My husband was diagnosed this morning

I'm sorry to hear you two got this news. This is a good place to be, if you have to be here.  First off, lay off of the google searching for now.  A bunch of what you'll find is out of date or wasn't accurate to begin with, and practically guaranteed to scare you half out of your wits.  Kidney cancer is not a death sentence by a long shot. 

First off, the fact that your husband is super healthy is way good.  His recovery times most likely will be shorter.  Typically what'll happen is, you go to a urologist who refers you to a surgeon who's a specialist in kidney cancer. Nowadays, the first thing that happens is they plan for surgery to get the mass out. Depending upon where the mass is situated, they remove it and just a part of the kidney (= a partial nephrectomy) OR they remove the mass and the whole kidney (nephrectomy). The good news is, we get two kidneys to start with, so can still function with less than that.  And -- more good news -- more ofter than not, the surgery is done as laparascopic / robotic surgery, which means 4 little incisions and one slightly larger one. So if you or hubby are concerned how he'll look in his speedos once he recovers -- not to worry. 

First, they'll do tests (blood work, cardiac, CTs if they haven't been done yet, possibly an MRI). You may feel like jumping up and down screaming (Well, odds are, you probably do, but bear with me here...), "WHAT'S TAKING SO LONG?!" The good news is, you're not dealing with kudzu. Kidney masses are typically very very slow growing. 

With kidney masses, they typically don't do a biopsy. Instead, after it's surgically removed, it's sent to pathology and that's when they figure out the type, stage, grade, group, etc.  Generally, if there's no evidence that it's located anywhere except in the kidney, there's no chemo or radiation. After surgery (which takes a little while to recover from: yes, it's initially painful, but give it a couple of weeks and aside from the lack of energy it's not too bad, actually), you'll set up a schedule with the physician for scans in the future to keep an eye on what's going on. 

There are many people on this forum who have had kidney masses / tumors removed that were much larger than your husband's. They're sticking around, living their lives. Some of us had smaller tumors (mine was smaller).  I had my surgery the middle of December. 

I get what you mean about "fighting this," but my take on it is, I had this sucker on my kidney before I knew about it, and of course was not freaking out. So once I found out about it -- should I start freaking out? I'm not sure how freaking out would profit me in the long run (Which is not to say crying isn't an option from time to time -- just be sure you've got some classy gentle-on-your-nose tissues).  Also, I just let the mass know, hey buddy, you want to pick a fight with me? Too bad. I'm going to chill and be mellow and eat well and until you're removed, you're stuck being surrounded by good vibes and having to deal with my weird sense of humor.  You'll most likely hear from Fox -- He points out that we're LIVING with cancer, not dying from it. Also we may have cancer, it doesn't have us.  Good things to think about. 

Hang in there -- keep us posted --

Jerzy

PS -- You can click on any of our names to get to our profile pages and send a private e-mail, too.  That's always an option. 

Sorry you find yourself here, but like Jerzy said these masses are typically very slow growers.  You didn't say what symptoms he had, if any that led to the diagnosis.  Do yourself a favor, stay away from internet searches.....the info out there will make you cra-cra! 

Not trying to minimize your hubby's situation, but many here had bigger beasts and are still here to help you along the way with what to expect.  So although the diagnosis can and will send all of you into a tailspin, it is NOT a death sentence.

I'll keep you both in my prayers.

Donna~

I can't agree more with what others have said about internet searches regarding RCC or, for that matter, pretty much any health related search.  As others have noted, many sites are quite out of date in terms of their information on RCC.  Other sites might be shilling some kind of homeopathic remedy, so they downplay the effectiveness of standard medical treatment.  I know it's hard to do.....trust us, we've all been there, as it seems that pretty much eveyone gets a diagnosis like this on a Friday before a long weekend.  The best and only search you should do is to locate the very best urological oncologist in your area and get your insurance company to give you a referral to that person.  I was fortunate enough to get a referral to Stanford Medical Center and had fantastic treatment.

My lesion was a baby one on my right kidney.....1.4cm when it was first diagnosed and about 1.8cm 2-1/2 years later when it was finally removed.  I will tell you that when I was first diagnosed, my wife and I went through every emotion you and your husband are going through, and then some.  I actually found out before my primary care physician, because I went to the hospital to pick up the report.  The first call I made was to my sister.  She's a nurse practitioner in child neurology, but she's one of the smartest people on the planet in terms of medical knowledge.  She calmed us down by explaining what others have told you.  RCC is very slow growing and these days, so long as it's found early, it's very, VERY treatable through surgery.  Others on this site have had larger lesions than your husband's, and they're still posting.

Jerzygrrl pretty much laid out the process they'll follow to get this thing out of him.  My experience with the surgery was much different from a lot of others on this site.  Because my lesion was so small, I was able to have a robotic assisted laparoscopic partial nephrectomy.  Iin English, that means my surgeon used robotic techniques to do minimally invasive surgery and remove only a small portion of my kidney.  My procedure started at 3 in the afternoon (which I hated because I had to stew about it all day).  I was released from the hospital the next day at 1:30PM.  I had very little post-op pain, but that might be because of the minimally invasive surgery.  Others with lesions more the size of your husband's can tell you whether they had minimally invasive surgery or not.  The other term that your doctor might use that is extremely frightening to hear is the term radical nephrectomy.  Just hearing or seeing the word radical set me off when my doctor first said it.  A radical nephrectomy simply means the entire kidney is removed during surgery, as opposed to the partial nephrectomy I and some others here have had.  You might be concerned about losing an entire kidney, but everything I've been told, everything I've read, and everything that I've seen from other posters on this site says that the human body can function just fine with one kidney.

The bottom line is that no one wants to hear the words kidney cancer or renal cell carcinoma.  But, unlike years past, RCC these days is very treatable and your husband's going to be able to bug you for a long, long time to come.

mrou50 said:

Maxie

Sorry to hear you are here but I am glad you are reaching out for help and support.  There is a good change that your husbands cancer will be taken care of with surgery.  If not there are lots of medications to assist in his living a long and happy life.  As Fox likes to put it "we are not dying from cancer, we are living with cancer." Don't worry about the emotional roller coaster, cry when you need to and scream when you have to.  Make sure you write down all of your questions for your medical team that you want answered, nothing is more frustrating than the unasked, unanswered questions.  Doctors will let you know what they know and will help you research what they don't.  As others have said the internet is a bad source for information in many cases.  If you have quesitions or need support feel free to ask we have all been where you are.

Mark

Try not to panic. I was diagnosed with a larger tumour (10cm) and mets in my lungs. I'm still here annoying my neighbours with my harmonica stylings 3 1/2 years later. This disease is not a death sentence anymore. New drugs and treatments are coming on line on an almost weekly basis. Your hubby will have a buch of tests over the coming weeks before his tumour and probably kidney are removed. You can survive on one kidney. Good luck to you both. Keep in touch

to what others here have told you.  Would just repeat more or less the same so just wanted to say I'm here for you too and I very much understand how you feel. Try to be strong.  My main strenght thru those fearsome diagnostic and pre-surgery and first months after came from the positiveness of my husband.

Monday, January 02 2017Last onlineMonday, January 02 2017Age Range60-69About 6 years i was told i had cancer on my right kidneyMy Urologist of 25 years told me i have a mass on my right kidney and suggested to remove the kidney at first i was scared and agreed 
I went home to examine my options and decided to go to Sloan Kettering in new your where i met a Surgeon that wanted to preform a partial nephron that was 5 years ago (no after treatment needed) keeping up with follow up examinations last year found out my left kidney develop a mass and last Dec 5 2016 had to remove the kidney Thank God I didn't go with the first option
By the way my right kidney has 85% function I need to keep it healthyLesson learnedAlways get a second opinion and do your own research