Newbe

Yes JT.......you WILL get thru this. The waiting and what if's are the worst but try not to let it drag you down.

lean on us, lean on your family and friends. Do whatever you have to do to get to Apr 11 and the rest will be better every day.

hang in there brother.

suck? But as Alla says, there is a lot going on in your favor these days. Remember we are not dying from cancer. We are living with cancer.

Hi JT.  You're in almost exactly the situation I was in.  I had a 1.5cm lesion on the right kideny, but it was a little higher than yours.  I had a bit of an advantage over you because my sister is a nurse; her husband is a nurse; their daughter is a nurse; one of my wife's nieces is engaged to a nurse; and one of her brothers is dating a nurse.  So I had a ton of experience to call on when I first saw the words "suspicious for renal cell carcinoma" on a CT scan report.  Aso unlike you, I was referred to a urologic oncologist who recommended that we monitor the lesion because he was not convinced it was, in fact, malignant.  That was in December, 2013.  After six month scans for 2-1/2 years, an ultrasound finally determined in April, 2016 that the little bugger had grown to 1.8cm.  So, he recommended surgery, which I had on June 22nd of last year.  It was a robotic assisted laparoscopic partial nephrectomy and it took place at Stanford Hospital here in the SF Bay Area.  I checked into the hospital at about noon on the 22nd.  The operation started at about 3PM.  I was in my room at about 7PM, with the melodious voice of my niece (the one engaged to a nurse) kind of yelling into my ear, "WAKE UP".  I did, the nurse walked me around the room for a couple of minutes and then I told everyone to get the heck out cuz I was tired.  LOL.  I drank a lot of water during the night as my mouth was pretty dry, and I was absolutely starving in the morning.  They told me I would likely be released if I could control my pain and could pee.  Well, since I had no pain other than a little pulling, that part was easy.  (Just be aware that my experience with no pain is ratehr unusual from what I've read from my comrades here; but I have always had a really high threshhold for pain owing to those stomach issues.)  And after they removed the catheter, I peed in about two hours.  So, at 1:30PM, 25-1/2 hours after I checked in, they tossed me out.

The pathology report said it was chromophobe RCC, a rare (5%) strain of the disease, that seems to grow very, very slowly, rarely, if ever spreads and rarely, if ever, recurs.  So, I was set up for scans every six months, as well as a chest x-ray.  The one I had done in January of this year was completely clean and the doc said if the next one in July was the same, we'd move to one year scans, which is fine with me.  My stomach issues revolve around colon twisting, so anything that gives me a look-see down that way is fine by me.

As for the emotional part of it, I'm not going to pretend to tell you that I was a rock.  Heck, I went through all the same emotions as you did, adding in a healthy dose of self-pity because I didn't have any risk factors for this damn thing.  My suggestion is that taking nice, relaxing walks or working out is a good way to get rid of the feelings, at least for a little while each day.  It also has the added benefit of getting you in great shape for the surgery and that'll help you recover that much faster.

You and I are really lucky that our cancers were discovered at such a small size.  A few years ago, I'm told the scanning technology wasn't good enough to discover things this small.  We get a chance to have these things taken care of when it's relatively easier to take care of it completely and with a minimal amount of pain and discomfort.

It is a lot easier to be relaxed about this stuff after it has been dealt with and you know what it is and know it is gone.

It is good to meet people who understand our feelings and it is also good to get some reassurance about the likely outcome, which should be good in your case.

But the waiting is bad... It is so good to get it all behind you.

Steve.

belowpar said:

I Am A Newbie Also

JT, I joined this group on March 11, 2017 when I discovered it as I was recovering from my radical nephrectomy Performed on February 20, 2017. 

Waiting and the unknown are definitely two formidable opponents i battled as well. Fortunately I did not have to wait very long and when the date did arrive, it was a relief to get it behind me. I had laparoscopic surgery even though my tumor was nearly 8cm. The surgeon did have to make a larger than normal cut to be able to remove it along with my kidney but all went well.

I will be praying for you, your family and your surgical team.

belowpar, welcome to the group! I'm guessing you're a [good] golfer.

belowpar said:

I Am A Newbie Also

JT, I joined this group on March 11, 2017 when I discovered it as I was recovering from my radical nephrectomy Performed on February 20, 2017. 

Waiting and the unknown are definitely two formidable opponents i battled as well. Fortunately I did not have to wait very long and when the date did arrive, it was a relief to get it behind me. I had laparoscopic surgery even though my tumor was nearly 8cm. The surgeon did have to make a larger than normal cut to be able to remove it along with my kidney but all went well.

I will be praying for you, your family and your surgical team.

Hey, just wanted to stop and say, welcome!

Glad you joined our site here! Like your name! HA! Hope your recovery is going well, is it?

Warmly, Jan

Welcome, JT --

As others have said, sorry you have to be a member of this club, but glad you've found us -- great supportive bunch here.

Small is good when it comes to kidney masses.  Waiting sort of stinks. Hope you can keep yourself distracted / occupied in the meantime.  But your surgery date in April will be here before you know it (Not to mention, then you'll be post-surgery before you know it, because they give you anesthesia so you get to snooze while they do all the work).