New Diagnosis

Welcome to the club.  You sound like you are calm and accept the hand you were dealt.  4 cm tumor is not bad at all.  I have one suggestion, and you may want to consider a second opinion.  The first urologist I went to said he would probably need to take my whole kidney because of the tumor location (it was a perihilar tumor).  I went for a second opinion at Memorial Sloan Kettering, and the doctor there was able to perform the surgery and preserve 95% of my affected kidney. 

Oh, and I started out like you when I got the original diagnosis.  Days before the surgery I was a train wreck.  I feel so silly now that the whole surgery and recovery was rather easy.

Positive_Mental_Attitude said:

Welcome to the club.  You

Welcome to the club.  You sound like you are calm and accept the hand you were dealt.  4 cm tumor is not bad at all.  I have one suggestion, and you may want to consider a second opinion.  The first urologist I went to said he would probably need to take my whole kidney because of the tumor location (it was a perihilar tumor).  I went for a second opinion at Memorial Sloan Kettering, and the doctor there was able to perform the surgery and preserve 95% of my affected kidney. 

Oh, and I started out like you when I got the original diagnosis.  Days before the surgery I was a train wreck.  I feel so silly now that the whole surgery and recovery was rather easy.

Welcome, WINGS! Glad you found us here. I cannot thank this site enough for answering all my questions with care, making me so prepared for when I met with my Urologist/surgeon a little over a year ago.

My tumor was 4.3 cm or so. It was found accidently too. AND I had some back pain for awhile. Most feel some pain in the lower quadrant or groin area. I didn't. And some feel no pain with this tumor. Often it gets missed.

Also told my tumor was in a precarious position too due to it being between the renal vein and and renal artery. I opted for have the whole kidney removed. What I was not told ahead of time, is that I could no longer take ANY NSAIDS which are ibroprofin type meds ever. I took a RX NSAID daily and much needed it. Yet I had to weigh not having that med with possibility of bleeding out or spreading the cancer by trying a partial. Now THAT is MY interpretation. So it might be best to get that 2nd opinion, just to make a well informed decision.

My surgery went well, and remained stage 1. I get my first year scan report tomorrow and suspect that I will remain NED=No evidence of disease. My recovery went very well.

As far as your wife, I would suggest you both use your faith or religious beliefs if you do believe. Tell me, when does worrying EVER help you? It doesn't. It wastes energy and raises stress level, if you ask me. Being informed and asking lots of questions, here or wherever helps too.

I choose and continue to choose, to be well informed, hence this web site and Smart Patients site too. I also ask questions and come to appointments with any questions and concerns. I even saw an Oncologist just to get his opinion after my surgery re: the Path report.

Now I did use a lumbar wrap support after both my robatic, laproscopic surgeries. I had little to no pain, some swelling and discomfort around the larger incision (about 3-4 inches long) rather than take Opiates which did not agree with me and lead to constipation. Now some folks NEED meds, so I do not take that from them. I also put dry ice inside my lumbar wrap but not against the skin and that helped with the little swelling. ICE helped alot!

What DOES hurt/pinch is the gas they pump into your abdomen whenever they do any surgeries so the surgeon can SEE better. That gas gets trapped inside for awhile, esp by the shoulder and hurts. It was my worst pain, but not unbearable as I knew what it was. WALKING helps and moving that shoulder. Gas pains lasted about 5 days or so.

Also do not be brave when you start to feel better and push it. I could not drive for 1 week, BUT could not exercise for 30 days. After all, your insides are healing and you don't want any complications, bleeding, or hernias and such. Keep that in mind.

Keep us informed and let your wife know that I will be thinking/praying for you both! You'll get through this time and we'll walk beside you in support!

Warmly, Jan

I think, deep down, we're all scared of it.  Everyone knows someone who has been through it; in my case it was a distant fear.  Both of my grandparents on my mother's side died of cancer.  I knew I was at higher risk but I never thought I'd be dealing with it at 35... Hopefully I'm done since it was caught early.  My tumor was 2.8 cm and found while they were scanning for gallstones.  

Your chances are very good that you won't see this again.  Once it's out, you'll feel a lot better mentally.  There were a few days initially when I was a basket case, but once the "plan" is set in motion, you kind of feel a lot better.  Even though my tumor was small, the doctor had to take the whole kidney so I'm living with one kidney myself.  Honestly, at least now, I haven't noticed much difference.  Cleaner living, eating better and keeping toxins out of your blood will allow your other kidney to naturally pick up the slack.  

You'll be fine, man.

They took out a 10.4cm along with my left kidney in Dec 2013.  I was 35 and active.  I had lost about 30lbs before the surgery, but once they took that monster out, color immediately came back to my skin, I was breathing normal, and weight started coming back on.  I was in the gym within a month doing squats and back to it hardcore in 3 months.  It was aggressive, but I'm saying it because it's doable.  Nothing has changed, except I drink more water now.  I don't know what your diet was, but it does need to be your number one concern.  Number two is your wife (only bc if you ignore your health, your wife might kill you - if she's anything like mine ).  

Consciously or subconsciously, fear is there.  Fear is just as corrosive as the cancer itself.  Keep up the chatter on these boards.  It does help.  Also, see about talking to a professional.  Having someone to talk out your fears, even the ones you might try to hide to protect your love ones - those are the fears that eat us alive.  Get them out in the open, shine light on them and they won't bother you again.  Best thing I did was air the dirty laundry with my wife; it was a KO to fear for the both of us.  But we have to revisit that practice every now and then, lest fear raise its ugly head again.

You're going to do fine in surgery.  As others will say, we're sorry you have to put up with the hospital food. 

Joe

So sorry you had to join, as you've written people of this forum are like a family, they were very helpful in the worst time of my life. It was my greatest fear in my life to have a cancer; finally I was diagnosed with RCC at the age of 36!!! As you know I'm too young for this type of cancer. So I had to face my greatest fear. It wasn't easy at all, this board helped me a lot, now almost 5 months post diagnosis I'm almost back on track. The surgery won't be easy but not that difficult that you think before it. Your body will learn how to live with one kidney, there are many ones who live with one kidney for a long time, the main key is to drink water, water and water, and help your kidney by eating properly. Here I'm wishing you a successful surgery and good recovery along with a stage one pathology report

Forough

Footstomper said:

Spouses

Treat your wife. I cant begin to say how supportive my wife has been and all the time I cant help but think it must be so hard to watch and easier to undergo the treatment. If that makes any sense.

Wings57,

My wife thought we should go to a nice B and B on the Canadian side of Lake Huron to relax and get my mind off the upcoming neph . They recommended this British Pub type restauant in town for dinner. The waitress brought all of the dishes out for us to look at before ordering. I could have done without the Kidney Pie

Icemantoo

Wings57 said:

Thanks for the welcome and

Thanks for the welcome and well wishes. The tumor is too close to the artery for a partial the doc says. He has done many of these and I've got confidence in him. I'm having Robotic Radical Nephrectomy and I'm just counting down the days until I get this outa me. Feb 4th can't get here soon enough. lol I will do my best to stay active on this forum and offer any insight when I have it. But now I know nothing(sgt shultz)lol. Wife and I are gonna go out and have a nice weekend. She deserves it. If it wasn't for her I wouldn't have caught this when we did. She "forced" me to go see the doc because of cramping caused by diverticulitis and he sent me to the hospital for the CT scan. The rest as they say is history.....

In the ICU said "Hows your pain on a scale of 1-10? Oh and if you say more than 5 I can give you morphine" Thats a definate 6 then.

Look at my pic thats me riding my Harley 3 years after having my right Kidney removed oh and i also bike ride an average of 100 miles a week but yes the crappy part of being diognosed with cancer is cancer is cancer which means you will always have to ramain vigilant with your follow up CT scans and bloodwork,oh and did i mention i also had a tumor in my remaining left Kidney Ablated oh yhea and that low grade transitional cell cancer in my bladder but life is good.