Solid kidney mass.

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  • angec
    angec Member Posts: 924 Member
    #22
    Kaiters said:

    Thank you everyone so much
    Thank you everyone so much for the helpful words. I had a CT on Thursday and my family doctor's office told me they think the mass looks smaller and it implies that there's an infection. Pyelonephritis is what they called it. They said not to get my hopes up because it was just a 'regular doctor' reading it and not a specialist. Is this possible? My UA doesn't show any sign of infection.

    I'm hoping that's all it is, but they said to wait and see what my urologist says Monday. If he thinks it may not be a mass, will he still want to remove it to be safe?

    Thanks again for all the support. You are all great :)

    Kaiters.....be sure to get
    Kaiters.....be sure to get second and even third opinions before your surgery. Did they do an MRI as well? Are they giving you antibiotics to clear the infection? I hope you have someone going with you that understands all of this. At your age it seems logical that it can be an infection and I am praying it is. Are they doing a pet ct scan with contrast? What was the new size mentioned? Were your WBCs elevated on your blood tests? Please keep us posted. Looking forward to hearing good news. Praying for you! :)
  • dhs1963
    dhs1963 Member Posts: 513
    #23
    Kaiters said:

    Thank you.
    Thanks for all the answers and support. I met with my urologist Monday (the 24th) and he told me the tumor needs to come out. He said it is growing both on the inside and outside of my kidney so I definitely will be losing at least part of my kidney, but he said I'd probably lose the entire thing.
    I have a repeat CT this Friday (28th)so he can get better views of just my kidneys. I have another appointment Monday (the 1st) when we will discuss surgery and post-surgery and he will also schedule my surgery while I'm there. He told me it'd be within a month. It hadn't 'hit me' at all until today, and it's finally starting to somewhat, but it's a hard thing to grasp for me. I never thought something like this would happen to me, especially at my age (I'm a 19 year old female), but I'm sure that's what everyone thinks.

    My left kidney is the one with the mass. Is there a greater/lesser chance of cancer spreading if it's on one kidney instead of the other?

    How will we know if it has spread?

    What testing will be done on the tumor? He said kidney biopsies are not usually accurate.

    How long will I be in the hospital after surgery? He's hoping to do laparoscopic surgery, but if I have to lose an entire kidney I'd have open surgery.

    I have so many questions... I don't like having to wait in between appointments.

    Thanks again!

    RCC, youth, and spreading
    Kaiters,

    First I am sorry you have to be dealing with this at such a young age. With that said, a 2 cm tumor in the kidney is cured with surgery, and at 2 cm, you should have most of you kidney saved with a partial nephrectomy.

    If it is 100% in the kidney there is no pathway for the cancer to spread.

    One final comment, according to the medical experts I have talked to, the RCC can be a very slow growing cancer, usually less than. 1 cm/yr, and possibly 1 mm/year. That mean that I may have been born with my 5 cm tumor. It also means that many of us that are reporting our larger middle aged rumors may have had the same size tumor when we where 19. Much better to get it out early.

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