Questions

Congratulations! I am glad that you can now put this behind and focu on the recovery.Take care!

Btw, research shows that small tumors tend to appear larger in CT or Ultrasound imaging most of the time.

Angiebby75 said:

Second opinion, how do you do

Second opinion, how do you do that. Do I just look up a doctor or just ask my urologist office  i have now. I don't want to offend the dr and then not find one to do a second opinion.

Go to the Cleveland Clinic.  It is a top hospital in the US.  Don't ask your Doctor for a recommendation.  Do some Google research. 

https://my.clevelandclinic.org/staff/6257-steven-campbell

Also consider Ohio State University Cancer Center.  Here are some doctors there:

https://cancer.osu.edu/find-a-doctor/search-physician-directory/j-paul-monk

https://cancer.osu.edu/find-a-doctor/search-physician-directory/megan-m-merrill

https://cancer.osu.edu/find-a-doctor/search-physician-directory/david-s-sharp

Google search each of these doctors and read patient reviews.

Angiebby75 said:

Second opinion, how do you do

Second opinion, how do you do that. Do I just look up a doctor or just ask my urologist office  i have now. I don't want to offend the dr and then not find one to do a second opinion.

For a second opinion, it depends on how your particular health insurance / health group works. I have an HMO, so I went to my primary care physician who wrote the order, but it was the medical group's referral person who worked with me to make it happen.

As for your physician being offended by your wanting a second opinion? If your physician gets bent out of shape, that's somebody you certainly don't need to deal with. Second opinions are pretty much routine in the industry. When I told my surgeon I was going for a second opinion, he said HE was going to talk to another physician the next day about it, too. I found that amusing, but also sensible (and reassuring... at that point I'd had two physicians with three different opinions).

Angiebby75 said:

Thanks for the info. I have

Thanks for the info. I have contact a doc for a second opinion only thing it's not until Sep that seems like a long wait. How long did you wait between the discovery and your surgery. 

Angie, ANY length wait is TOO LONG. I don't mean it's too long medically, I mean it's too long because most of us could easily work ourselves into a state given 24 hours and many of us did. And nearly everyone gets more of a wait than that. With the size of your mass (it's in the smallish category), no need to bolt for the OR. These things tend to grow very slowly, which is good.

My wait was extra lengthy. September is just next month. This is a great time to stock your freezer with your homemade version of a TV dinner, shop for a couple of outfits that are a size or two bigger than normal (your midsection is gonna be tender and a tad swollen after the surgery), and if your house is cluttered - see what you can get rid of. 

Start on your To Do list with the heaviest tasks first, then work your way to the lighter stuff after that. Anything left over you can do in little dabs once you're back home. If you're like the rest of us, you won't be able to lift stuff and you'll have a short attention span. 

So a September second opinion doesn't have to be a deal breaker. 

Take care, and keep us posted!

Angiebby75 said:

Thanks for the info. I have

Thanks for the info. I have contact a doc for a second opinion only thing it's not until Sep that seems like a long wait. How long did you wait between the discovery and your surgery. 

I was diagnosed in early May 2014.  Was going to wait until September 2014 for surgery, and then got the earliest appointment--which was July 10.  To me, it was more important to be comfortable with my surgeon and the hospital, and waiting was not a big deal.  Even when I asked about September, the surgeon said most people don't want to wait, but he said it was OK to wait. 

Welcome and glad you found us, Angie! Remember, the one things we CAN control is our attitude and coping skills. I know easier said than done. Good chance you're stage I will have NO more cancer once it is out of your body! THAT is the good thing about most of us with kidney cancer! No treatment needed after surgery BUT you need to continue your monitoring appoitments for 5 years with your surgeon. 

And no, you will not need to see an oncologist most likly. Your surgeon will do a lab test that determines cancer markers to see if they are ever elevated, along with scans, lung xrays for awhile. Again, Kidney cancer most likely is GONE with the surgery as the treatment. 

You won't know details until the pathologist does their report after examining the tumor, AFTER surgery. Then you'll have a definitive answer.

Have you ever had any surgeries?

We're here for you all the way, if you want us to be.

Sending you CALM, healing vibes to comfort you as you wait. 

Hugs, Jan

So here's my 2 cents as a kidney cancer survivor and as someone who works in healthcare.

First and foremost get a second opinion at a major cancer hospital.  I understand you don't want to offend your doctor, but this is your life we are talking about, screw other people's feelings.  The goal here is to remove the tumor and try to save as much renal unit as possible.  If given a choice between Cleveland Clinic and Cancer Treatment Centers of America, I would pick Cleveland Clinic every day of the week and twice on Sunday.  Cleveland is one of the top ranked cancer hospitals in the US. 

As far as the biopsy, I would wait and get a second opinion before you had that done, but that's just me.  Your doctor is trying to determine if in fact this tumor is cancer or something else.  If it's not cancer then it can be safely watched.  The fact of the matter is that no will know for sure what this is until they get it under a microscope and that goes for the size also.  It's not uncommon for the tumor to be a different size than what's on the scans.

I waited 4 months between when they discovered the tumor and when I had surgery.  I went to MD Anderson and they found a second tumor that was missed on my original scans!  My doctor at MD Anderson even had an idea what the pathology was based on the CT scan.  He wouldn't tell me what he thought it was, he just simply said that the tumor did not look like a clear cell carcinoma.  It turned out to be chromophobe X 2.  One was 2.2cm and the other was 0.8cm and I kept more than 95% of my kidney.  That was two years ago and so far my scans are clear.

Good luck and keep us posted.