Is it safe to wait

Wait time for surgery
lauelee, that's a tough break to have another cancer at 27! But, as you say, you're a survivor. This should be much easier because it's been caught very early and is very small. The nurse is talking sense. We're not doctors here but we have been through it. I had to wait 5 weeks for surgery and my tumour was 8cm. I'm recovering well, so far at least, so you shouldn't have too much to worry about and you have the benefit (?!) of having been there before and come through it.

We'll all be wishing you well and you can come here whenever you want to to ask questions, rub shoulders and get moral support. Stay active until you go in and try not to worry - easier said than done but your outlook is really pretty good. This is not a major problem but an irritating inconvenience that will be behind you soon.

Waiting
Like most others on here, my RCC was discovered by accident, and I had to wait six weeks for surgery. So I had the same feelings, but the nurse is right, as research will tell you. Take comfort in that, keep digging for information, and stay in touch on this site. There are a lot of great folks on here.

Hi-
I know how frustrating waiting can be. You are a proven survivor which is just awesome. RCC is slow growing in general. Is the urologist you are waiting for someone you prefer to see or are you able to get in somewhere else more quickly? The reason I ask is that you may need to wait an additional few weeks for whatever procedure follows your consultation. It's normal to want to get moving. This is a great placevto talk with others in your same situation. I had a radical neph on 1/9, a week ago today.

Scott

Time
Lauralee
I didn't have to wait long to see my Urologist. But, i waited about a month to have surgery. Drove me
crazy! It's hard because you just want it out. Try and keep ourself xtra busy.
Take care
Valerie

waiting game...
Laurelee
From what I am gathering, this type of cancer is something usually found incidentally. My experience was with sciatic nerve pain and the MRI revealed a ~4.5 cm tumor in my right kidney. I saw my urologist relatively quick, 1 week later(?) - he referred me to an orthopod for my sciatic pain. The urologist wanted me to get my the sciatic business in order b/4 cutting me so my wait was ~6 weeks, finding to surgery. I totally lost focus at work but confided in my manager very early, he has been very supportive. I believe that was the hardest part of the waiting, be able to focus on what had to get done. day to day stuff was completed by muscle memory, long term stuff was too fuzzy.
I have also taken solace in the thought that medicine has progressed so much in the past few decades and felt confident I was being directed appropriately.
Be strong Laurelee, everyone on this board knows your angst. Lean on your friends here and at home, we will standby with any help we can give.

Tom

antjeanne said:

i waited 8 months since
i waited 8 months since mine was discovered. i had 18 kidney stones in my other kidney(Which is how they found my RCC). and they had to wait for all them to come out before they could do all the testing to see if the mass was a cyst or cancer.

Not a mistake
What they found on the CT was Grrrrreat. Especially since most kidney cancers have such nebulous symptoms, that most of us found out we had kidney cancer when we saw a doctor or presented with some other problem.
Once mine was Dx'd at Stage IV, already spead to the liver and nodes, my surgery date was out 6 weeks, as it was a matter of coordinating 2 surgical specialists, a teaching hospital team, etc. The full surgery went well, I was home in 5 days, and recovered Ok.
Being vigilant about your tests and check-ups, as you well know, is important.

I had two recurrences of the kidney cancer, each time in a lymph node, each time in successive years following the first surgery, and each time found with a CT. It's not like the cancer came back-it just wasn't big enough to show at the first diagnoses.

So keep on having confidence in yourself that you can beat this one, too. Good luck. And yes, the waiting is hard.
This past fall, I went thru the Hurry Up and Wait when my regular CT found an enlarged thyroid and nodes in it. Next an ultrasound. Then wait 2 months for a nuclear thyroid scan, then wait for a biopsy, and the pathology. It wasn't cancer-benign nodes (that have been known to turn into cancer). And the likelyhood of it being Kidney mets was extremely rare...but it could have been thyroid cancer. Now I have thyroid tests on a regular basis.

Aren't we lucky that we live in an era that can test for some of these problems.
Hang in there.
Donna

Waiting game....
Hi Lauralee. I am supporting your fight! I was admitted from the ER just yesterday with a pancreatitis/gastritis, and they found my kidney mass on CT incidentally. What a trend (!?) My mass is rather large at 8.4 cm and touching my spleen. They immediately cleared my chest x-ray to rule out metasasis. I was told I am a candidate for laparoscopic nephrectomy, unless the tumor involves my spleen. I'll bet you are as well. Waiting is hard, as I understand as well, but I am learning that this is a slow growing cancer. I still worry, mine being as large as it is, if it might just get to that breaking point in the mean time where it spreads....God bless all of you.