Found 8cm on my sons kidney an hour ago

blondy1975
blondy1975 Member Posts: 27

I'm not sure I'm in the right place to be posting this, but my anxiety is through the roof and my husband is at the hospital with our son but i can't be with them because I am home with our other children. My son is 18. He went snow skiing yesterday and had a couple crashes and he woke up this a.m. with a pain in his back. I assumed pulled muscle but the pain worsened and he became nautious. Fearing he injured an organ my husband took him to ER. A cat scan revealed a 8 cm mass on his kidney that looks to be more solid rather than fluid filled. They are doing a MRI tomorrow. I'm reading on the internet that a tumor that large is likely malignant. Sorry if this isn't the right place to post I'm just beside myself. My son hasn't been very healthy the ladt few months. He has been in and out of the dr's office with illnesses... mono, flu, a respiratory infection that lasted so long they thought he had asthma.  

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Comments

  • Dutch1
    Dutch1 Member Posts: 152
    You need to hold on some

    You need to hold on some more.  Your son may be in for some surgery, but it may not be as serious of a situation as you might fear.  Give the doctors a chance to figure out what's going on.  Be persistent about getting the fullest examination and analysis that's possible.  Don't let your doubts go unanswered.  Ask questions.  There are some very good medical people out there who can deal with all sorts of problems.  If there is something there, it's good that it is being found out now rather than 6 or 12 months from now.

    Dutch1

  • icemantoo
    icemantoo Member Posts: 3,361 Member
    Dutch1 said:

    You need to hold on some

    You need to hold on some more.  Your son may be in for some surgery, but it may not be as serious of a situation as you might fear.  Give the doctors a chance to figure out what's going on.  Be persistent about getting the fullest examination and analysis that's possible.  Don't let your doubts go unanswered.  Ask questions.  There are some very good medical people out there who can deal with all sorts of problems.  If there is something there, it's good that it is being found out now rather than 6 or 12 months from now.

    Dutch1

    One lucky skier

    Blondy,

     

    You are in the right place. Most often Kidney Cancer is found as a result of a totally unrelated event or a test to rule out something else. In my 5 years that I have been on this board we have only had a couple people as young as your son. But sometimes Cancer breaks its own rukes.

    Unfortunately at 8 cm it probably is Cancer and if it had not been found and contiued to grow the prognosis would be anything, but good. However at 8 cm he is in the high average of those on this board. Many are here with initial tumors 10 cm or larger. At 8 cm it is hopeful that a full recovery can be had from the surgery alone.

     

    The first thing that is likely to happen is that they will probably want to take out the kidney. This is called a nepherectomy. It is major, but otherwise routine surgery. Mine was 12 and 1/2 tears ago. They will due a biopsy on the tumor after surgery and follow up with scans. There are many people who have only 1 kidney to start with as well as most of us who have lost our kidney to this disease.

     

    It is normal to be in shock when you are told that we had Kidney Cancer. Not words I ever expected to here at age 58 let alone 18. Things will get better although the ride is a little bumpy and unpleasant as first.

     

    Icemantoo

  • foroughsh
    foroughsh Member Posts: 779 Member
    Hi, I'm very sorry for the

    Hi, I'm very sorry for the situation made you join Here. I was very frustrated with my own disease during first days and weeks so I can imagine it must be worse when you're talking about a child. Let's wish it's benign which is possible. As far as I know rcc which is the most common type of kidney maligensies happen in adults and usually elderies. In my case I was diagnosed at the age of 36. Jason, another member was 35, and also another lady member member was 36. We are the youngest ones. So it's probebly not rcc. There is another thing which is  called something like whilms tumor,that's for kids. The good point is that whilms tumor respond to chemotraphy and radiography. As far as I know if it's benign or maligent, in both cases your son must undergo nephrectomy to remove the whole kidney because this kidney doesn't work anymore. It's not easy but he will be OK becase he is young and as you described was sporting until the last day prior to diagnosis. So in case of surgery write a new topic and members will tell you what you should do. Try to relax and do your best to find a very good urologist whose experties is what you need , it's very important who is doing the surgery, i think prior the surgery they will know if it's benign or not. For rcc the best option is CT scan with contrast. I wish you come and say it was benign

  • Srashedb
    Srashedb Member Posts: 482 Member
    You are

    you are definitely in the right place; a large mass on the kidney might or might not be cancer but thankfully you will get answers soon.

    but for the skiing accidents, this mass might well have been gone unnoted but now, answers will be coming 

    hang in and come here when you need to; the initial fears will find comfort here and if it is not cancer, we will rejoice with you

    i am here because my husband has kidney cancer

    Sarah

  • blondy1975
    blondy1975 Member Posts: 27
    icemantoo said:

    One lucky skier

    Blondy,

     

    You are in the right place. Most often Kidney Cancer is found as a result of a totally unrelated event or a test to rule out something else. In my 5 years that I have been on this board we have only had a couple people as young as your son. But sometimes Cancer breaks its own rukes.

    Unfortunately at 8 cm it probably is Cancer and if it had not been found and contiued to grow the prognosis would be anything, but good. However at 8 cm he is in the high average of those on this board. Many are here with initial tumors 10 cm or larger. At 8 cm it is hopeful that a full recovery can be had from the surgery alone.

     

    The first thing that is likely to happen is that they will probably want to take out the kidney. This is called a nepherectomy. It is major, but otherwise routine surgery. Mine was 12 and 1/2 tears ago. They will due a biopsy on the tumor after surgery and follow up with scans. There are many people who have only 1 kidney to start with as well as most of us who have lost our kidney to this disease.

     

    It is normal to be in shock when you are told that we had Kidney Cancer. Not words I ever expected to here at age 58 let alone 18. Things will get better although the ride is a little bumpy and unpleasant as first.

     

    Icemantoo

    I know I should give the

    I know I should give the doctors time, but they won't tell my husband anything.  They just keep saying they will know more tomorrow with the MRI.  And I know that isn't a good sign.  If they didn't suspect something bad they would say, "it doesn't look to be malignant". But they won't tell him anything.  God I just keep thinking... 8cm... that's over 3"!  They diagnosed my son with mono months ago but kept feeling what they suspected was an enlarged spleen, a syptom of mono, but now I'm thinking it was probably this 3" mass he has. I'm so heart broken.  He's been so sick with this and that.  He's lost weight, he always looks so pale. They did blood work for his mono and I remember them saying something was off but my mind is going a million miles a minute that I can't remember what it was they said.  Whatever it was I assumed they assumed it was due to the mono.  This just can't happen right now.  My husband will just lose it.  He just lost his step dad, his mom just had a stroke over it, and his dad has cancer and is in the hospital. 

  • blondy1975
    blondy1975 Member Posts: 27
    foroughsh said:

    Hi, I'm very sorry for the

    Hi, I'm very sorry for the situation made you join Here. I was very frustrated with my own disease during first days and weeks so I can imagine it must be worse when you're talking about a child. Let's wish it's benign which is possible. As far as I know rcc which is the most common type of kidney maligensies happen in adults and usually elderies. In my case I was diagnosed at the age of 36. Jason, another member was 35, and also another lady member member was 36. We are the youngest ones. So it's probebly not rcc. There is another thing which is  called something like whilms tumor,that's for kids. The good point is that whilms tumor respond to chemotraphy and radiography. As far as I know if it's benign or maligent, in both cases your son must undergo nephrectomy to remove the whole kidney because this kidney doesn't work anymore. It's not easy but he will be OK becase he is young and as you described was sporting until the last day prior to diagnosis. So in case of surgery write a new topic and members will tell you what you should do. Try to relax and do your best to find a very good urologist whose experties is what you need , it's very important who is doing the surgery, i think prior the surgery they will know if it's benign or not. For rcc the best option is CT scan with contrast. I wish you come and say it was benign

    They did the CT with contrast

    They did the CT with contrast tonight, but they won't tell my husband anything.  They just keep saying they will know more with the MRI tomorrow.

  • Allochka
    Allochka Member Posts: 1,060 Member
    Srashedb said:

    You are

    you are definitely in the right place; a large mass on the kidney might or might not be cancer but thankfully you will get answers soon.

    but for the skiing accidents, this mass might well have been gone unnoted but now, answers will be coming 

    hang in and come here when you need to; the initial fears will find comfort here and if it is not cancer, we will rejoice with you

    i am here because my husband has kidney cancer

    Sarah

    Hello, very sorry for your

    Hello, very sorry for your situation. It always extremely scary to go through potential cancer diagnosis, when your loved ones are diagnosed.

    But your son is too young for ordinary kidney cancer. As previous pisters said, younger people  here are around 35. My fiance, diagnosed last year, is also 35. So your sons tumor could be Whilms tumor indeed, which can be treated in more ways that simple kidney cancer. Or it could be benign. I recently found out that my friend's mother in law had a huge benign tumor removed together with kidney. So there is always hope.

    And even this one is not benign, your situation is far from desperate . Stik to this board, ir is very helpful. 

    Please let us know how things are tomorrow. 

    Alla

  • todd121
    todd121 Member Posts: 1,448 Member
    Sorry to hear

    Do you remember what was off on your son's blood tests? Anemia? Did they do a urinalysis? Has he had any blood in his urine?

    At his age, it's unusual to get normal RCC. I hope you're seeing a urologic oncologist?

    I'd try to get information on genetic RCC (for example Wilms tumors and others) before they treat him. They've done a lot of research on this type of tumors and they have some great techniques I believe for treating that. Some of them are even more treatable than normal RCC with chemo therapy. I'm sure you have good doctors and they'll figure it out.

    I'm just a little surprised they've ordered an MRI. A CT with contrast is usually the best diagnostic tool for these types of masses in the kidney. Do you know if you're son is seeing a urologic oncologist or just a normal urologist? This is serious, but there should be time to get him to the best specialist you can find in your area. Second opinions are good. Take your time and get another one. I got 3 opinions and was glad I did. Usually, the docs are great about working you in for things like this. I got in very quickly with some really good doctors just by calling and explaining the situation with their nurses or schedulers on the phone.

    Good luck to you. Please keep us up to date.

    Todd

  • dhs1963
    dhs1963 Member Posts: 513
    todd121 said:

    Sorry to hear

    Do you remember what was off on your son's blood tests? Anemia? Did they do a urinalysis? Has he had any blood in his urine?

    At his age, it's unusual to get normal RCC. I hope you're seeing a urologic oncologist?

    I'd try to get information on genetic RCC (for example Wilms tumors and others) before they treat him. They've done a lot of research on this type of tumors and they have some great techniques I believe for treating that. Some of them are even more treatable than normal RCC with chemo therapy. I'm sure you have good doctors and they'll figure it out.

    I'm just a little surprised they've ordered an MRI. A CT with contrast is usually the best diagnostic tool for these types of masses in the kidney. Do you know if you're son is seeing a urologic oncologist or just a normal urologist? This is serious, but there should be time to get him to the best specialist you can find in your area. Second opinions are good. Take your time and get another one. I got 3 opinions and was glad I did. Usually, the docs are great about working you in for things like this. I got in very quickly with some really good doctors just by calling and explaining the situation with their nurses or schedulers on the phone.

    Good luck to you. Please keep us up to date.

    Todd

    RCC at 18 is unusual, but not unheard of

    It is rare to get the adult RCC that young, and Wilms tumors are rarely observed in peole over 6 years old.  Either way, it might be worth reaching out to NIH because of his age -- there must be a genetic component.  

    If it is Wilms tumor, that responds to classic chemo....if it is RCC, he will have to have the tumor removed, which probably means removing the kidney.  The good news is if it is RCC, and has not spread, at stage II (8 cm is stage II), the majority of cases are cured by the surgery.

  • APny
    APny Member Posts: 1,995 Member
    dhs1963 said:

    RCC at 18 is unusual, but not unheard of

    It is rare to get the adult RCC that young, and Wilms tumors are rarely observed in peole over 6 years old.  Either way, it might be worth reaching out to NIH because of his age -- there must be a genetic component.  

    If it is Wilms tumor, that responds to classic chemo....if it is RCC, he will have to have the tumor removed, which probably means removing the kidney.  The good news is if it is RCC, and has not spread, at stage II (8 cm is stage II), the majority of cases are cured by the surgery.

    I am so sorry you're going

    I am so sorry you're going through this. I can't even imagine what it's like when your child is facing the possibility of cancer. I think they hesitate to say anything because they want to be sure. Unfortunately the majority of instances do turn out to be cancer, however given his youth, it just may not be that. So they don't want to call it until very sure. There are benign tumors such as oncocytoma but as said above, regardless of whether it's benign or malignant it will have to come out before it starts interfering with kidney function. I'm keeping your family in my thoughts and hoping for the best. 

  • blondy1975
    blondy1975 Member Posts: 27
    APny said:

    I am so sorry you're going

    I am so sorry you're going through this. I can't even imagine what it's like when your child is facing the possibility of cancer. I think they hesitate to say anything because they want to be sure. Unfortunately the majority of instances do turn out to be cancer, however given his youth, it just may not be that. So they don't want to call it until very sure. There are benign tumors such as oncocytoma but as said above, regardless of whether it's benign or malignant it will have to come out before it starts interfering with kidney function. I'm keeping your family in my thoughts and hoping for the best. 

    all counts are off

    Did blood work urine counts are all off. My husband can sense tention.someone cominh to b with kids and im going to hospital. 

  • Jan4you
    Jan4you Member Posts: 1,330 Member

    all counts are off

    Did blood work urine counts are all off. My husband can sense tention.someone cominh to b with kids and im going to hospital. 

    Sending you HUGS to you and

    Sending you HUGS to you and yours! As a mother, this makes it more difficult than if it were you, correct? Of course this is alarming. Please use your faith to get your through as your son needs both of you to be reassuring. Of course you already know that.

    As far as the doctors not telling you (yet) that is because they are still working on a diagnosis. AND they are ruling things OUT as well as in. Let them do their work. I know, I know, waiting and wondering is challenging.

    Still, be aware that it will probably take more than one doctor to help your son. Again, they them do their job.

    What I suspect is that, as the folks here said, it may not be RCC or renal cancer, but Wilms tumor. Regardless both are treatable and your son will get better and have a wonderful life. Whew..

    Again, know that we're here for you. I hope you let us know what you find out. We'll walk this journey along side you.

    Here's another hug~I am praying for all of you!

    Jan, a mother of a son

  • Footstomper
    Footstomper Member Posts: 1,237 Member

    all counts are off

    Did blood work urine counts are all off. My husband can sense tention.someone cominh to b with kids and im going to hospital. 

    Doctors

    Not saying anything sounds very sensible to me until they have examined the scans and all the evidence. Drs in the ER are unlikely to be the specialists you really want to talk to anyway.Try to keep calm. It maybe doesnt sound too good right now, but you havent got all the information in and it wont be something you cant deal with

  • Wings57
    Wings57 Member Posts: 8
    Very sorry your family is

    Very sorry your family is going thru this. Easier said than done but take a deep breath and try to relax. Don't get too far ahead of yourself and wait until you get a diagnoses from the Doc. I was diagnosed with RCC on Jan 15 and will be having my right kidney removed on Feb 4th. It is a bit overwhelming I know. Your family as well as your son are in my prayers.....

  • Srashedb
    Srashedb Member Posts: 482 Member
    todd121 said:

    Sorry to hear

    Do you remember what was off on your son's blood tests? Anemia? Did they do a urinalysis? Has he had any blood in his urine?

    At his age, it's unusual to get normal RCC. I hope you're seeing a urologic oncologist?

    I'd try to get information on genetic RCC (for example Wilms tumors and others) before they treat him. They've done a lot of research on this type of tumors and they have some great techniques I believe for treating that. Some of them are even more treatable than normal RCC with chemo therapy. I'm sure you have good doctors and they'll figure it out.

    I'm just a little surprised they've ordered an MRI. A CT with contrast is usually the best diagnostic tool for these types of masses in the kidney. Do you know if you're son is seeing a urologic oncologist or just a normal urologist? This is serious, but there should be time to get him to the best specialist you can find in your area. Second opinions are good. Take your time and get another one. I got 3 opinions and was glad I did. Usually, the docs are great about working you in for things like this. I got in very quickly with some really good doctors just by calling and explaining the situation with their nurses or schedulers on the phone.

    Good luck to you. Please keep us up to date.

    Todd

    MRI

    my husband had MRIs, CTs, PETScans and bone scans for staging purposes.

    Sarah

    2015-01-25

  • Jojo61
    Jojo61 Member Posts: 1,309 Member
    A lot of good information was

    A lot of good information was shared...I can't add much to that - other than to say I am sorry to hear your sad news. Having your child go through this is really hard to swallow. I am thinking of you and your family and will keep you in my prayers. Please keep us posted!

    Hugs

    Jojo

  • blondy1975
    blondy1975 Member Posts: 27
    Jojo61 said:

    A lot of good information was

    A lot of good information was shared...I can't add much to that - other than to say I am sorry to hear your sad news. Having your child go through this is really hard to swallow. I am thinking of you and your family and will keep you in my prayers. Please keep us posted!

    Hugs

    Jojo

    Feeling some relief. Doctor

    Feeling some relief. Doctor says looks to be more of a cyst rather than a solid mass. The cyst has calcifications. MRI soon to see the cyst better. I hope this improves the likelyhood of his diagnosis

  • icemantoo
    icemantoo Member Posts: 3,361 Member

    Feeling some relief. Doctor

    Feeling some relief. Doctor says looks to be more of a cyst rather than a solid mass. The cyst has calcifications. MRI soon to see the cyst better. I hope this improves the likelyhood of his diagnosis

    Good News

    Blondy,

     

    Hopefully I will be proven wrong about my initial thought that it is probaly Cancer. Whatever it is they may still need to get rid of it.

     

     

    Icemantoo

  • blondy1975
    blondy1975 Member Posts: 27
    icemantoo said:

    Good News

    Blondy,

     

    Hopefully I will be proven wrong about my initial thought that it is probaly Cancer. Whatever it is they may still need to get rid of it.

     

     

    Icemantoo

    Just read about the Bosniak

    Just read about the Bosniak scale on cysts. Based on info gained so far I think it puts him at a level 3 with a 50% chance of it being malignant. Fear has settled in again

  • Footstomper
    Footstomper Member Posts: 1,237 Member

    Just read about the Bosniak

    Just read about the Bosniak scale on cysts. Based on info gained so far I think it puts him at a level 3 with a 50% chance of it being malignant. Fear has settled in again

    Hang on in there

    I know the fear you must be feeling but try not to second guess the doctors if you can. They will inform you when they have a certain diagnosis. a 50% chance its malignant is also a 50% chance its not. It just means they dont know yet.