Pain question

You mentioned all the important stuff from your pathology except the size of the tumor. How large was it? It's good news that you're Stage 1, of course. Grade 3 isn't good and neither is a large tumor. It's not very likely it's spread to bones. Not sure about the 2% number they threw out. It's certainly less than 10% chance, but larger tumors and higher grades are not good.

Further staging with regards to bone mets, would be a nuclear bone scan. It's they way they rule out bone mets. However, often/usually something shows up on CT scans too. If they didn't see anything on your CT, it's really very unlikely you have bone mets in multiple places.

Your so soon out of your surgery. Insides take a lot longer to heal than outsides. You're probably still healing even at 2 months. On the other hand, the pain you describe is odd and can't be accounted for with respect to what you've had so far.

Bone mets take awhile to get to the point to cause pain. That you'd have several causing pain with a CT scan that showed nothing, not at all likely this soon after having had your scans. Assuming you had a CT with contrast recently of your chest?

Follow ups are important. I attended a presentation yesterday on active surveillance. The facts presented showed that the NCCN guidelines miss something like 30% of recurrences for kidney cancer, and the number for Stage 1 is even higher. So get your scans and if you can find a doctor that will follow you longer than 3 years, go for it. Chest/abdomen and pelvic CTs are the best for catching stuff early. I'd get scanned minimally every 6 months for 5 years if it were me, and then annually after that. If you can do every 4 months for the first 2 years, that's even better. 1.9 years is the mean time to first recurrence for those of us unlucky enough to have one.

Sorry I don't know what's causing your pain.

Best wishes,

Todd

I had pain in that same location.  My surgery was in July.  Late in July or early August, I had a sneezing fit, and it felt like I pulled a muscle in that area.  It remained tender for a while. It eventually went away.  The surgery involved cutting through many layers of tissue and muscle, and it will take months to fully heal.  Stop poking at it!

I had my kidney out in May 2013. I was stunned at how long it took me to recover, if indeed I ever have entirely. You have the right to ask your doctor about any concerns and I'm sure they would welcome your questions. But youve had a ruddy great hole cut in you and thats going to leave you with aches and pains for a while.

AndyE said:

I finally went to my PCP

I finally went to my PCP because of these painful spots, and he ordered rib and chest X rays.  All X rays came back clear.  He suggested that I have bone scan in June if the pain has not subsided by then, but he thinks a lot of these bruise-like spots (without the bruise) may be skeletal/muscular in nature.  I feel like I have something horribly out of place in my back between my shoulderblades, and there is a burning sensation in a few locations around my shoulder blade.  This is driving me nuts!  I wish I could convince myself that nothing serioius was wrong.  It has now been three months since my surgery....when will this stop.....

Andy,

if you look above, you will see that I reported very similar back pain to yours... However now that I am on my a$$ again recovering from surgery yet again the back pain has subsided completely.  I really think that it's just the abdominal muscles pulling on the other muscles and causing an overall sore feeling.  The back pain was bad enough to be a very big nuisance for me as well so you are not alone... But I really think it's just continued recovery pains, my friend.  Now that I know that rest cures the pain, I'm nearly sure of it.  Now I have a whole new set of recovery pains to look forward to :-/

- Jay

AndyE said:

My doctor ordered a bone

My doctor ordered a bone scan, chest MRI, and bloodwork to try and determine where this scapula, back, and rib pain is coming from.  I had the tests yesterday, and I am happy to say that the bone scan and MRI were both normal and indicated "nothing with which you should be concerned."  I have not yet received the blood work tests back.  While this is great news, it unfortunately does not help me identify the cause of this pain.  A nurse friend of mine mentioned that it might be scar tissue pain, and scar tissue apparently begins to form roughly 3 months after surgery apparently.  Has anyone else experienced scar tissue pain?  If so, what did it feel like?  I wonder if scar tissue might form around a nerve and cause radiating pain?  Just thinking out loud.

I can't answer the pain question but I'm so happy to hear your MRI and bone scan came back normal. Hope the pain issue is resolved soon!

aamdsi said:

I started having back pain

about 5 months after surgery - not having had it before it scared me.  I was working out at the gym one morning and just happened to ask a PT that worked there. 

She said that the surgery weakened the muscles alog my back and flank making them work all the harder, but not better.  And even with my resuming my running and swimming, I wasn't doing enough for those muscles. She then gave me a series of very simple stretches and stregthening things I could do - even at my desk - and within a week I noticed a vast improvement. I have since contiunued to do the things everyday and have not had any pain since. 

Now - that aside, it's been a year since my open partial and the scar has days that it is all pins and needles.  Or it feels like it's "ripping" for short periods of time. Dr. said normal.

Check with your Doc. then see if you can find a PT that can help you.  Exersize really really helps.

Laurie

Short story. My pain into my right shoulder and arm started in march of last year. Weakness started in may. I identified neck and brachial plexus issues. Nothing could be found through ct scans, mri, nerve conduction studies and emgs. Look at me now. If you are unfamiliar with my story, read back a little bit. My advice is to stay on top of this. Do not trust that therapist. But then again, I've only been a PT for near 40 years.