Radiation for Kidney Cancer lesions on Vertebrae

garrettnyc
garrettnyc Member Posts: 2
in Kidney Cancer #1
hello group.

My mother has kidney cancer and we are terribly scared. A very large tumor about the size of a golf ball was removed (along with the kidney) in June. Just this month she was having severe back pain. We did an MRI and we have discovered kidney cancer lesions on 2 vertebrae (L3 & L5) and many spots in her liver. She is in the hospital now and we are trying to get a plan for treatment together asap. She was given spot radiation therapy on the 2 vertebrae today. Does anyone have experience with this treatment on the vertebrae? Did it help? She is in a great deal of pain and we are really hoping this will relieve it. Has anyone had surgery or other treatments for cancer on the vertebrae? Any advice would be so appreciated.

After this, next step will be to treat the liver with chemo, we think.

Many many thanks

garrett

Comments

  • Limelife50
    Limelife50 Member Posts: 476
    #2
    Just curious
    To start I wish your mother the best ,sorry for her situation,I get the feeling she is getting a lot of love and support from the family.My question is what was her original rcc diagnoses,since a golf size is of great concearn but not huge.
  • Limelife50
    Limelife50 Member Posts: 476
    #3
    Just curious
    To start I wish your mother the best ,sorry for her situation,I get the feeling she is getting a lot of love and support from the family.My question is what was her original rcc diagnoses,since a golf size is of great concearn but not huge.
  • Limelife50
    Limelife50 Member Posts: 476
    #4
    Just curious
    To start I wish your mother the best ,sorry for her situation,I get the feeling she is getting a lot of love and support from the family.My question is what was her original rcc diagnoses,since a golf size is of great concearn but not huge.
  • Anna Bery
    Anna Bery Member Posts: 18
    #5

    Hey,

    First, I am so sorry to hear about your mom. My mom was also diagnosed with stage IV RCC in 04/2011. In 03/2011 she started to have a severe back pain and in 06/2011 spine MRI showed that she had mets to T7, T8 and T9 and a cord compression caused by a tumor around the spinal cord. First, she went through radiation, but it did not help and mom's pain was getting even worse. She did 15 sessions of radiation and started Terosel treatment at the same time. Right after the last session we were again in the ER because mom could NOT tolerate her back pain even though she was on 300mg Fentalin patches, 16mg Diloted and Lyrica. Another MRI showed that the reason for the sever pain was because mom's vertebrae was collapsing and the pain management with big doses of Mrthadon were not effective anymore. My mom could still walk (even though the doctors said that she should not even be walking anymore) and the only other option was a neurosurgery. None of the neurosurgeons besides one wanted to operate mom, they said that she would die anyway very soon so there is no point to spend this time to recover from surgery. The one that agreed went to vacation and he told me that he was not sure if mom could still walk or move or that her spine would not collapse by the time he comes back from vacations. So I run around NYC searching for a neurosurgeon who would agree to operate mom. Eventually, I found one but by the time the operation took place mom could hardly walk. However, it really helped relieve the pain and with some PT there is still hope that mom would be able to walk again. I am so happy that mom did this neurosurgery because it made a HUGE difference in pain.
    If you have any questions feel free to email me at shochki@yahoo.com
    Best of luck,

    Anna
  • Sandra61
    Sandra61 Member Posts: 1
    edited February 2017 #6
    Radiation Treatment RCC

    I was diagnosed with RCC back on 10/2015 and had to have my left kidney removed (stage 4). At that time it was believed it was contained. I have been following up faithfully with my oncologist every 3 months which included a CT scan each time always coming back "clean". Back in Sept 2016, I started having severe neck pain and after several tests, an MRI showed the RCC had spread to my C5 and literally "ate" the bone. I had the tumor removed and now have a "cage" between the C4 and C6. I had a masive radiation treatment last week which I am still in so much pain that travels from neck down to arms. Is this normal? I am waiting for my chemo pills which I will now be taking for an unknown amount of time. A pet scan has revealed 4 additional spots, 2 lymph in neck, groin and left lobe of lung. I am only 56 years old and scared to death. I am taking Diazepam and and Valium for pain but that does not seem to help that much. Is the pain from the radiation normal? Will it subside eventually?

     

  • stub1969
    stub1969 Member Posts: 978 Member
    edited February 2017 #7
    Hi, Sandra

    Welcome to this site.  You'll get a lot more responses if you start a new conversation.  Although I'm not stage 4, there are many on here that are and will chime in to offer you encouragement and advice.  Just for clarification, when you had your kidney removed were you staged at 4 at that point?  If not, what stage were you?

    Take care,

    Stub

  • Abunai
    Abunai Member Posts: 173 Member
    edited February 2017 #8
    Hi, Sandra

    Sorry to hear about your mother's condition.

    I have RCC and had a full neprectomy. Less than a week after being released from surgery, I lost movement in my left leg and the ability to walk because of a large tumor on my T6/T7 spine area compressing my spinal cord.

    I had emergency surgery to "debulk" the tumor and give my spinal cord some room. The doctors followed up the surgery with radiation treatment on that tumor.

    I'm now in the medicinal phase of my treatment. That spinal tumor is dead, though I still have pain in the area. 

    I do have two other spinal tumors in the lumbar and sacral areas that have not grown since I was first diagnosed and have not caused any spinal cord compression, but the doctors are watching for that. Those tumors also cause me pain.

    All of my pain is being controlled by opioids and by a nerve pain medication.

    So, my experience is that radiation therepy did work well on my T6/T7 tumor, though I received the therepy following surgery. In my case, the radiation therapy didn't really help alleviate the pain in that area. I expect to be on pain killers (palliative care) for the long term.

    I wish your mother the best in her treatment.

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