Also new to discussons

Callyco said:

CT scan report

Report says there is a 1.5 cm cyst on the right kidney plus high 4cm solid mass unspecified might be a neoplasm. Also calcific densities suggesting 1 mm stone.

Appointment with urologist is on Tuesday. Will be glad to see what the next step is to be.

 

Sounds much like my results, cyst and 4cm neoplasm. It is GONE now and took the Cancer with it!

Hang in there. Thanks for letting us know Cally!

Hugs, Jan

Callyco said:

Due for Pet Scan before surgery

Met with urologist. Because where the tumor is located on top of blood arteries, the whole kidney is to be removed. 

Have to have a Pet scan first. Has anyone had a scan before surgery? Worries me to death. Wants to see if there is any cancer somewhere else. They will call me in a day or two when they get the dates scheduled for the scan and for surgery.

 

 

Not before surgery, but the scan itself is nothing to worried about, if it's the scan that is worrying you. It's really no different that a CT Scan. Sounds like your doctor is being thorough, which is good but I could see why it would cause you worries. My doctor did order some extra tests before surgery to make sure the cancer had not spread and at that time, it had not, so in that aspect, it was good news and took away my worries.

So I guess what I'm saying is don't worry about the test itself. It's only human nature to worry about what the tests might say, so try not to worry about them but I know that's easier said than done, and either way, good luck, and we'll be pulling for you!

Kevin

about scans? Or radiation? Every single person has heard horror stories of things that have happened to patients. You have heard many of these stories. Not once ever was a story due to radiation. Now if you worry about losing your hair in 50 years, or needing dentures in 40 years thats one thing. The risks are absolutely insignificant. The risk of doing too little when you have cancer however is extremely high and fatal.

Don't people close their eyes when they sleep? I don't understand claustrophobia. Maybe if you had been submerged in a car and barely survived, or spent a night in a dark elevator that would be one thing. But how can anyone survive cancer if you can't lie down quietly for a few minutes? No one is trapped in a scanner. It certainly doesn't hurt. And if a bomb fell, I bet a nice cozy tube would be the safest place. How do you deal with being in a death trap compact car at 60 miles per hour? Or using a bathroom stall? What is the fear of being in a scanner? A submarine may be a death trap but a scanner?

Anyway,The pet vs ct scan has been discussed often. The concensus is that a pet scan is not as good as a ct scan because the isotope is tied to glycogen. Faster growing tumors absorb the glycogen/isotope and get identified with the pet scan. Renal cell tumors grow much more slowly. So they don't absorb the glycogen/isotope at any significant faster rate and therefore don't stand out better than a ct can with and without contrast.

foxhd said:

I'll never understand.

Don't people close their eyes when they sleep? I don't understand claustrophobia. Maybe if you had been submerged in a car and barely survived, or spent a night in a dark elevator that would be one thing. But how can anyone survive cancer if you can't lie down quietly for a few minutes? No one is trapped in a scanner. It certainly doesn't hurt. And if a bomb fell, I bet a nice cozy tube would be the safest place. How do you deal with being in a death trap compact car at 60 miles per hour? Or using a bathroom stall? What is the fear of being in a scanner? A submarine may be a death trap but a scanner?

Anyway,The pet vs ct scan has been discussed often. The concensus is that a pet scan is not as good as a ct scan because the isotope is tied to glycogen. Faster growing tumors absorb the glycogen/isotope and get identified with the pet scan. Renal cell tumors grow much more slowly. So they don't absorb the glycogen/isotope at any significant faster rate and therefore don't stand out better than a ct can with and without contrast.

I had a PET scan when I was first diagnosed: they were looking for bone mets. I enjoyed the Star Wars aspect of the machinery. They pumped my favourite music into the machine. I closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep, my reverie only broken by exhortations to breathe. I concentrated on my breath to the exclusion of everything else.

Very relaxing and nothing to worry about

Jan4you said:

Callly, call your physician

Callly, call your physician and ask for an anti-anxiety med to be sent to your pharmacy.You take it ahead of time or when you get there. It will relax you, BUT listen to the guys who just posted.. its just RELAXING kind of test. I love to nap so will you. Not sure how long the test is, but you are convincing your mind to misbehave and make you fidgety when it wont happen! It just won't Cally!!

So practice this centered breathing: while laying still, take in a big breath via your nose, filling up your lungs, then let it out, very, very slowly, with lips parted and teeth not touching. Think of blowing at a lit candle but you just want to make it flicker not blow out the light. Keep practicing that centered breathing. Then as you do this breathing, go somewhere pleasant in you mind. Pick a person, place where you feel so calm and serene. Think of your husband holding your hand and gently soothing your brow...calming you into serenity~

YOU CAN DO THIS Cally!! And you'll come back and say, What was I so worried about?

Hugs, Jan

I like to feel the breath, like mist, extend down my limbs to my toes and fingertips before I exhale. I dont believe in any of this Hocus Pocus, but it works. My pleasant place is just in front of my forehead where my mind rests. Maybe I dont have Jans imagination.

Callyco said:

Thanks you guys

I will remember that breathing trick and relax. I will ask for some type of relaxing med to help take the edge off. I have just been scheduled for surgery on January 20th. Seems like a long time to wait. 

Sure, it seems like a long time to wait, but this isn't like kudzu. In fact, renal stuff tends to grow rather slowly.

In the meantime, you can practice the slow-breath thing (It works for other stuff, too, being generally calming / relaxing). Make up single serving packets of your favorite casseroles and stick them in the freezer. Smile at others, smile at yourself, too. Stock up on your favorite movies or recorded books. Treat yourself to some comfy drawstring sweats or long skirts in a size larger than what you usually wear. Some folks on this forum say get a recliner to sleep in, but I have a memory foam bed, so I just got risers to make it bigger and therefore easier to get in and out of (You know your body - do what seems right). Connect with friends or family ahead of time to run errands or do chores for you when you get back home (Grocery store, library, Stuff-Mart, lift heavy things). Get yourself a pair of fancy Big Girl Panties (I never knew exactly what was expected of me when people told me to put them on, so I decided to just save time and buy a pair), plus a pair that's one size bigger for when you first come home from surgery. Stock up on paper products. Have your laundry caught up. Walk as much as you reasonably can - strong leg muscles make it easier to get yourself in and out of bed (and on and off the sofa) post-op when your mid-section is cussing you out. Update your Advance Directive and get those tests and scans done that are on the pre-op list. Be kind to everyone you meet.  Do something you enjoy - go to a movie, have lunch with friends, get a manicure / pedicure, have a massage, buy a cute scarf or pair of earrings. Laugh at the craziness of this world. Sleep well. Shed some tears when you see something beautiful. Start a list of things you're grateful for. Tell the universe and 2017, "We've got this." 

I'm thinking the days between now and January 20th are going to go by far faster than you realize. 

Hugs, 

Jerzy

Callyco said:

Thanks Foxhd

It's just the thought of laying still being awake that makes me nervous. I never have been able to sleep soundly. I fidget a lot. And right now, I have a back and side ache that won't let me lay on my back.

Callyco, I had to have an MRI on an unrealted hearing issue a few years ago.  I had already been prescribed Xanax for help with calming down in order to fly, so I asked the doctor if I could take one of those before the MRI.  He said no problem.  I took it and while I can't say it was an enjoyable experience, I was able to get through it without any issues.

Regarding the PET scan, I've never had one of those, but I did have a nuclear medicine test related to the kidney issue I was facing (1.5cm lesion.....just a baby).  On one of my monitoring CT scans, there was evidence of a previous fracture in, of all places, my butt.  I couldn't recall falling, so the urologist ordered a nuclear medicine scan to see if the lesion (which had yet to be confirmed as malignant), had possibly revealed itself by getting into my bones.  The test consisted of an injection of a radioactive isotope, waiting a couple of hours, then being scanned head to toe in a contraption similar to a open MRI.  That scan actually turned out to be easier than the prostate exam he gave me.  The scan turned out negative for any problems with my bones and, as luck would have it, I recalled what had happened to cause the fracture.  Probably a year earlier, I had been pulling weeds in my mother-in-laws garden.  I had one particularly stubborn one and pulled and pulled, and promptly fell backward onto my butt.  That likely would have been the end of it, but I'm a runner and it appears the constant pounding of my feet on the ground caused what was a tiny crack to become larger.  I remember having a problem walking for a while, but attributed it to a pulled hamstring.  Turns out I had busted my butt, literally.

And then a year later (this year), the monitoring scan revealed a slight growth in the lesion, so the urologist recommended surgery.  I had a robotic assisted laparoscopic partial neph on June 22nd that the good people on this board helped me understand and get through.   I already had the chest X-Ray that the doctor wanted along with the CT scan and it came back clean.  I'll have the CT scan in about a week and a half and then see the doc a week after that.