Only sonogram identification of tumor

rmorgan
rmorgan Member Posts: 4
in Kidney Cancer #1
Hey guys, the doc found a lump in a routine physical and ordered a sonogram where he has identified a tumor on my right kidney. The only fear I have is the unknown, I am probably reacting prematurely but like probably all of you waiting on the news as MRI's are done is all consuming. According to the initial conference I do believe I have stage 1 since he said my tumor is size of nickel.

Can anyone give me an idea of what I am facing?

Comments

  • icemantoo
    icemantoo Member Posts: 3,361 Member
    #2
    A good Prognosis
    Morgan,

    Assuming the sonnogram is accurate you are looking at a 2.1 cm tumor (the size of a nickel). Once they confirm that it is likely to be Cancer (most tumors that size are)they will schedule a nephrectomy or partial nephrectomy (removal of the Kidney). Based upon size alone you have close to a 100% chance of being cured by the surgery alone. You are very lucky that it was caught while the tumor was small as they tend to grow and matastisize over a period of years.

    The surgery is not fun, but it beats the alternative. Mine was in the summer of 2002 and was a mere bump in the road to getting older. The members of our little club will help you with questions as they arise.


    Icemantoo
  • garym
    garym Member Posts: 1,647
    #3
    Slow things down if you can...
    Hi Morgan,

    Its very common to be ruled by emotions like fear when first told you have cancer (or the possibility of having it) especially when there have been no symptoms or warnings. I was right where you are nearly 3 years ago and just wanted it out ASAP, sometimes I wish I had slowed things down a bit. RCC is generally very slow growing, not symptomatic, and not life threatening in the early stages, your discovery is VERY early and like the iceman said your prognosis for a complete surgical cure will be nearly 100%. In addition to nephrectomy and partial nephrectomy, cryo-ablation (cold) and radio-ablation (hot) are possibilities with small tumors like yours. You have plenty of time to gather information and make an informed decision with your medical team as to what is best for you moving forward. Keep us posted and we'll help you any way we can.

    Good luck and Godspeed,

    GAry
  • foxhd
    foxhd Member Posts: 3,181 Member
    #4
    garym said:

    Slow things down if you can...
    Hi Morgan,

    Its very common to be ruled by emotions like fear when first told you have cancer (or the possibility of having it) especially when there have been no symptoms or warnings. I was right where you are nearly 3 years ago and just wanted it out ASAP, sometimes I wish I had slowed things down a bit. RCC is generally very slow growing, not symptomatic, and not life threatening in the early stages, your discovery is VERY early and like the iceman said your prognosis for a complete surgical cure will be nearly 100%. In addition to nephrectomy and partial nephrectomy, cryo-ablation (cold) and radio-ablation (hot) are possibilities with small tumors like yours. You have plenty of time to gather information and make an informed decision with your medical team as to what is best for you moving forward. Keep us posted and we'll help you any way we can.

    Good luck and Godspeed,

    GAry

    Waiting
    Waiting is the hard part. It could drive you crazy. I went from diagnosis to excision in just a few days. Glad that was the way it was. So many others have had considerable waits and have done well. You will too.
  • love_of_my_life
    love_of_my_life Member Posts: 77
    #5
    Sonogram - CT Next
    Well, this sounds very familiar to what has happened to my wife this summer.

    After having a kidney stone in her left kidney, a routine sonogram revealed a mass in her right tumor. They then followed up with a CT scan with contrast. I would assume they will do this next.

    IF the CT scan comes back showing a probable malignancy (they really can tell with 80-90% accuracy from what I understand) you will have some choices. My wife chose to have a biopsy to confirm the malignancy. This is not an awful procedure, but it takes the wind out of you for a day or so. Once confirmed, and because of the location, she had her entire kidney removed around 3 weeks ago. She is recovering great and is now labeled as cancer free. Her tumor was about the size of a pinball.

    You sound like you are in this same type of situation. It is scary, but consider yourself extremely lucky that they have caught it early if it truly is RCC.

    I reached out to this board a few months ago with a very similar message and people here have been extremely supportive. You are in our prayers. Please let us know how things proceed.

    Tom and Holly
  • Joe_fh
    Joe_fh Member Posts: 53 Member
    #6
    I can't tell you much since
    I can't tell you much since I too am fairly new to the whole process. What I can tell you is that you are in the right place. I have learned far more on this board from these good folks about my own situation than I have from all the doctors and nurses put together.

    I credit the relative easy recovery (so far) from my surgery to listening to these folks who have been through it themselves.
  • JackieP125
    JackieP125 Member Posts: 56
    #7
    Waiting
    It is true that waiting is the hard part. Not knowing what is inside of you can do emotional damage. I was told I had a mass in late September 2011 but was not offically diagnosed until November 2011. So I waited and worried for almost 2 months. As crazy as it sounds there was some relief from the unknown when doctor said 90% chance it is cancer. Next was surgery scheduling and time off from work, etc. My tumor was 3.4cm. Not much larger than yours. I was Stage I, Grade 3. This is the place to be for comfort, understanding and information. God Bless You!
  • MedScanMan
    MedScanMan Member Posts: 107
    #8
    Lucky Guy
    Size of a nickel? Sounds like under 2cm. Early find and unless it's in a place other than the upper or lower pole of the kidney, your surgery should be a breeze. If you have your choice of a CT or MRI for this I would go with the CT scan. In and out in ten minutes and very simply if your "nickel" lights up with the injection and stays lit then it's a renal cell, if not, it's a cyst. I'm wondering one thing form your post though.....you said your doctor felt a lump during a physical. What was that? Certainly he did not feel a 2cm mass with his hands. Just curious. If you need any help making sense of any of your imaging reports, I'll be happy to help you. Actually the people on this board have so educated themselves, I get ready to type sometimes and stop myself. I realize they've already got it. You found a great place to get your info. My RCC was about the size of yours. We are both very lucky. Good luck with your next test.

    Jeff
  • rmorgan
    rmorgan Member Posts: 4
    #9
    MedScanMan said:

    Lucky Guy
    Size of a nickel? Sounds like under 2cm. Early find and unless it's in a place other than the upper or lower pole of the kidney, your surgery should be a breeze. If you have your choice of a CT or MRI for this I would go with the CT scan. In and out in ten minutes and very simply if your "nickel" lights up with the injection and stays lit then it's a renal cell, if not, it's a cyst. I'm wondering one thing form your post though.....you said your doctor felt a lump during a physical. What was that? Certainly he did not feel a 2cm mass with his hands. Just curious. If you need any help making sense of any of your imaging reports, I'll be happy to help you. Actually the people on this board have so educated themselves, I get ready to type sometimes and stop myself. I realize they've already got it. You found a great place to get your info. My RCC was about the size of yours. We are both very lucky. Good luck with your next test.

    Jeff

    New sizing of mass
    I called my Doctors office to get the real numbers instead of nickel sized and found out it is 7.1 cm by .9 by.5 cm. Today I had MRI of pelvic area and tomorrow get the abdomen. My wife keeps telling me it could very well be a cyst and I am hoping she is right but reading between the lines with Dr. I am pessimistic. Anyone have any optomistic percentages on cyst vs. tumor.
  • MedScanMan
    MedScanMan Member Posts: 107
    #10
    rmorgan said:

    New sizing of mass
    I called my Doctors office to get the real numbers instead of nickel sized and found out it is 7.1 cm by .9 by.5 cm. Today I had MRI of pelvic area and tomorrow get the abdomen. My wife keeps telling me it could very well be a cyst and I am hoping she is right but reading between the lines with Dr. I am pessimistic. Anyone have any optomistic percentages on cyst vs. tumor.

    Tumor vs Cyst
    Morgan.....You're going to have to wait until the Abdomen is done to know anything. I do not understand your doctor’s timeline so it's best not to comment too much. My thoughts are, if a 9cm mass was found on the kidney during a simple abdominal ultrasound, why go for a Pelvic MRI before verifying either with a Cat Scan or an MRI of the Abdomen whether it is a cyst or tumor. When you get back the report of the Abdominal MRI at the bottom there will be a two or three sentence impression. That will tell you everything. If it's a cyst then congrats. If it's not then you'll only know the true size and stage post op. Let us know how the Abd MRI goes. Good luck.

    Jeff
  • icemantoo
    icemantoo Member Posts: 3,361 Member
    #11
    rmorgan said:

    New sizing of mass
    I called my Doctors office to get the real numbers instead of nickel sized and found out it is 7.1 cm by .9 by.5 cm. Today I had MRI of pelvic area and tomorrow get the abdomen. My wife keeps telling me it could very well be a cyst and I am hoping she is right but reading between the lines with Dr. I am pessimistic. Anyone have any optomistic percentages on cyst vs. tumor.

    Size of mass
    Morgan,

    Something dors not sound right about the size of your mass. I would get a copy of the report rather than rely on what you heard on the phone. A 2.1cm tumor may likely measure 2.1 cm by .9 cm by .5 cm, but I doubt a 7.1 cm tumor is going to measure 7.1.cm by .9 cm by .5 cm. That is more the shape of a piece of bacon than a tumor.

    The 2 hardest words to hear are Kidney Cancer and surgery. They sure scared me and all the other mrmbers when they first heard them. The important point is that a 2.1 cm tumor is like a piece of cake as far as the surgery curing it, Even at 7.1 cm the chances for a full recovery are excellant, but it may reuire further treatmet down the road. If the tumor is in fact 7.1 cm it is most likely Cancer or will become cancer. At 7.1 cm it would be giving you false hope to hope that it is a cyst rather than a tumor.

    At 2,1 cm you can tell people after the sugery hat you had Cancer, not that you have it.
    You can even say the same thing for a 7.1 cm tumor, but there is a chance for recurrance or further treatment down the road.

    The most important thing is to stay positive. Lets get the little bugger out ASAP. Having Stage I or II RCC is something that can be conqured and beatin.

    Icemantoo
  • rmorgan
    rmorgan Member Posts: 4
    #12
    icemantoo said:

    Size of mass
    Morgan,

    Something dors not sound right about the size of your mass. I would get a copy of the report rather than rely on what you heard on the phone. A 2.1cm tumor may likely measure 2.1 cm by .9 cm by .5 cm, but I doubt a 7.1 cm tumor is going to measure 7.1.cm by .9 cm by .5 cm. That is more the shape of a piece of bacon than a tumor.

    The 2 hardest words to hear are Kidney Cancer and surgery. They sure scared me and all the other mrmbers when they first heard them. The important point is that a 2.1 cm tumor is like a piece of cake as far as the surgery curing it, Even at 7.1 cm the chances for a full recovery are excellant, but it may reuire further treatmet down the road. If the tumor is in fact 7.1 cm it is most likely Cancer or will become cancer. At 7.1 cm it would be giving you false hope to hope that it is a cyst rather than a tumor.

    At 2,1 cm you can tell people after the sugery hat you had Cancer, not that you have it.
    You can even say the same thing for a 7.1 cm tumor, but there is a chance for recurrance or further treatment down the road.

    The most important thing is to stay positive. Lets get the little bugger out ASAP. Having Stage I or II RCC is something that can be conqured and beatin.

    Icemantoo

    Waiting on diagosis
    As I said earlier I am waiting on the diagnosis and will get it tomorrow at 8:00 am. I found out i had a lump through a physical and had the sonogram and now MRI on abdomen and pelvic areas. Before the exam I had no symptoms but ever since I am beginning to feel slight tightness in my right side and a pinching feeling. Is this my mind or have I been overlooking warnings.

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