Have my first urologist appointment Monday have a3.8 cm nodule not a cyst.

Can you give us more information? Symptoms, how was it discovered? Etc. Also, I noticed your name, are you a Gator fan?

Gator8463 said:

Found during MRI on my back.

Found during MRI on my back. Hurt while on duty as deputy sheriff. My nick name is gator. I live in South Carolina.

Renal cell cancers are being found more and more incidentally. If this is malignant, the chances that it will be cured by surgery alone are very, very high. I would suggest exploring these message boards and using them as a source of information. That being said, I would also avoid Dr. Google as the information is largely outdated or not a complete picture. 

Hi Gator!

Sorry you are hear, but I am glad you found us.

You are dealing with a lot on your plate right now so I will keep it brief.  No one will know for sure what this is until they get it out of you or do a biopsy, but I suspect they will want to remove it.  3.8cm is considered a small renal mass which is good so hopefully you will get to keep your kidney.  

When you have about 30 minutes please watch this video.  A video just like this gave me a lot of comfort and peace of mind.  The man giving the presenting is a urologist at MD Anderson.

Evaluation and Management of the Small Renal Mass, Surena F. Matin, MD

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blUI-ZzcViE

The best advice I can give you is to find a urologist who has experience in this area.  The American Urological Association estimates the average urologist sees six cancer and non-cancer kidney tumor cases a year, find someone who sees more than six a year.  You have time.  There's a good chance you've had this little growth for several years so you have time to get a second opinion, if needed.

I am not sure how you hurt your back, but there’s a good chance it might have saved your life, if this in fact cancer. 

Any questions please feel free to ask and hang in there.  

Jason

Gator8463 said:

First appt with urolo

 

Just got back from urologist he said he is sure its RCc he wants to wait 90 days and scan it again. He said its kind of in a difficult area and he may be able to just take part of the kidney. He said either way I have a 99% cure rate.Not really sure why he wants to wait 90 days. 

   Gator           

RCC doesn't generally grow like crazy, so a bit of a wait when it's small is not at all unheard of. But still, to do what he just did again, after only 90 days seems... odd. It might not be a bad idea to contact him and say, just curious, what does he hope to learn in repeating the scan after just 90 days? Perhaps he wants to rule out it being a rare fast growing type of RCC, but... Who knows? 

Has your urologist got a lot of experience doing RCC surgeries? Finding a surgeon who indeed does lots of these RCC surgeries, laparascopicaly, both full (the whole kidney goes bye-bye) and partial (only part of the kidney goes bye-bye, then a reconstruction of what's left of the kidney is done) would be the best. 

About getting a second opinion - It's always a good idea. When I told my surgeon that I was going to get a second opinion, he told me that HE was getting a second opinion, too. I got a kick out of that. Oh, and his second opinion person got back to him before mine did, but both seconds agreed. 

Keep us posted - 

Jerzy

on saving 60%. The thing that freaks me out the most is that I "only" have one kidney left. I have been doing just fine with only one since Dec. 3rd though. My tumor was a lot bigger than yours though. The waiting killed me too, but you will get through it. As big as mine was, it hardly grew at all between learning of it and removal.