Renal cell carcinoma

bentz61

Just found this site today been to a urologist and he recommended I go to Vanderbilt in Nashville the ct scan and MRI indicated a  1.5 cm solid abnormality/small renal cell carcinoma medial midpo/e LEFT kidney. The urologist said they handle complex situations like mine. Not sure what to think he mention partial nephrectomy. All new to me have read so many different things my head is spinning. Any type of guidance from your experiences would be helpful. Thank you so much

eug91

Hi bentz61-

Sorry you had to join us, but I'm glad you did. We've been through what you're going through, so we know you can get through it, too. We're here for you if you have questions or concerns or just need to vent.

Thankfully you caught your carcinoma early. 1.5cm is small, so even if the location turns out to be complex, you've caught it early so you lots of reason to be optimistic.

My two bits of advice-

-Bring a notepad with you to your appointments, or take notes on your cell phone. A lot of information coming from your doctor will be fast and furious, and your head will be spinning trying to keep up. Write it all down. Then later you can refer to it and ask any questions based on what you wrote down.

-It's a shock to learn this news, but don't waste time on negative thoughts. Stay positive.

We're with you - you're gonna do great!

bentz61

Thank you

https://csn.cancer.org/discussion/comment/1697790#Comment_1697790

Thank you

Bay Area Guy

Hi bentz. Sorry you had to join. Eug makes some very good suggestions. I’d add one more. Don’t go looking on Google. You’ll drive yourself crazy. Some of the information you’ll find is way, way out of date. Some is just plain incorrect. And some is from snake oil salesmen trying to con you into separating you from your money. If you do decide to visit Google, look only for verified sites like the Mayo Clinic, the Cleveland Clinic or some of the top notch medical universities.

At 1.5 cm, yours is small and a partial should take care of it completely.

Lynn_65

https://csn.cancer.org/discussion/325321/renal-cell-carcinoma

Sorry you had to join, but there are some great supportive people here! My RCC was also located midpole close to my renal artery. I was told I may have to have an open complete nephrectomy due to the complexity of my case. However, I was able to have a robotic laparoscopic partial! It sounds like you’re in good hands!

Praying for you and your medical team. Keep us posted.

randyradiohill

Hi bentz61,

Sorry to hear, but you’re in a great location. I’ve been treated at Vanderbilt (Dr Baroca) and he’s been fantastic. I just passed my 5 year cancerversary after being diagnosed with a stage 3-2.5 cm tumor also on my left kidney. Underwent a partial neph, but everything has been clear since. Vandy is fantastic and you couldn’t be in better hands.

The mental part is definitely tough, but trust your doctor and you’ll get through it.

medic1971

I'm sorry you are here, but glad you found us.

When you have about 30 min, please watch this video, it will anwser a lot of your questions and should give you a lot of comfort too.

Evaluation and Management of Localized Renal Cell Carcinoma - Surena F. Matin, MD, FACS ( Dr. Matin is a urologist at MD Anderson)

https://youtu.be/493RFA_tA1I

Mylife1958_

I was just diagnosed with rcc, says it's 10mm, can someone tell me what size that is in cm. Thank you Pam

Bay Area Guy

Hi Pam. 10 mm is equal to 1 cm. By comparison, mine, when it was removed by a robotic partial nephrectomy, was measured at 1.7 cm and was considered very small.

Mylife1958_

Thank you

AliceB1950

https://csn.cancer.org/discussion/comment/1700585#Comment_1700585

Mine was 7 cm, about the size and shape of an egg, and that's just at the cutoff for stage 1. So yours is quite small, which means you have time to explore several options like the surgery vs. ablation vs. watch & wait, and where and when you'd want it done. Good luck!