anxiety

Hello, Papaneal!  Small cyst on outside of kidney is probably better than having one on the kidney. You say cyst.. do you have a copy of your path report?  Hearing the word small is vey reassuring. They can go in and take it out and then not have to take the kidney. This could be the only thing you will have to deal with and then get on with life.  As far as cancer goes, they won't know until they go in to see what it is. Cancer is usually always assumed. Go in and have it done as soon as you can to get it over with. Don't worry too much, they can probably do it laproscopicly or Davcini and recovery shouldn't be too bad. My mom was 79 when she had her 7 cm. tumor and kidney removed by DaVinci.  You will be just fine.  Come back with any questions you have. Always be sure to get a copy of your path report. Others will chime in here to make you feel better and give you more info. I think things will be just fine... sooner it is out the better so you can put it behind you! Take care! Hugs!

icemantoo said:

anxiety

papaneal,

 

Certainly not fun to hesr you have Kidney Cancer. How large or small is the cyst. There have been some recent studies questioning surgery for very small cysts for persons over 65. That being said you may want a second opinion.

 

All of us here have been there and done that. Mine was 11 and 1/2 ears ago at a then age 59.

 

Icemantoo a/k/a Papa Garry

I figured your grand-kids just called you Popsicle

papaneal said:

This old retired Marine yells

This old retired Marine yells a big thank you for your comments.     Shell shocked, I forgot statistics except urologist in Wichita mentioned the size of my thumb nail.    Da Vinci op for you guys  worrying about Prostate;  it was easy - and PSA of 0.    Only by luck when getting last PSA did they notice blood in urine.   Opened the door for checking kidney.

Can't help but feel a special kinship to ya, knowing you're a Marine.  I was born on a Marine base in North Carolina, daddy was a Marine.  I have 2 brothers Army, 2 brothers Navy and my son is in his 11th year as an Airman in the AirForce. 

Thank you for your service!!! 

twinthings said:

backside tumors

Hi papaneal,

Glad to meet you, sorry for the circumstances.  I'm not sure what you mean by outside the kidney.  My tumor was situated on the backside of my kidney and grew as much into the kidney as it did out of/on the kidney.  In terms of cysts/tumors being outside the kidney, my doctor told me that tumors on the backside of the kidney are much more likely to be malignant than tumors on the front surface.   

I find it interesting that many people don't know whether their tumors are malignant until after the pathology report, post surgery.  My doctor told me straight up, before surgery, that I had cancer.  No maybe about it. 

The good news is, if in fact you do have kidney cancer, surgery is the cure...most of the time.  Especially if it's small.  Granted everybody has a different definition of 'small'.  The radiologist that read my initial report said I had a small cyst on right kidney.   And, though my tumor was small in comparisson to many others, at 4.7 cm, that's roughly half the size of the kidney it was attached to and according to my urologist, that's not small.  I know all of you with larger tumors will beg to differ.

Never been in the hospital in 68 years?  That's practically unheard of.  Oh well, there's a first time for everything, huh? 

I hope you'll keep us posted.  Take care.

Sindy

papaneal,

A thmb nail is a very small tumor or cyst. Find out its size. If under 2 cm definately look into a second opinion.

As for the North Carolina Army stuff I was conceived on an Arny base in North Carolina during WWII. Before I was born my father shiped out and my mother gave birth back home in Detroit. My father did not see me until I was nearly 3 years old after the war. My first 2 initials are G. I.

Icemantoo

A 2cm cyst was found on my right kidney when I went to the ER for pain in my left kidney.  I opted for a biopsy which was painless and did show that it was clear RCC. When I had the robotic surgery on March 3rd of this year the tumor was 3cm and they also removed a 5 cm fatty tumor.  I had never had surgery or any other major illness prior to this and I'm 55.

The surgery was not that bad and the alternative to not doing anyting is not good.  I was worried about the surgery until I found this site and I think 4 or 5 of use were all scheduled close to each other and their successful surgeries put my mind at ease and I wasn't even afraid the day I went in because I knew it would be ok.

Cindy