Renal Cancer: What are you supposed to feel after surgery?

Greetings @oldirish1..Certainly without a doubt the renal cell carcinoma that I had was scary at first...1 cm in my right kidney. It was removed in March 2008 so actually tomorrow is my 10-year anniversary. For me I've been cancer-free since I had it removed but I have to have the scans yearly now. Mine was encapsulated and had not spread so my situation was a little bit different than yours I hope that you can get the help that you need sounds very frustratin. I do know someone who told me that if you have these nodules on your skin and you have fibroids in your uterus then there's a name for this Condition it's a rare condition and it can lead to renal cell carcinoma to but of course that would only applied to a female. For me they never knew how I got the renal cell carcinoma because I was only about 48 years old and is kind of rare for someone that age to have that let alone someone who's a female. I just found out about this other condition about a month ago from someone who I met who has it and I do have uterine fibroid and I've had some noduals on my skin that were unexplained but my dermatologist was not suspicious of them so I do not believe that I was being affected by that condition but still never did know yet how I ended up with renal cell carcinoma just out-of-the-blue. It was actually found incidentally when I had an ultrasound done for gastric issues and then and a radiologist with a really good eye saw the spot in my kidney which he said looks like a tumor. For the first couple years I had to have scans every few months CAT scans with the contrast. Then I had to go for another 3 years with it every 6 months and then now it's every year

My husband had multiple surgeries for Squamous Cell Carcinoma. Early on the surgeon at Mayo J'ville said that he felt that a systemic solution (i.e. chemo/immunotherapy was a more viable). Finally they said NO MORE SURGERY; no more chasing ghosts.

He was put on Eribitux (cetuximab) in September 2016. Eribitux took care of the tumors on the surface, however, in May 2017, there were three tumors - liver, diaphragm and neck. He was switched to Keytruda in May 2017. Two PET scans have come back clear of any visible cancer.

Having been at this a while, there is what I call the "Crystal Ball Syndrome" - if we had only known what we know now, we would have acted differently. The same goes for the doctors. You might want to talk to a hemo-oncologist to see what is available for your situation whether you want to go that route on not. You can't have too much knowledge.

Hi @oldirish1, Surgery is the primary treatment for kidney cancer (renal cancer) even for advanced or recurrent kidney cancer.

You can read about @trishanna's experience with surgery here:
- Kidney renal mass biopsy https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/kidney-renal-mass-biopsy/

I'd also like to bring @foxylady and @darlia into this conversation, who may have more to share about surgical management of kidney cancer.

My husband had multiple surgeries for Squamous Cell Carcinoma. Early on the surgeon at Mayo J'ville said that he felt that a systemic solution (i.e. chemo/immunotherapy was a more viable). Finally they said NO MORE SURGERY; no more chasing ghosts.

He was put on Eribitux (cetuximab) in September 2016. Eribitux took care of the tumors on the surface, however, in May 2017, there were three tumors - liver, diaphragm and neck. He was switched to Keytruda in May 2017. Two PET scans have come back clear of any visible cancer.

Having been at this a while, there is what I call the "Crystal Ball Syndrome" - if we had only known what we know now, we would have acted differently. The same goes for the doctors. You might want to talk to a hemo-oncologist to see what is available for your situation whether you want to go that route on not. You can't have too much knowledge.

Greetings @oldirish1..Certainly without a doubt the renal cell carcinoma that I had was scary at first...1 cm in my right kidney. It was removed in March 2008 so actually tomorrow is my 10-year anniversary. For me I've been cancer-free since I had it removed but I have to have the scans yearly now. Mine was encapsulated and had not spread so my situation was a little bit different than yours I hope that you can get the help that you need sounds very frustratin. I do know someone who told me that if you have these nodules on your skin and you have fibroids in your uterus then there's a name for this Condition it's a rare condition and it can lead to renal cell carcinoma to but of course that would only applied to a female. For me they never knew how I got the renal cell carcinoma because I was only about 48 years old and is kind of rare for someone that age to have that let alone someone who's a female. I just found out about this other condition about a month ago from someone who I met who has it and I do have uterine fibroid and I've had some noduals on my skin that were unexplained but my dermatologist was not suspicious of them so I do not believe that I was being affected by that condition but still never did know yet how I ended up with renal cell carcinoma just out-of-the-blue. It was actually found incidentally when I had an ultrasound done for gastric issues and then and a radiologist with a really good eye saw the spot in my kidney which he said looks like a tumor. For the first couple years I had to have scans every few months CAT scans with the contrast. Then I had to go for another 3 years with it every 6 months and then now it's every year

My husband had multiple surgeries for Squamous Cell Carcinoma. Early on the surgeon at Mayo J'ville said that he felt that a systemic solution (i.e. chemo/immunotherapy was a more viable). Finally they said NO MORE SURGERY; no more chasing ghosts.

He was put on Eribitux (cetuximab) in September 2016. Eribitux took care of the tumors on the surface, however, in May 2017, there were three tumors - liver, diaphragm and neck. He was switched to Keytruda in May 2017. Two PET scans have come back clear of any visible cancer.

Having been at this a while, there is what I call the "Crystal Ball Syndrome" - if we had only known what we know now, we would have acted differently. The same goes for the doctors. You might want to talk to a hemo-oncologist to see what is available for your situation whether you want to go that route on not. You can't have too much knowledge.