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Trust Doctor or Not about Kidney Cancer
Kidney Cancer | Last Active: Jun 7 12:50pm | Replies (10)Comment receiving replies
beyondscared, I understand your fears as I've been there, and am still there in fact. I'm recently diagnosed with kidney cancer and will be having surgery in mid June to remove my left kidney. My cancer was diagnosed as High Grade so it grows kind of fast and has a tendency to come back down the road.
I also have nodules in my lungs. I've had them a long time and mine do what they call Waxing and Waning. So what happens is some new ones show up, some old ones go away, some nodules get bigger and some get smaller. I don't know how long I've had them before they were accidentally discovered in a scan of my abdomen. I get a yearly chest scan to monitor the nodules but my doctors don't expect any trouble from them. I was scared they were cancer but my doctors are sure they are not; they don't act nor grow like cancer.
It's never bad to get a second opinion but I feel like I can reassure you a little about the lung nodules. Mine have spread into both sides and all lobes, yet they stay small and while new ones always come, others go away. I have no symptoms from the nodules. My kidney surgery is also June 18th. I'll send you good wishes for a successful surgery before they put me under.
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I guess it is not so much having lung nodules that bothers me at this point. It is the fact that they remained unchanged from 2018-2024 and then in 2025, 4 new ones have appeared. That has raised the red flags with me, but it seems only me. My kids, who are RNs seem to think it was because of massive weight loss over the last year and the scans are now able to see more. However, I am still questioning it. I guess the good news is, my 5cm tumor has not grown at all in the 2 years since I was diagnosed. This was the result of my tumor biopsy:
A. KIDNEY, LEFT, MASS, CT GUIDED FINE NEEDLE ASPIRATION:
Rare malignant cells, consistent with clear cell renal cell carcinoma. See comment.
Diagnosis Comment
Aspirate smears are sparsely cellular, composed of rare, small, cohesive groups of cells with clear cytoplasm and round nuclei containing small, distinct nucleoli in a background of abundant blood. A cell block is prepared and examined to increase diagnostic yield and shows blood.The concurrent core biopsy (SU24-06898) is reviewed and shows malignant cells with a similar morphologic appearance. Immunohistochemistry performed on the biopsy is consistent with low grade renal cell carcinoma. Please see this report for additional information. Representative slides of this case were reviewed at the intradepartmental consultation conference.
Immunohistochemical study was performed on (A1) to characterize the tumor, and the immunoreactivity profile supports the diagnosis.
IMMUNOHISTOCHEMISTRY:
ANTIBODY(CLONE)(BLOCK):RESULT
CA IX (EP161, Cell Marque) (A1): Positive
CD117 (Ckit) (EP10, Leica) (A1): Positive
CK7 (RN7, Leica) (A1): Negative
PAX-8 (MRQ-50, Ventana) (A1): Negative
So we are having the same surgery on June 18. That is uncanny. Mine will be performed at the University of Vermont. What size is your tumor, if you do not mind me asking?
Great luck to you!