Just diagnosed and scared

Spivey,

We were all scared sh==less when we were told we had Kidney Cancer. I sure was 14 years ago. Your question is Does this sound really bad? The answer is no. If you are going to get kidney cancer which nobody wants, let it be small like 2.6 cm. If it is confirmed as kidney Cancer they will remove all or part of the Kidney along with the tumor. The recovery rate for a tumor that size from the surgery alone is close to 100%. Nobody in their right mind volunteers to join our club, but we welcome you anyway. Get yourself to a Urologist specializing in Kidney Cancer and Laproscopic surgery. We will help you thru this. Many of the stories here will give you hope and comfort. Stay away from the stories about larger tumors as your prognosis does not apply where the tumor grows and misbehaves which rarely if ever happens with a tumor as small as yours.

The fear stuff will eventually go away. It sounds like you went thru worse than this already.

Icemantoo

From what I read on your scan it sounds like the cancer is localized in your kidney and the renal tube is clear that is a good thing.  The tumor is small and can easily be removed through a partial nephrectomy that is great news for you.  Caught early enough this situation can be put to rest and you should be fine.  I would say try and relax but that is virtually impossible, so instead just try to stay positive and don't be afraid to share your feelings with loved ones, and the people here.  

Mark

Welcome. I understand your fear and commend you for reaching out here. This is a knowledgable group of survivors and spouses (I'm a spouse of a survivor). 

You will get more information when you have the tumor removed, obviously. Being a small size is good and suggests a partial removal of the tumor and surrounding tissue, however this will be a decision made by the surgeon when he evaluates you. Others here have gotten second opinons on that matter, so if you don't feel comfortable with the surgeon, it's ok to get a second opinion. I will mention that when tumors that push into the renal sinus this could change the type of surgery you have since this is a criteria for staging later on. What I mean is, the position of the tumor may require a removal of entire kidney instead of partial. A partial isn't always 100% certain with small tumors, just to let you know. It's also about the location of the tumor as well. 

icemantoo said:

We were all scared.

Spivey,

 

We were all scared sh==less when we were told we had Kidney Cancer. I sure was 14 years ago. Your question is Does this sound really bad? The answer is no. If you are going to get kidney cancer which nobody wants, let it be small like 2.6 cm. If it is confirmed as kidney Cancer they will remove all or part of the Kidney along with the tumor. The recovery rate for a tumor that size from the surgery alone is close to 100%. Nobody in their right mind volunteers to join our club, but we welcome you anyway. Get yourself to a Urologist specializing in Kidney Cancer and Laproscopic surgery. We will help you thru this. Many of the stories here will give you hope and comfort. Stay away from the stories about larger tumors as your prognosis does not apply where the tumor grows and misbehaves which rarely if ever happens with a tumor as small as yours.

 

The fear stuff will eventually go away. It sounds like you went thru worse than this already.

 

Icemantoo

 

i was just diagnosed yesterday and I think it's a large mass . Is it more complicated when is large? Or being large means that it already spread somewhere else

Spivey88 said:

The renal sinus is my concern.  I wonder if that means it has spread.  Could they get all the cancer if they remove my entire kidney if it's in the renal sinus?  They said it hasnt spread to lymph nodes.  Just can't get over the renal sinus.  My mind is killing me.  Thank y'all for listening. 

Hey my dear, I am so sorry for ALL you have had to endure. Enuff!!!

Seems your "mass" is small and if RCC then you are probably Stage I and have a good chance of complete removal of cancer. BUT only your surgeon can explain things properly. as others have said, find a Urologist who is not only able to do this kind of RCC surgery, but has expertise in Laproscopic-robatic surgery technique. It is a much easier recovery. Trust me I have had 4 abdominal surgeries (non related RCC), two were laproscopic. Will walk you through more later. Feel free to Direct Message me for support hon.

Your surgeon will also point things on from the CT scan to let you know if you can have a partial or radical type surgery. . They will monitor you either every 3 to 6 months for a few years so rest assure, they will follow you closely.

Again, WE understand your fears and anxiety. We will walk along side you through this time if you want us to.

Hugs, Jan

Spivey88 said:

The renal sinus is my concern.  I wonder if that means it has spread.  Could they get all the cancer if they remove my entire kidney if it's in the renal sinus?  They said it hasnt spread to lymph nodes.  Just can't get over the renal sinus.  My mind is killing me.  Thank y'all for listening. 

Hi, 

No, it does not mean the cancer has spread. My husband's cancer was in the renal sinus and it did not spread. He had a bigger tumor than you, though. Yes, they could get all the cancer if they remove your entire kidney and it's in the renal sinus. But you will not know any of that for 100% unti you have surgery. I would rest assured and take comfort in the small tumor being a good sign of a full recovery. 

Spivey88 said:

Met with surgeon...

I met with my surgeon at UT Southwestern today.  He is amazing.  He says it is stage 1 and believes he can get it all with laparoscopic surgery.  He thinks he can save most the kidney.  said I should be in hospital 2 nights.  Surgery is scheduled for July 1st.  I will keep you all updated.  So thankful to have found this group!

Spivey88,

We are very similar stories... Mine was 2.8cm and my doctor used the Da Vinci robot to operate.  But I had 3 arteries in my kidney and he had to take the whole thing as a precaution.  I know it's not something to exactly brag about, but it seems like you will be a double cancer survivor and will be around for a long time.  

- Jay 

Hi Spivey.  I just had the operation you're going to have, a robotic assisted laparoscopic partial nephrectomy.  I had mine done at Stanford thanks to referral from my primary care physician.  My lesion, at the time of the operation, was 2.0 cm x 1.7 cm x 1.5 cm, so it was pretty close in size to yours.  The procedure takes about 3 to 4 hours, depending on how easy the lesion is to access.  My surgeon told me later that my lesion was deep in the kidney, but very accessible, so it took a little over three hours.....despite the fact that a fire alarm went off during the operation, according to my family.

I had three small incisions and one slightly larger, where they stuck a drain while I was in the hospital.  the small incisions will have sutures that melt.  When they take out the drain, they'll dress that incision and have you keep the dressing on for 24 hours.  When you take the dressing off, it's likely there won't be any leaking and the incision will close on its own.  I was instructed to keep the incisions dry and open to the air.

the surgeon told me he removed a lesion equivalent in size to a medium marble.  They dissected it to confirm that the outer tissue was healthy, meaning the interior included the entire lesion.  Pathology will come next week but, as people have noted, even a finding of a malignancy on our size of lesions isn't serious as the surgery is successful in 99%+ of all cases and there is no recurrence of spread.  You may need to have periodic scans to ensure that, but that's prudent anyway.

I will never say that an operation is east, as my dad had always pointed out, the only minor operation is on someone else.  But this operation seems to be several orders of magnitude easier to recover from than abdominal surgeries I've had in the past.

Just remember, when they ask you to start walking after surgery, start walking and don't stop.  That will help your recovery accelerate.

If you want more information about my operation, feel free to write me.

Best of luck on the 1st!

icemantoo said:

Don't

Don't overdue it. One thing I have noticed from these boards is the kids that are nephed in their 30's and 40's have it a lot easier than us older guys. I was nephed at 59 years young.

 

 

Icemantoo

ice....Good point.  I sometimes get overly enthusiastic about the benefits of walking because I love it so much.

And I'm an old fart too.  Will be 61 in a couple of months.