tylenol now as my over the counter choice of meds. This is a little confusing to me. I've been told by some people who have had various types of cancer that they are only supposed to use aleve or ibuprofen now and NO tylenol. Even my grandmother who had bone cancer wasn't supposed to take tylenol. Have any of you been told the same thing? I'm thinking maybe its because it is difficult for one kidney to filter out all the other medications, tylenol being the easiest to filter out. Any input or info on what you all were told by your doctors to avoid with only one kidney?

DDBurkhardt

garym said:

Post surgery...
Hi Deb,

Most report a return to physical normalcy at around 6 weeks give or take and it sounds like you are about on schedule. At around the 2 week mark things seem to begin improving quickly and your need of meds should be subsiding. Walking and drinking plenty of water help speed the process along.

Mentally you may never feel exactly like yourself again, but in time you will settle in to a "new normal" where your perspective on life and what really matters has changed most likely for the better. Its been 2-1/2 years for me and I saw an old co-worker the other day whom I hadn't seen in 15 years or so. We talked for a bit and he said "I don't remember you being so happy before, what happened?", it is one of the good things that can come from all of this.

Hang in there,

Gary

Feeling Differen
Hi Gary,

Thanks for offering some insight on how I'm supposed to feel. I know that family and friends only want the best for you, but sometimes they want to give you advice on something they know nothing about. I feel like I'm where I'm supposed to be physically, but I don't know if I'll ever feel the same mentally. You seem to be in a very good place and hopefully I'll feel that way before too long. I'm still scared that I'll end up w/renal cancer in my "good" kidney and I can't seem to shake that feeling. How long after your surgery did you begin to feel normal again?

Thanks

Deb

Jeramiahs Mimi

lovinlife23 said:

new diet with one kidney?
Thanks for the input. I will talk to my surgeon. Also wanted to ask you all, I asked my surgeon what kind of diet I need now due to only having one kidney and he told me to stay away from protein supplements, such as protein powders and protein bars. He also told me that I am only able to take tylenol now as my over the counter choice of meds. This is a little confusing to me. I've been told by some people who have had various types of cancer that they are only supposed to use aleve or ibuprofen now and NO tylenol. Even my grandmother who had bone cancer wasn't supposed to take tylenol. Have any of you been told the same thing? I'm thinking maybe its because it is difficult for one kidney to filter out all the other medications, tylenol being the easiest to filter out. Any input or info on what you all were told by your doctors to avoid with only one kidney?

Nettle leaf
I am not going to comment on the tylenol issues, however, I would like to see you taking Nettle leaf. Do some research.. it's good for the kidney(s)!

Jeramiah's Mimi










Advocates to families of cancer and catastrophic illness.
www.JeramiahsMiracleFoundation.org
www.JMFcares.org

garym

DDBurkhardt said:

Feeling Differen
Hi Gary,

Thanks for offering some insight on how I'm supposed to feel. I know that family and friends only want the best for you, but sometimes they want to give you advice on something they know nothing about. I feel like I'm where I'm supposed to be physically, but I don't know if I'll ever feel the same mentally. You seem to be in a very good place and hopefully I'll feel that way before too long. I'm still scared that I'll end up w/renal cancer in my "good" kidney and I can't seem to shake that feeling. How long after your surgery did you begin to feel normal again?

Thanks

Deb

"Normal"...
Hi Deb,

My return to "normal" was quite a bit different than most so its hard to put a time frame on it that will help you much. Prior to my dx and surgery I had known 7 people including my father-in-law that did not survive RCC which caused a bad bout of survivor's guilt. At around the time of my first follow-up scan (6 mos.) I returned here for support, connecting with other survivors and helping people that are new to all of this turned me around and got me headed in a positive direction, it took about a year for me all together.

I believe that all things happen for a reason and that all things work together for good, that's probably why the fear of it coming back did not hit me very hard, I never once asked why me or how did this happen. We are all wired differently and your return to "normal" will certainly be different than mine, but you will get there, I promise.

Good luck and Godspeed,

Gary

250xcfw

garym said:

Just a bump in the road...
John,

Good luck with the surgery and recovery, you have a great attitude and spirit which will serve you well. It will all be little more than an unpleasant memory before you know it.

Looking forward to hearing from you afterwards,

Gary

Somethings don't go as planned
Here’s my story for the last two weeks. Surgery was planned for May 23rd which is a 3 hr drive from home.
May 22nd
We decide to take off the day before and have a nice day with friends. About 15 minutes into the drive I start getting pain in my lower left flank. No big deal a little pain never hurt anyone. After 45 min I had to pull over and let the wife drive. As we drove along I realize we still have 2 hrs left and there’s no cell phone service ahead for at least an hour. By now the pain is real bad, “turn around we need to go to the ER now” I told the wife. Now she’s freaking out and I’m trying to get a signal on my cell phone so I can find the next hospital. We reach the ER; they wheel me into the back and start giving me morphine and lots of it to stop the pain. After giving me 3 times the legal quantity they switched to a synthetic form and it does no good either. Finally they find a drug that helps and swoosh on to an airplane headed for the big city.

May 23rd
Still in horrible pain, they decide to postpone surgery until evening. That’s when everything falls apart. I won’t go into detail but I ended up loosing quite a bit of blood. Once they got everything under control I felt much better and they rescheduled for Thursday morning if everything looked good.

May 24th
Thursday morning came and no word from surgery. Finally I get word my Dr was in emergency surgery and wouldn’t be out for 6 to 8 hrs. At 8pm they move me to pre op and by 9:30 I’m headed to la la land.

May 25th
1:30am I wake up in recovery and wonder what the heck was going on. After a few minutes they let my family in and get ready to wheel me back to my room. That’s when my wife decides to pass out and cause a big commotion. The rest of the day went as planned.

May 26th
Up walking and eating clear foods.

May 27th
Up walking and eating solid foods.

May 28th
Home

May 29th – June 4th
Went off pain pills on May 30th and walking about a half mile by June 4th. Feeling good other than my stomach feels like I have motion sickness. Plan on going back to work part time on Wednesday the 6th for 2-3hrs per day.

Thanks
John

garym

250xcfw said:

Somethings don't go as planned
Here’s my story for the last two weeks. Surgery was planned for May 23rd which is a 3 hr drive from home.
May 22nd
We decide to take off the day before and have a nice day with friends. About 15 minutes into the drive I start getting pain in my lower left flank. No big deal a little pain never hurt anyone. After 45 min I had to pull over and let the wife drive. As we drove along I realize we still have 2 hrs left and there’s no cell phone service ahead for at least an hour. By now the pain is real bad, “turn around we need to go to the ER now” I told the wife. Now she’s freaking out and I’m trying to get a signal on my cell phone so I can find the next hospital. We reach the ER; they wheel me into the back and start giving me morphine and lots of it to stop the pain. After giving me 3 times the legal quantity they switched to a synthetic form and it does no good either. Finally they find a drug that helps and swoosh on to an airplane headed for the big city.

May 23rd
Still in horrible pain, they decide to postpone surgery until evening. That’s when everything falls apart. I won’t go into detail but I ended up loosing quite a bit of blood. Once they got everything under control I felt much better and they rescheduled for Thursday morning if everything looked good.

May 24th
Thursday morning came and no word from surgery. Finally I get word my Dr was in emergency surgery and wouldn’t be out for 6 to 8 hrs. At 8pm they move me to pre op and by 9:30 I’m headed to la la land.

May 25th
1:30am I wake up in recovery and wonder what the heck was going on. After a few minutes they let my family in and get ready to wheel me back to my room. That’s when my wife decides to pass out and cause a big commotion. The rest of the day went as planned.

May 26th
Up walking and eating clear foods.

May 27th
Up walking and eating solid foods.

May 28th
Home

May 29th – June 4th
Went off pain pills on May 30th and walking about a half mile by June 4th. Feeling good other than my stomach feels like I have motion sickness. Plan on going back to work part time on Wednesday the 6th for 2-3hrs per day.

Thanks
John

Welcome back...
Hi John,

The initiation into this club was pretty boring for most of us compared to yours, what a fun filled week you had. It sounds like everything worked out ok in the end so you can take a deep breath, let out a long sigh, and concentrate on recovery. Don't push going back to work right away if you don't have to, your body needs rest, this seems like simple surgery, but it is still a major trauma to your bodily systems and functions. Keep up the walking and remember to drink plenty of water, all of this will be a distant memory before you know it, someday you'll even be able to laugh about it, yeah right.

Hang in there,

Gary

foxhd

garym said:

Welcome back...
Hi John,

The initiation into this club was pretty boring for most of us compared to yours, what a fun filled week you had. It sounds like everything worked out ok in the end so you can take a deep breath, let out a long sigh, and concentrate on recovery. Don't push going back to work right away if you don't have to, your body needs rest, this seems like simple surgery, but it is still a major trauma to your bodily systems and functions. Keep up the walking and remember to drink plenty of water, all of this will be a distant memory before you know it, someday you'll even be able to laugh about it, yeah right.

Hang in there,

Gary

...BORING
Nobody said kidney surgery was boring! My surgery was done quickly also. Pretty much forced into the emergency room past a full house due to pain. Sure beats the hell out of waiting a month like many other people. Doesn't it?

250xcfw

foxhd said:

...BORING
Nobody said kidney surgery was boring! My surgery was done quickly also. Pretty much forced into the emergency room past a full house due to pain. Sure beats the hell out of waiting a month like many other people. Doesn't it?

Forgot to mention that I got my pathology report and I'm a grade 2 stage 2. Doc also wants to wait for 4 weeks before the next surgery on my right kidney.
Did anyone have any stomach problems after surgery?

John

Limelife50

250xcfw said:

Forgot to mention that I got my pathology report and I'm a grade 2 stage 2. Doc also wants to wait for 4 weeks before the next surgery on my right kidney.
Did anyone have any stomach problems after surgery?

John

Yes
Yes my stomach bothered me for a good 2 weeks after surgery

Smarty99

250xcfw said:

Thanks
I don't know if I'm happy or sad to see more people responding to my posts. It just makes me realize how many people are dealing with this junk. But thank you for all the positive remarks and health tips.
I have always had an excellent diet, drink plenty of liquids,only eat meat(chicken,fish) 2-3 times per week and work out 5 days a week.
The one thing the Dr. said was I would have to quit my hobby of motocross and gp racing. My friend called today and asked what I’m going to do without racing, I told him I'm going to find a new hobby with more thrills that won’t kill my last kidney, what I don't know!! He said, Thank god you haven’t lost my sense of humor.

John

Short Quick Question
Hi all,
I am so sorry to bother you since I don't have cancer, but I don't know who else to ask. I've been having other testing done for other things and I am currently awaiting biopsy results on those. Completely unrelated.
Here's my question: I've read that kidney cancer grows very slowly. So, if I just had a CT, then an Ultrasound to confirm the CT, why must I follow up with another Ultrasound again in 3 months? Would there really be any growth in that amount of time?
Thanks for your help! ;-)

Texas_wedge

Smarty99 said:

Short Quick Question
Hi all,
I am so sorry to bother you since I don't have cancer, but I don't know who else to ask. I've been having other testing done for other things and I am currently awaiting biopsy results on those. Completely unrelated.
Here's my question: I've read that kidney cancer grows very slowly. So, if I just had a CT, then an Ultrasound to confirm the CT, why must I follow up with another Ultrasound again in 3 months? Would there really be any growth in that amount of time?
Thanks for your help! ;-)

Growth rate
I've had a tumour grow from invisible in December to 2.5 cm. by the end of February (and cut out 2 months ago) - unusually fast but it is possible.

Texas_wedge

Smarty99 said:

Short Quick Question
Hi all,
I am so sorry to bother you since I don't have cancer, but I don't know who else to ask. I've been having other testing done for other things and I am currently awaiting biopsy results on those. Completely unrelated.
Here's my question: I've read that kidney cancer grows very slowly. So, if I just had a CT, then an Ultrasound to confirm the CT, why must I follow up with another Ultrasound again in 3 months? Would there really be any growth in that amount of time?
Thanks for your help! ;-)

Short Quick Question
I've had a tumour grow from invisible in December to 2.5 cm. by the end of February (and cut out 2 months ago) - unusually fast but it is possible.

Smarty99

Texas_wedge said:

Short Quick Question
I've had a tumour grow from invisible in December to 2.5 cm. by the end of February (and cut out 2 months ago) - unusually fast but it is possible.

Short Quick Question
Thanks for your help Texas!
;-)