Living with Kidney Cancer

I am a 51 year old female. My story really begins two years ago wih the onset of high blood pressure I couldn’t get my MD to prescribe anything for it because he was not convinced I truly had it.

Later that summer it was discovered that I had a complex cyst on my ovary. A CA125 test was elevated and I was told that I needed a total hyst. After having a laparascopic hyst, I sufferd with a hematoma, I bled for 6 weeks and during this time I had a high red blood count, the high end of normal. It took a while for me to recoup from surgery and the fatique I felt, I assumed it was hormonal. I then had a routine physical with a new GP. My blood count came back very high. My alkaline phostaphase was also high. My MD said it was from diet. Everything I read talked about it being a tumor marker and kidney related.

Well, after seeing two hematologists, it was decided that I had Stress Polycythemia. I was delighted not to have a bone marrow disorder. In December while getting ready for Christmas I did some heavy lifting and herniated some disc in my neck. I was in so much pain that I couldn’t lift my arm. I had an xray of my shoulder and it did not show anything. My clavicle area was swollen and the physical therapist thought my muscles were sprained.

Well after 6 weeks of chiropractic help, I still was swollen and had a knot on my clavicle. I finally had an MRI which showed swelling under the clavicle and they wanted a ct scan. The next day they wanted a bone scan. The bone scan did not show any activity anywhere other than the clavicle. I thought I was ok. But the tumor specialist felt like it had to be biopsied.

One week later I was told there was kidney cells on my clavicle. After a ct scan it was confirmed that I had a 9 cm tumor on my left kidney. They have not seen it anywhere else. I had the kidney removed using a laparscope. I am now taking a drug called Sutent and I will be having the tumor section of the bone out soon.

The Lord has worked on my behalf in many ways. I pray that this new drug will do all it is supposed to. I wrote all of this info because I had early signs that for whatever reason got overlooked. I knew something was not right when my blood pressure went up. I was very fatigued and something was not right. Had I been scanned during the ovarian cyst time, they could have seen the tumor then.

God Bless all that have written and I wish you well.