Got my results

Hi MeMeJoy!  my hand assisted lap done last Jan 30 2013, it was an 11cm tumor, renal cell carninoma most commonly known as kidney cancer, T3A.  I was back to work after 5 weeks and had good results in my bone and CT scan last March. i am cancer free now.  i still need to do tests every 3 months.

the recovery is quicker compare to open surgery. i still have some sharp pain on my lower incision and in my flank where the kidney and tumor was removed.  so far, it was good.  i am still awaiting what excercises i can do cause i tend to be exhausted easily. i can say i am back to normal activities, just no heavy lifting

i pray that your surgery will be sucessful, keep up the positive attitude. everything will be ok.

Some good advise from the folks on the board

I had my surgery on October 5, 2012   11CM  T3a  Fuhrman grade 3 with sinus & venos invasion.   No symtoms  No sick days in 30 years at work.  

The surgery was really not that bad.  I was in the hospital for 2 days.  On the first day I had some trouble breathing because of the gas and and  had some significant pain for a few days....although pain medication worked fine and I pretty much just laid on the couch and watched reruns of Law and Order & The Closer.

I was back at work in two weeks although I got tired by the middle of the afternoon...should have taken another week off.

My big mistake was listening to the optimistic urolgists and ultimtely passing deadlines on available clinical trials.  My only advise would be to see an oncologist before the surgery if at all possible.  There are treatments that must be arranged for before the surgery or shortly thereafter.  I did not take advantage of these.

Good luck you will be fine

Don 

MeMeJoy said:

Good advice indeed! Everyone

Good advice indeed! Everyone on here is so helpful and respectful of one another.

Luckily I don't have to worry about work. I work at the university but only part time and during the spring and fall when I am enrolled in class.  I am a bit worried that they may try and rush me out of the hospital though. I don't think I'd be comfortable with a 2 day stay honestly, it just doesn’t seem long enough to determine that everything is ok after they remove an organ lol

I don't know how I feel about clinical trials....I know there are a ton of people who recommend getting involved in them and are happy that they did so, but I don't know if I feel comfortable with doing that. I don't know why exactly, maybe just because I don't like taking meds period...the thought of taking something that hasn't been proven weird’s me out lol To each their own I guess

I’ve thought about renewing my subscription to Netflix just for at least the week after my surgery lol

Thanks again everyone!

It's a personal decision, and if you don't feel comfortable, don't do it. We've had some very long discussions/debates on this issue. Search through and find them if you're interested. We were pretty well split. Many people don't feel comfortable with doing a drug trial and don't do them. I'm sure there are people that have done trials and aren't happy they did them too, btw. I know one for sure whom I met. He was on a trial for votrient and his cancer progressed and it turned out he was on the placebo. He wasn't happy about that. It is not an easy decision.

I didn't want to go home after 2 days. They sent me home without even having had bowel sounds or bowel activity (which many at other hospitals say they didn't do that) and I was not happy about it. But it turned out ok. I was even able to walk up and down the stairs at my house the day I got home (but I avoided it). I had a friend stay a couple of days, but I really didn't need it. I was able to take care of myself. I had my son come by every 2-3 days to do some shopping for me or move things that I couldn't lift, etc. but for the most part I was self sufficient when I got home.

Todd

todd121 said:

Vascular Invasion

They believe that a couple of the ways that kidney cancer spreads is by access to either the blood or  lymph systems (there are other ways). The difference between Stage 1/2 and 3, is mainly that the cancer has grown into the blood supply (vascular invasion), or into the adrenal gland, or outside the kidney in some other way. What comes with increases in stage is increases in chances that the cancer will spread to other parts of the body. Roughly a Stage 1 tumor has something like a <10% chance of recurrence (I'm talking about clear cell RCC) while a Stage 3 tumor the probabilty can be closer to 50% chance of it spreading to other parts of the body. They generally don't find out what the tumor has grown into until they remove the kidney and slice it up and put it under microscope and have a pathologist look at it.

I had a Stage 3a tumor that had vascular invasion. Because my risk was higher for recurrence, I was very interested in looking into clinical drug trials. Many of these trials have a 12 week deadline that you have to meet following your nephrectomy. That's why it's important to see a medical oncologist that knows about RCC and drug trials as soon as possible just so you can get the information to consider drug trials. There's often a bunch of tests that have to be done to see if you qualify for the trial, so don't wait until the last minute if you have any interest at all.

Hope this helps.

Todd

Recurrence risk related to tumor size:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2735023/

Recurrence risk related to general prognostic factors (stage, grade etc):

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1471767/

And a quote regarding the percentages you mention:

"After nephrectomy, the incidence of RCC recurrence has been reported to be 7% with a median time of 38 months for T1 tumors, 26% with a median time of 32 months for T2 disease, and 39% with a median time to recurrence at 17 months for T3 tumors.^"

/G

Texas_wedge said:

Classroom

Michael, you'll doubtless listen to your doc's advice and pay close attention to what your body is telling you but that doesn't sound an unreasonable expectation.

By the way, do you happen to have a GRAF gene mutation?

Nope!  Just can't hold tall drinks of Lagavulin!

I am a 66 year old college prof.  I teach in the Humanities, Communication and English!  My PhD is actually in Theatre as a historian.

Not bad for a fella who was a beginning freshman when he was 46!

MeMeJoy said:

Thanks!

I can't imagine it is an easy decision...Hopefully it's not one I will have to make! But I feel that may be wishful thinking... It's good to know there are others out there going through the same emotions/issues - NOT that I would wish this on anyone! - but...you know what I mean though?? lol

My house has a lot of stairs but I think I may just camp out in the living room for a few days

I have a large bed and very large bath en suite with 2 sinks, but on the second floor. Temporarily, I turned my bath into a combo bath/kitchen for about a month. I put a small fridge and a microwave there, and brought a few dishes, canned good, etc. upstairs so I could remain in my bedroom for the first 2-3 weeks and avoid the stairs. I arranged this before the surgery. I was glad I did this. It came in very handy until I felt like doing the stairs regularly. These kinds of appliances are so inexpensive nowadays. The $150 I spent on this was well worth it.

Todd