My husband was diagnosed with kidney cancer, very large tumor. He is scheduled for surgery Aug 9. Do most people dealing with this have surgery first and then chemo/radiation or the other way around?

Welcome @jewels5 .. I am a renal cell carcinoma survivor. Right nephrectomy. Done in March 2008, so 10 yrs now been cancer free. Mine was caught at early stage 1. Only 1 cm in size. Encapsulated and back then there wasn't as many options so surgery was the best choice. I've been living a normal life on one kidney. I get a scan every year for the FU but because it was small and had not spread, no other actions were needed like chemo or radiation. They did tell me that kidney cancer is the slowest growing and that I'd already had it like 3 yrs when they discovered it. I had no symptoms yet either. Scarey that it had been in my body that long, I thought. It was seen on an ultrasound that was done to basically take a look at my stomach due to Acid Reflux and the Gastro Dr had ordered the complete abdomen be done. Sooooo. I was thankful for that. I was only 48 when it was found! Young and being female it was not common. I suspect it came from either smoking (I'd quit in '99) or mold in the house or being around asbestos without knowledge. Guess we'll never know.
If it's spread to other parts of his body, chemo is the usual choice I've heard. The scar I have is in my abdomen and its about 7-8 inches. I have keloid scar now too as it runs in our family. The recoup time in hospital was like 6 days for me. If I can help with other ?'s I'll be happy to help. Darlia

Thank you for your information. It was very helpful. Were you working when you had surgery? If so how much time did you need off from work? If this is slow slowing I hate to know how long my husband has had this cuz it is huge. Julie