Cat Scan Found Mass on Kidney

First take a deep breath. You live in America - we have the best medical system in the world - no matter what politicians like to say to prove their points. Even people without medical insurance get life saving medical care.

Second - consider the absolute worse case scenario and then realize it is probably not that - so remove that option from your mind and thoughts.

My sister is a nurse practitioner involved with kideny transplants. She's worked in this field for more than 30 years - which leads me to:

Third -the most wonderful thing about kidneys is that you have 2 of them - and you only need one. So even if the very worse thing happened and they had to remove a kidney you would still have a full kidney to do the work your body needs done. I have two friends who donated their kidneys and now live with one. There is nothing you would notice about them to lead you to believe they have less than the number of kidneys they were born with.

Fourth - from what I know about RCC - renal cancer - almost all kidney cancer are easily taken care of by resection - or surgical removal of the tumor - leaving the kidney almost completely intact - plus keeping the unaffected kidney.

Fifth - all cancer treatments and surgery has improved so very dramatically in the last 5-10 years that things that used to be awful are now survivable. And this particular cancer - if it is RCC - it very curable. Years ago my brother had a tumor on his thyroid. He was only 20. They told him - if you have to have cancer this is the one to have - because it's curable. Yes I know it sounds wierd - but my feeling has always been - take it out if you can remove the cancer. Somethings you can't remove - this you can.

Sixth - you live in PA - you have a couple of really good university hospital centers within a reasonable drive - Robert Woods Johnson in New Brunswick, NJ; U of Penn Medical center in Philadelphia and Memorial Sloan Kettering in NYC. You can access the best medical care in the world - see the doctors that rich people travel across the globe to see for treatment. Assuming your insurance allows you - plan to get treatment at one of these excellent centers

Finally - pray - ask God for discernment, for peace, for His presence in your decision making process. Ask Him to smooth the path, to simplify your appointment making process. During the days when you can go to doctors and gather information you'll be on automatic pilot. At night when you have time to think, or wake up in the middle of the night your mind will go to horrible places. When your mind wanders - pray. Instead of counting sheep, talk to the shepherd.

Some practical advise - call your insurance company - they probably have a case management department or nurse helpline. Ask for their advice, - see if they have any "centers of excellence" set up. Some of the larger insurance companies have special arrangements with the doctors who do the most procedures and have the best results. You'd rather have surgery done by a doctor whose done thousands of the same procedure than a guy who's done 25. Don't feel limited however to what the isnruance company suggests. but I can tell you - the big insurers work only with the best surgeons for stuff liek this - cuz they want to minimize complications and get you healthy - it's a financial decision but it's also good for the patient. Ask for help - if friend offers "call me if I can help in any way" - call them - ask them to pick up your kids, grocery shop, etc. People want to help.

I work in the health insurance business and may be able to provide more practical information if you're interested. Send me a private message if you have questions. I can offer you ideas and help answer questions that might be specific to your insurance company.

I just prayed for you - and will do so when you come to mind H.. You can get through this better than you ever imagined. You can.

H.
In January, my urologist did a cat scan of my kidneys and a mass showed up in my lung. I had half my lung removed.
I know this is not the same as yours, but I certainly know what you are going through right now. If you have to have the tumor removed or the kidney removed it will be less complicated than my surgery. I came through fine and am already back to teaching exercise classes every day. So you will be fine, also.
Just make sure you get to a major hospital.
If you are interested in knowing all the things I have learned about what to eat and so forth, feel free to contact me.
Good luck and God bless.
Victoria

I actually had renal cancer 10 yrs ago, I'm now 40. I was 18 weeks preggo with twins when they found it. Mine was 12 cm and encapsulated my whole kidney. At 18 weeks preggo, they removed that kidney, no chemo or radiation needed because it had not spread anywhere else.

Yes, this cancer is usually found in men, over 50 yrs. But it does happen to others like myself and it is totally curable when found early. They aren't going to know anything until they get in there. I know it's scary, but you need to get to a urologist immediately, don't put this off because of being scared. Right after I had to go for CT scans every few months then every 6 mths then once a yr, now I go every other yr.

Do I now make sure to take care of myself since I now live with one kidney, you bet I do. Obviously people live with one kidney all the time, but there are many things that can affect that kidney (i.e. diabetes, high blood pressure, recurring cancer, etc) that you need to make sure to take care of yourself to help prevent these things happening later in life. I exercise, watch what I eat, get enough sleep, and in-general take care of myself to prevent these things later in life.

So, please go see a doctor and get this taken care of sooner rather than later.

Fear is not knowing what is going on and where to go from there. It is scary that you may have cancer in your kidney. It is not time to wait and sit there. I would go to the doctor right away to find out what you are really dealing with. You have a family to think about so you need to go and deal with this and see what you need to do next. I am sorry that you have to deal with this. Please go and take care of yourself. God bless you.

is it a tumor or mass?, I had almost the same diagnosis but was in my pancreas, they couldn't determine for sure what it was for sure UNTIL they went in, I had to go to SF for the procedure, was a very specialized endoscopy where they put you out and go down your throat with a long hose, they aspirated it, removed a lymph node and a part of my liver, then tested for cancer, came out negative. Guess what I'm trying to say is that until they do a biopsy, they can't tell for sure and there is a difference between the 2, a mass is generally harmless and a tumor can go either way, you can look it up on google...

my gma was told this.....& it ended up being a "shadow". She has had this shadow on her kidney for 50-60 years now!! She just turned 90 in Feb.

Hope this holds true for you!

I just wanted to respond that I am so sorry you are going through something so scary, try and think a positive! Especially since you aren't sure what is going on yet, hopefully its no big deal! Prayers are with you!

My 36 year old sister-in-law, and mother of 3, went in for a cat scan on her back, but the tech found a mass on her kidney. It turned out to be RCC. Talk about a surprise!
They went in to see if they could remove just the mass but ended up taking that one kidney. No big deal! She is cancer free and didn't need any further medical attention (radiation or chemo). I hope this encourages you!! I know it must be scary, but you can overcome this!! I'm praying for you . . .

I had an MRI on my neck because I have had terrible headaches. I was surprised and scared when it came back finding a mass-like lesion on my shoulder, so I had to do another one. I was freaked out, but after a lot of prayers and encouragement from friends and loved ones I was fine. My lesion was a noncancerous angieoma (sp?). Try not to worry even though I know that is very hard, but a friend told me something that helped comfort me. She said that there are all sorts of things floating around in our bodies that are noncancerous, but may show up questionable on a CT scan or MRI. That was my case and likely this will end up being nothing for you either. Good luck and God bless!
A.

Just had a family friend go through this 2 mos ago.

Is it "encapsulated"? Meaning, is it just on that one kidney, and are the blood vessels isolated to the tumor?
Kidney tumors are pretty common and the recovery rate is high. Our friend had his kidney removed. His tumors' blood supply was too close to the artery, and they opted to remove the kidney rather than risk knicking the artery. He has recovered quite well, and the cancer had not spread. His tumor was 3cm.

I know a few others that went through the same thing. Each of them went with removing the kidney in their circumstances. The 2 others I know had this years ago, and live healthy, hearty lives today with no recurrance of tumors.