SO AFRAID PLEASE HELP ABOUT MY 64yr old FATHER HELP ME PLEASE!!

cubsfan9 said:

Hello!

Good Morning, Diana!

I am so sorry to hear of your situation, but glad you have found this site as you will be able to get information and support from the members.  We have all been where you are, either as patients or caregivers, and can relate to your shock and fear.

It is good that your brother is 'taking charge' and getting your dad to a urologist.  IF it is determined that his mass is kidney cancer, it sounds as if it is fairly small.  In that case, surgery is often done to remove the mass and that is the end of the story:)  If there is evidence that it is not localized there are several drugs used to treat the disease.  I am sure others will chime in, but if he has surgery and needs further treatment he should look for a doctor/oncologist who has experience with RCC (kidney cancer) as it behaves and responds differently from other types of cancer.

As far as the genetic factor, kidney cancer MAY have a genetic component, but that tends to be a little more unusual.  If you read information about others on this board you will see that very few have kidney cancer that 'runs in the family'.  Given the kinds of cancer you mention that family members have had, I don't think they would be related to your father's situaiton.  Perhaps someone with more knowledge than I will comment on this issue.

It is very obvious from your photo and your post that you and your brother love your father very much.  He is lucky to have such wonderful children and will need your love and support as he deals with this.  Try to take a deep breath as you wait for further testing and results.  Remember, this may not turn out to be cancer, and if it is it may be treated with surgery and done!!  Keep us posted, and feel freee to ask questions.               ~Sharon

So sorry to hear about your dad and wishing him the best. I understand your fears of genetics but genetics is not destiny. You may never get cancer, even if some of your family member did or do have it. And the opposite is true. No one in my family ever had or has any type of cancer whatsoever yet I was "blessed" with RCC. Your dad is fortunate to have such caring children.

Your father’s tumor is fairly small and once removed he will be cancer free. Generally the people that die from Kidney cancer are those that didn’t know they had it until it spread somewhere else.  I had robotic partial nephrectomy done at Dr. Phillips Hospital in Orlando in March.  Surgery was on Monday and I went to a concert at SeaWorld on Sunday 6 days after.

Spending your life worrying that you will have cancer one day is a waste of your energy and time.  If it happens it happens if it doesn’t it doesn’t you aren’t in control.  Good thing is today’s survival rate for all cancers is better and getting better all the time. 

Cindy

Diana,

Your fears are normal. We've all been there...

To help me move beyond the fear, I educated myself about kidney cancer. Knowledge will destroy fear of the unknown! This place is a great resource: people are caring and they are educated about their disease. And, like I've said, we've all been there!

The surgery to remove a tumor that small can be amazingly easy for the patient, especially if there is a specialist in your father's area who can do it laproscopically (no big incisions, just a few small "holes," which are usually not even stitched up afterward...just glued)! Most of us who have had that surgery were out hospital in a couple days, and the recovery is surprisingly easy after that. I was back golfing in a few weeks and learned to windsurf 3 months later.

I went into my surgery expecting the tumor to be cancer. That way, I wouldn't be blindsided when the pathology report came back. I was armed with the knowledge that a tumor that small (mine was around 2 cm) has very little chance of recurring. I knew that surgery is likely the only treatment I would need for this cancer!

So, please take a deep breath and continue to love and support your dad through his surgery. He has to have surgery in order to actually know whether or not the tumor is actually cancer. Cross that bridge when you get to it! There are some people on this board who joined when they found out they had a tumor, had surgery, and when the pathology report came back, they found out it wasn't cancer at all.

Best of luck to you and your dad.

Getting your Dad to the doctor! 

I am very very close to my father so know how it feels when they are sick.

As people have pointed out, if it is cancer, it is small and can be taken care of.

Also genetics don't always prove you are going to get what others have.  I am the ONLY one in my family with cancer, an I don't have the things that others have.  Don't let that fear take hold of you 8-(

You just need to be strong and hang in there. Wait until all tests come back and deal with one thing at a time.

Lots of extra hugs from and to you Dad help as well.

Well for what it is worth, evidently there is no such thing as a RCC gene, although there is some genetic evidence that sons of women who had early breast cancer have a higher risk of developing RCC (which does not seem to be the case in your family).  So while you will need to to periodic physicals and checkups (for RCC, a simple ultrasound rules it out), it does not sound like you are at serious risk and you should concentrate on helping your young 63 year old dad cope.  Best wishes from another 63 year old dad with RCC!

Eliezer2 said:

PS Clarification

As far as I can understand, the thinking is not that there is a RCC gene but rather that a different gene that usually cleanses out or zaps RCC like cells for some reason "falls asleep" on its job.  Current reserach is seeking ways to wake it up.

There is not "one" RCC gene that may be responsible - there are quite a few.  Some are oncogenes (i.e. they promote the growth of cancer) and others are tumor suppressor genes (i.e. they work to inhibit the growth of cancer).

The one curious commonality of all the various genes that may be involved or mutated is that they all effect cell metabolism.  This is why Dr. W. Marston Linehan of the NIH/NCI considers all the various versions of RCC as a prime example of "cancer as a metabolic disease":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxRXDElQ_nQ&noredirect=1

todd121 said:

Welcome!

Sorry you have to be here and your dad "may" have to be a part of our group. Until you get the CT scan, you really won't know. Even then, if the CT scan says it's probably cancer, you won't really know until after they remove it and have somebody look at it under the microscope and tell you what it is. And after that, even if it turns out to have been RCC, there's a pretty good chance that will be the end of it. Most small tumors caught early are cured with the surgery. Even if there are others soon or later, there are other treatments that might stop it.

So there's a lot of room for hope here. You're right to be concerned, but don't get too far into how bad it is when it isn't there yet!

I do know what it feels like, at least from your dad's point of view. I was peeing blood about 18 months ago and had my kidney removed a month later to find out it was the most common type of kidney cancer, clear cell renal cell carcinoma (we call it ccRCC). My tumor was about 7 cm and so far I've had no others. I'm very grateful for that.

Make sure your dad sees somebody that knows about this kind of cancer. The first doctor you're likely to see is a urologist, who is a surgeon that will decide about removing all or part of the kidney based on the CT scan. They can usually tell from the CT if it's very likely cancer. If they remove it and if it turns out to be kidney cancer, make sure your dad sees a medical oncologist soon (or even before they remove it if you can). Medical oncologists know a lot about cancer that occur throughout the body  and how to treat it - more than urologists know. Kidney cancer is a rarer type of cancer and there've been many new drugs developed recently and are under development, so if he has it, you'll want him to see the best medical oncologist he can find with kidney cancer experience (or someone that can call someone that knows a lot about kidney cancer).

With regards to you inheriting this, it's not very likely. Most kidney cancer is caused by gene mutations that happen after birth and is not inherited. I heard an expert speak about this a few months ago and she said something like 90% of kidney cancer falls into this category (as I remember). The number may have even been higher. So you're very unlikely to inherit it.

Hope some of this helps. Please let us know how it's going with your dad.

Todd

 

Hi Diana,

I'm glad you found us so soon in this journey.  I completely understand the shock, panic, and fear.  I've been there.  As others have said, it looks like it was found early. You have been told it is likely cancer.  But, it is also likely that surgery is all that will be needed and it is UNLIKELY to be hereditary.  Some types are, but they are rare.  The members on this site were key in helping me to come back to earth and get myself together.  Panic will not help. You want your father to take it seriously enough to get it taken care of, but it won't help if you pass along your panic.  While it is true that surgery will probably be the end of it, he will still need scans in the future just to be safe and an oncologist can help make a plan after things have calmed down.  You and he will get through this.  Take a breath and try to take it one step at a time.  Easier said than done I know.  Let us know how it goes.

Kathy