Renal Cell Cancer

STurner68 said:

From another new one....
Hi, Sunlover,

I'm another newbie, now postop day four after a robotic partial nephrectomy (they took 15% of my kidney). I was discharged yesterday and have started my home recuperation.

How I can identify with that anxiety. It's only been three weeks since the initial ultrasound and symptoms that prompted it to now, but the abyss and I very quickly became old friends. Seriously, the anxiety was going to kill me long before the renal cell was. What I found very helpful was a couple of guided visualization CDs from a company called Health Journeys. For this expedition, I bought the preparing for surgery one and the cancer one. Here's the link for the cancer one:

http://www.healthjourneys.com/category.aspx?cboHealth=13&cboAuthor=55

There are other non-disease-specific ones that are equally lovely. This speaker, Belleruth Naparstek, is my favorite and I have a number of her CDs. I went from requiring Xanax multiple times a day after the diagnostic suspicion to not needing it at all within a week. As a matter of fact, I wasn't even given anything before surgery and felt completely in control of my anxiety. I was anxious, of course. I hadn't had surgery in 40 years, I was freaking starving to death, and the procedure started three hours late. But it was manageable and didn't engulf me. I can't tolerate Valium, which is what they give most folks for surgery, so we just did without. These guided visualization things are quite powerful....and there are affirmations too. I just listened twice a day and my brain held on like it was a life raft. I really feel like my recovery is going so well because the anxiety is kept at bay. I just thought I'd offer it up here. They have a free 15-minute download of a sample guided imagery CD (general health and wellness, I think) and shorter sample cuts of most of their titles, so you can try before you buy. Speaking for myself, my mind can be my greatest enemy. It catastrophizes and is not rational at all. I wanted to get it on a short leash before surgery so that I could have as good an experience as possible, and so far, so good. It doesn't promise to change the reality, it just helped me cope with the reality better. All my best to you ~ Sheila

DDBurkhardt said:

Radical Nephrectomy
I am scheduled for a radical nephrectomy on May 22 to have my left kidney removed. My tumor was also found when I was having an MRI for something else. I have my CT scan tomorrow to make sure that the cancer hasn't spread to my lungs, stomach or pelvis. I am scared to death. I was diagnosed last week and have been on all types of web sites reading about kidney cancer. Has anyone had the surgery that is a diabetic? I realize that a person can live w/only one kidney, but I'm wondering if having diabetes puts your good kidney at more risk.

I have to say that reading all the comments on this web site has actually made me feel a little better about the surgery.

I hope there is someone that can shed some light on living w/one kidney and being diabetic.

kcasper said:

Thanks all
Good afternoon, all. I was diagnosed with kidney cancer on November 25h of last year. The day after Thanksgiving. My kids were home for the holiday so that was a blessing. I had cancer in my right kidney and the tumor had moved into and up my Inferior Vena Cava.
I had my surgery on January, Friday the thirteenth. From that you can tell I am not superstitious. I consider it a lucky day for me. They removed my right Kidney and the tumor from my IVC and reconstructed my IVC. They didn't expect me to survive the surgery, but I fooled them all. I'm still here. I am on a regiment of Sutent every day for four weeks and off two weeks. This is my 2nd round. Side effects terible on my first round. sores im my mouth, nose and throat. They sowered my dosage from 50 to 37 1/2 due to it effedting my liver. Wish me luck on this second round. I'm only 4 days in as of today.
thanks for letting me join in the conversation.

kcasper said:

Thanks all
Good afternoon, all. I was diagnosed with kidney cancer on November 25h of last year. The day after Thanksgiving. My kids were home for the holiday so that was a blessing. I had cancer in my right kidney and the tumor had moved into and up my Inferior Vena Cava.
I had my surgery on January, Friday the thirteenth. From that you can tell I am not superstitious. I consider it a lucky day for me. They removed my right Kidney and the tumor from my IVC and reconstructed my IVC. They didn't expect me to survive the surgery, but I fooled them all. I'm still here. I am on a regiment of Sutent every day for four weeks and off two weeks. This is my 2nd round. Side effects terible on my first round. sores im my mouth, nose and throat. They sowered my dosage from 50 to 37 1/2 due to it effedting my liver. Wish me luck on this second round. I'm only 4 days in as of today.
thanks for letting me join in the conversation.

icemantoo said:

Hang in there
kcasper,

Sounds like you have a great attitude even with a less than perfect diagnosis. That should help you ge t thru this and keep fooling the doctors.

Icemantoo

garym said:

Welcome to the club...
kcasper,

Wow, you had to fight your way into this little club the hard way, but you've made it. There is a good group of knowledgeable and supportive people here that will lend a hand whenever needed even if its just to listen when you need to vent.

We understand,

Gary