I do not have kidney cancer but I know of at least three people on this site who are in your position. One of them has had their kidney removed (some time ago now) and they have posted within the last day or two. They are well but have to have regular check ups. Hopefully they will come to your thread and be able to answer some of your questions. It seems to me that if the cancer has not spread beyond the kidney then its removal should sort out the problem. You can function perfectly well with one kidney. A little later, if you get no reply, I'll try and find this thread (it was very recent) and alert the person to your concerns.

Judith

I went to the docs in november with pain in my stomach, back etc, and they thought it was kidney stones. After a couple of CT scans, the diagnosis i recieved was the same as yours - even down to the size of the tumour.

At the point of diagnosis, nobady can prepare you for how you feel. They did believe that the cancer may have spread to my bones for which I needed additional scans but luckily all was ok there.

The 2 weeks between diagnosis and operation, I got pains and aches everywhere, which I put down to the cancer. I just think it is your mind playing horrible games with you. And I have to say, talking with other people who have had cancer, the first year afterwards, you believe that every ache and pain may be the dreaded bug coming back - try not to panic.

I was advised that they would do keyhole surgery, but they did prepare me that 10% of keyholes fail and they have to conduct radical surgery. If it is keyhole, then the recovery period is relatively quick and painfree. Unfortunitely for me, the keyhole surgery failed, and I had to be cut open. The result is that I have 3 keyhole scars, one scar about 3 inches long, and the large one about 14 inches long.

Let me prepare you incase you have radical surgery. If like me - you will be taken to HDU to recover and I was there for 2 days. They will get you out of bed the next day although you will not want to do this. You will then move to a surgical ward where you have a lot of nurses caring for a small amount of patients. They constantly monitor your BP, urine output etc etc.

I left hospital after 8 days. You feel like you have been kicked around for weeks afterwards, and if you have the radical surgery, you will not feel right for 3 - 6 months. I was also signed off work for 2 months. You will not be able to lift anything heavy for 3 months.

I want to give you the nasty side because nobody fully prepared me for it.

The positives are - it is fairly pain free as you will be given lots of pain relief. The cancer will be gone. Your friends and family will treat you like a star and pamper / spoil you rotten.

SteveG - this is not an easy thing to deal with but you will get through it and it is actually quite common, and in no time at all you will be back to normality. Good luck with the operation, I will be thinking of you - but for now, try not to worry or think that it has spread - I really dont think it would have done.

Glad you are so positive about all this. I don't think the spleen thing is of any great moment. Better to have it removed and get shot of any extraneous nasties.

Sounds as though things should go well although probably feel rough for a few weeks afterwards! Small price to pay. You can malinger in the garden if the weather is half decent! I've just come off the phone to a friend who is having a pig heart valve replacement job in a week. He fully intends to malinger and watch his wife slaving away!!

Cheers and let us know how you get on. Judith