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I had flank pain, primary said It was UTI, I insisted on having ultrasound, turned out to be a 10 cm grade two stage two RCC. I had nephrectomy two days after diagnosis, everything was in rush, I was shocked, I handled surgery very well hoping it wasn't cancerous, but three days later the primary pathology report proved it to be cancerous, I couldn't stop crying, imagined my self dead within few months, I felt pity for myself all the time, just wanted to sit in dark and cry, terrified monthes passed, All I did at my job was to google stage two recurrence rate, ... I couldn't concentrate on any aspect of my life other than cancer. Then I found this forum, a real help from heaven, after few months I finally accepted I couldn't handle it without the help of a therapist, I had three or four meetings with a fantastic therapist, then he helped me realize I put my life on hold for something no one can be sure it  would happen or not. I came back to the gym, what a wonderful decision, I began doing Yuga, took part in a dance class, accepted a new project at work, little by little I felt more hopeful, less cry and more smile, after 3 1/2 years I do remember my RCC every day, multiple times a day, but it doesn't make me stop living and enjoying every day of my remained life.

Forough

 March  2017 :I had some disconfort on the right side of my body. No pain but like I have something stuck inside. I thought it was my liver so I checked with my gastro and after some test and he told me it was fatty liver. I did a diet for the next 7 months and everything was great.

Nov 2017: I developed , again some disconfort on my right side again and now with back pain on the same side. The pain was very bad , especially in my right shoulder. Again , tests, X ray, everything came back normal.... They told me I was a healthy person.

Dec 2017 : Went to Mexico for the holidays, my uncle is Doctor so I told him all my symtoms . He proposed to do a ultrasound. Again everything in order in my right side but now he checked my left side. He found a mass on my left kidney and he told me that as soon I go back to USA I need to take care of it. 

Jan 5 2018 : Visit my Doctor in the USA and he sent me to do a Ct scan that confirmed that I had a mass in the upper side of my left kidney  that looks RCC and it has to be remove ASAP.

Feb 12 2018 Surgery , Open partial nephectomy , The found a 4X4X4 cms mass Stage 1 grade 2, no major complications. The urologist was sure they removed all the Tumor + adrenal gland , all margins clear .

Now, this has been my journey , it has been very difficult for me and my family.  Suddenely I felt that my life was reduce to months now and I can not longer make  plans for the long term.

I am planning to see a therapist because I have fear of the future.

I have some very good days and some others very dark. This forum is a big help 

At airport lounge waiting for flight to Barbados at Christmas when I started peeing blood. Never had a UTI in my life so I thought what a time to get the first one. It was so bad that my husband requested our luggage back (yeah we had checked in) and took me to my PCP who sent me to a urologist. Urologist ordered a CT scan and put me on antibiotics in case it was a UTI. Needless to say it wasn't a UTI so met with Dr. Russo at Sloan Kettering who recommended a partial nephrectomy. That was four years ago this coming St. Patrick's day. Stage 1 but grade 3. So far so good but now we're monitoring two cysts on each kidney and a couple of tiny lung nodules. I do worry and everything has changed. I'm no longer "oh nothing will ever happen to me; I'm too healthy" but get anxious over every ache and pain. And I sweat every check up, especially now with these damn lung nodules.

t was a warm Spring Sunday afternoon in late April or  early May, 2002. It was time to  install a stone walkway in the back of the house. No sooner had I finished than I was yelling at Icewoman for pouring some, candy, syrup or food coloring in the toilet turning it red. I think she had done that a few weeks earlier as well. An hour or 2 later I noticed the food coloring had come from me. WTF. I called my PCP and he said it was probably nothing. I just broke a blood vessel from heavy working. No need to go to the ER, but come in his office on Monday. He referred me to a Uro for an appointment the next day. The Uro's questions as I remember focused on my plumbing. The Uro sent me for a CT scan which at the time I just thought was a CYA procedure. A few weeks until the CT and than I received a call from the receptionist at the Uro's  wanting me to set up an appointment and something about Kidney Cancer was blurted out. WTF.  Well the URO referred me to the new kid in the office who  had just completed a fellowship in Laproscopic Surgery. My vocabulary was starting to expand. I was lucky , it was relatively small tumor (2.6 cm pre-op, 4.2 cm post op.). They were going to yank my kidney out. Summer was starting and the big day was August 1, 2002. My wife took me to a B & B on the Canadian side of Lake Huron for July 4th weekend to relax. We went to a British Pub in town for dinner where they brought out all the traditional dinners for the diners to view. I almost gagged on being shown Kidney Pie.

The big day came. The surgery and recovery were no picnik. It took me almost 11 months for my 60th birthday to get back on water-skis. Five or 6  years later I got on some new fangled thing called the internet and started to tell my storey and tried to help others.  And that was how Kidney Cancer came into my life.

icemantoo

Hi Blessed and Welcome to the forum.

I joined this forum just over a year ago. I have seen that everyone's story is a little different and people cope with their situations a little differently.

But one thing everybody has in common is that initial shock.

May you always be blessed.

Steve.

My symptoms started about a year ago. Sick all the time, constant pain in my left side. Each time I told the doctor, she said let's keep an eye on it. Fast forward December 14th 2017, I had the worse case of strep throat ever and went to the doctor. While I was there, I told her yet again, the pain is at its worst today. Apparently everytime I got sick the pain in my side flared more each time. She went back and forth about ordering test. She asked me what I thought. Well, you're the doctor, you tell me. She said well I don't think it's anything so we can keep an eye on it. A few minutes later, she said well it is year end and with deductibles I guess we can go ahead and order a test, but I don't see anything coming back. So there it started. First available appointment was December 19th. (my grandson's birthday) I went in for ultrasound that morning. They said I would have the results in two days, I had them in less than two hours. Let's skip to Friday December 22nd for second test, CT scan. I already knew what the outcome would be before they told me. It was positive. I cried, my husband cried and we told our kids and grandkids. The next two months would be the longest days of my life. Surgery scheduled for February 19th. I had everything in order for that just in case. I didn't think I would make it through surgery. I have to say I was disappointed when the surgeon told me that he was able to save 80% of my kidney. After long discussions about the location and size, he wasn't sure he could save it. (6.2cm around the collector valve) The pain and the recovery period is no joke. I was in the hospital for five days. My husband and daughter have been a blessing with everything they've done for me. I'm still slow moving and like others, worry about my future. Do I have one and for how long? I feel like this is my life sentence. Pathology report came back positive for clear cell renal carcinoma scale 2. Because of the location, my surgeon feels confident that he removed everything but because of the margin, he couldn't go past it. So with that being said, he tells me I require more testing and if it is past that margin, he will be doing a radical.  That six letter word has managed to turn my world upside down. People are amazed that I have been so positive throughout this process, little do they know it's breaking me down inside.

Steve.Adam said:

Hi Blessed

Hi Blessed and Welcome to the forum.

I joined this forum just over a year ago. I have seen that everyone's story is a little different and people cope with their situations a little differently.

But one thing everybody has in common is that initial shock.

May you always be blessed.

Steve.

It's hard talking to someone that has no clue as to what you're going through. I hope this helps since we all have something in common.

In my case I found a "little ball" in my left side this August and I began to visit some medics and to do tomographies. I didn't feel pain, no blood pee, only tired and the tumor was growing fast. I didn't expected that it was cancer, I thought it's just a big cyst, so I was more o less relaxed (not now hehe.) But the result is 27x12x10 cancer, Grade 3, stage T2b and NX...

I'm still assuming this, and I think my family is in the same situation that Max57 ones, they don't want to talk about it and think that now I cured forever..

I've just joined this site and it's the first time I've discussed my condition with anyone outside my family so please be patient and forgive some of my unconventional opinions. A few days before Christmas 2015 I had a heart attack that lasted 3 days ,but I thought it was just bad indegestion , so took myself to my local GP , and before I knew it I was being rushed to hospital in an ambulance. Over the next week or so they did all the test's and scan necessary to determine the extent of my heart problem , but it doing so they also found I had stage 4 renal cell cancer , presenting as a tumor on my kidney (approx 40%),but it had also spread to my lungs and bone. Up to this point I'd always considered myself reasonably healthy without any obvious symptoms apart from the odd runny nose and an intermittent cough now and then. I suspect that unlike most people my reaction was a little unusual , I wasn't shocked or scared , I just accepted that it was a natural part of the life process and I needed to face it and get on with living. Thanks to the therapies they put me on I've already extended my survival beyond the 18 months they gave me , but it comes at a price and untimately the current therapies available to me will become ineffective , so my mortality becomes a recurring issue , intruding into my thoughts at the oddest times , but particularly when I'm having a bad day suffering the side-effects of my medications. Thanks to the love and care provided by my family I find my situation managable , but I worry about the stress and worry I'm putting them through when they see me at my worst , struggling to do the most basic things. Now my thinking is that quality of life is more important than quantity , and I intend to enjoy whatever time I have left making new memories with my family while I can , even if that means foregoing some of the treatments available to me if the success rate is low and the toxic side-effects debilitating . Ultimately death awaits me , but I don't fear it because I know there is so much more beyond this mortal life , and I look forward to the peace and quiet that awaits me as I continue along the path of discovery in the next life.