Kidney Tumor

Cathy -- I'm amazed by the response of all of you, as well.  The DS community has become a very important part of my life in quite a short time.  I think you're right about DS women!

Thank you for the digital hugs.

-- Lenore

Lenore--Please don't panic.  If you caught it early you have a great chance of a full recovery.  My father recently found out he had a tumor on his kidney.  Most of these tumors are malignant but quite treatable if caught early.  Anyway, Dad had no symptoms and the tumor was discovered coincidentally after an MRI for something else.

We researched the options and although he contemplated cryosurgery he opted to fry that thing!  (A probe was passed into the tumor and an electrical current used to cook the tumor from the inside.)  It was done as an outpatient under twilight sedation.  He had only a small puncture wound on his lower back which was hardly painful at all and was basically covered with a bandaid.

He has been back three times for follow up and it has shrunk and died according to his doctor.  He looks and feels great and recommends this procedure to anyone with a similar problem.

I hope you find your outcome as successful.  Wishing you all the best!
Lisa

Hi, Lisa -- I'll look into the alternatives you suggested.  Frying the thing sounds very satisfying! 

My surgeon is planning to do a partial removal of my kidney and biopsy some of the surrounding lymph nodes. Another way I've been lucky is that the tumor was discovered at the hospital I had to travel to to get my DS, a big teaching hospital about 3 hours from my home.  So, I've lucked into having as my surgeon one of the leading authorities on kidney cancer.  If I were having the surgery near home, chances are, they'd be removing the whole kidney.  Also, I discovered in my Web research that the surgeon has apparently had kidney cancer himself!

Another yea for the DS!

Thank you for your compassionate message.

-- Lenore

Lenore,

I am hoping that you are a 10 percenter!

Prayers and swinging critters going on now.

Hugs,

Michele

Michele -- Thanks for the positive thoughts in this and so many of your posts. I appreciate your contributions to this forum.

-- Lenore

I am sending prayers your way Lenore!
I am a survivor of kidney cancer.  Mine was found acidentally during a gallbladder scan for preparation for WLS back in 2003. It is good news that it was found now instead of later. Do you know if your tumor is encapsulated inside one of your kidneys?  I had a right radical nephrectomy which means he removed my right kidney and the adrenal gland sitting on top of that kidney along with tissue around it. I am doing great since that surgery.  My mother also had the same kidney removed for the same reason 30 years before I did. The kidney is a very efficient organ and we actually only need half of one to function.
Also generally kidney cancer is not usually treated with chemo or radiation.  Please send for an info packet from the American Kidney Association.  This will give you some good useful information.
Please let me know if you have questions I could help you with!
I am sending you a great big hug from the seacoast of New Hampshire.......
Valerie

Edited to add:  nutrition is very important but drinking the water will be more important if your doctor needs to remove your kidney

Congratulations on being a survivor, Valerie!  It's cheering to hear about your success and your mother's.  I don't know yet if the tumor is entirely restricted to my kidney.  I hope so.  The same CT scan found that I also have an adenoma in the adrenal gland of the opposite kidney.  That could be a very common type of benign growth, or a metastasis.  They are going to look at some of the lymph glands near the kidney and stage the cancer, if it is cancer.  Maybe I'll be in the luckiest 10% that have benign tumors, though!

I'll follow up on your suggestion about the American Kidney Association.

We share so much. WLS, New Hampshire and now this! A VSGer from Charlestown contacted me yesterday to ask if we could form a NH support group, together with Lois, a DSer from the North Country.  Would you be interested in meeting up with us?  I'd love to meet you sometime, in any case?

-- Lenore

prayers for you, may you heal quickly

Thank you, Amanda!

-- Lenore

Lenore, I'll be praying for you and swinging chicken, you betcha!  -Jenny