Well.....i guess I'm in the club (41 year old male/11cm)

Welcome, Duster. 

I'll be honest, I would have liked to have met you under different circumstances.  I "joined" the club a little over a month ago when I was told I had a mass coming out the lower pole of my right kidney.  One thing everybody on this site told me is to make sure I was seeing a doctor that had experience with RCC.  I took their advice and have been working with Mayo Clinic out of Rochester, Minnesota.   I had surgery a little over a week ago.  Mine was a robotic partial and recovery was pretty smooth.  Yours will take a little more time.  My advice--listen to your body and you'll do just fine.

Scared isn't even the right word to describe the feelings that we have when we are told this news.  Honestly, the first few days I was just a reck.  But, I stumbled onto this site and the people on here are  some of the best people there are.  Contribute to the forum and add your experiences to the conversation.  This is a rich place with a lot of experience and wisdom.

I want to wish you luck in your surgery on Friday.  Being young and in good shape WILL help in your recovery.  Keep your faith strong--nothing is more powerful.

Blessings of peace

Stub 

Shecka1121 said:

Duster, I am glad you posted

Duster, I am glad you posted on here. I was 44 with two young kids when I found out I had a mass on my kidney.  I was fortunate to have found mine small. You can read my profile.  There are several people who have large masses and have their kidney removed and that is the end of it.  we have some on this board.  You will also read some stories where that is not the case.  Each persons journey is different.  You are young and in great shape.  that is 1/2 the battle right there.  Stats show young people do well with beating RCC.  wishing you the best and remember to keep focused on God since you are a man a faith.  This helps me all the time.

 

Duster, wishing you nothing but the best and passing on my thoughts and prayers. You are at a great site for info. For me I was first diagnosed with Kidney Cancer in '08 which later turned out to be Stage 4 in '13 so I have been fighting this for a while and have found this site to be a great location for knowledge, sympothy, and just general support. Dont be afraid to ask the site your question. Most likely someone has been through it before and can help with the answer. Ok, its now time to kick some Cancer ****.

Sorry, youre on here but your very welcome. I think Stubbs has got it about right about the fear of diagnosis. Dont worry it is never as bad as your imagination makes it.

But there is a great variety in treatment and experiance. One doctor said to me that the only predictable thing about RCC is its unpredictability.

You'll be fine; great strides are being made weekly in the treatment of this and other cancers.

You need to rethink your return timetable I think. Its not alarming but it is very serious surgery. Mine took 10 hours and a good few weeks to get myself mobile.

I have to go and get irradiated. Good luck. You'll be fine but dont rush it.

Prayers for you and surgery Friday. Your faith in God will get you through any challenge you face. One day at a time and I bet it will not be any time at all until we hear you are in remission. God bless you.

So sorry you have to be here but you'll get tons of support from everyone. Recovery differs for people and I consider myself one of the luckier ones in that it really wasn't very bad at all. My fears and worries over it were way worse. Mine was just a partial but open, and I was able to walk the same night, came home 2 days later, and on the third day was sitting at my computer doing work. No, it's not a cake walk and there will be pain and discomfort. Laughing, sneezing, coughing, those are the worst. So hold a pillow to your incision while doing either of those. I think a lot depends on incision size, how they close it, etc., so depending on all that, yours may too be relatively easy. Don't be afraid to take pain killers the first few days or week. As for work, don't rush back. Your outside will heal a lot faster than your inside. For me the worst thing was the fatigue, not the pain. All the best to you and keeping you in my thoughts.

Just take it one thing at a time. And be reminded of the many years of survivorship of many here beyond what they have been told once upon a time. My husband was 47 at the time, our daughter was 8. With little ones: just tell them what they need to know. Ours knew "dad's kidney was taken out." We waited weeks to tell her it was "cancer" until the surgery was over and pathology was back and he was home from the hospital recovering. Please take it easy from the surgery. Take your pain meds, there is no medal for going without them!! Even now, almost 3 years later, I still say to my husband: "There are no awards for the most yard work done in a day for a man with one kidney, can't we go to Costco??"

Glad you could come  here and ask for what you need Duster. If you never had any surgeries, I would HIGHLY recommend getting a large lumbar velcro wrap to use afterwards. I have had 4 abdominal surgeries, 2 were laproscopic, and given permission to use this lumbar wrap helped tremendously to hold in those aching, hurting tissues, internally while you heal.

I also used dry ice packs inside the wrap over the incision to help reduce the swelling and as a result used less pain meds. Didn't read all the posts above, but with ANY abdominal surgery, they pump this gas to lift up the abdominal wall so surgeon can SEE. It gets trapped in weird places (and not always inside intestines, but outside), mostly in the shoulder. Now that entrapment won't kill you, but hurts like heck. I kept moving my arm in circular movements to move this gas around and out. Also WALKING helps too, best you can given you have a large incision.

BTW: my brother in law had a tumor encompassing his entire kidney 20 years ago and is still doing great, no further sign of cancer all this time.

YOU my dear, will be in my thoughts and I am sending you thoughts of healing, learning and care!

Gentle hugs, Jan

Glad it's behind you and you're home. Yes, do take it easy and don't push too much. Walk a lot and drink lots of water. I walked around my house for 5 minutes every hour. It was winter so couldn't be out in ice and snow. Also, if they gave you a breathing apparatus (spirometer, I think) make sure you use it to keep lungs at maximum capacity. Best to you and hoping for a good path reoport!