My Kidney Cancer

Welcome to my Kidney Cancer Website

I never before encountered any kidney cancer symptoms on myself, nor did I even consider the remote chance that the blood in the urine I passed in early September of this year would have eventually led to my kidney cancer diagnosis.

I started this website on October 3rd., 2009 - two days after I learned that the doctors found a 6.2 centimeter (2.5 inches) tumor in one of my kidneys and I was told that I had kidney cancer - likely Renal Cell Carcinoma or 'RCC', only a few months after my wife Ann was diagnosed with breast cancer.

This website and blog will grow as I will go through my journey in battling the disease. My intention is to share my experience with others in the hope that they can learn and benefit from the information I’m going to provide. I’m neither a doctor nor an expert on kidney cancer but I am an eager student and it is important to me to learn as much as possible about kidney cancer, its causes, diagnosis, treatments and share my findings with you.  

As I started building my website www.ourbreastcancer.net after my wife got diagnosed with breast cancer in March of 2009. I experienced a therapeutic effect it had on me caused by the research and communication with others in the process of gathering information to post online. And this is why I intend to do exactly the same for my kidney cancer story. If you have any questions, please send me an email to planetcaravan@gmx.com and I promise to get back to you in a timely fashion.

What Is Kidney Cancer?

In order to fully understand the complexity of kidney cancer, it is important to understand the function and anatomy of this important organ. As you browse through this website, please bear in mind that I am not a doctor or cancer specialist. I am just a kidney cancer patient, and my goal is to use straight forward language and avoid all the sophisticated medical expressions to the extent possible.
Everybody has two kidneys, each on compares to the size of your fist. They are located on either side of the spine in the abdomen, surrounded by two layers of tissue. Those layers are fatty and fibrous. Fatty is self-explanatory and fibrous tissue means that it is composed of bundles of collagenous white fibers. In between there are rows of connective tissue cells. This tissue also encloses the so called adrenal gland which is located on top of the kidneys. 

Our kidneys are vital organs. They are part of the urinary system. Their purpose is to filter waste products and toxins out of the blood and transform it into urine. Specifically, this is done by little tubes inside the kidneys, called nephrons. Here is what happens: the blood enters the kidneys and as it makes its way through the organs all waste products, such as ammonia, drugs, toxic substances and excess water will be filtered out and converted into urine. The urine is not expelled immediately but disposed to the so called renal pelvis. And from there it is being passed on to the bladder via two tubes called ureters.

Usually, kidney cancer, also called Renal Cell Carcinoma or just RCC, starts in one of the kidneys and later on spreads out further into the urinary tract. Therefore, if one of the first things an urologist or oncologist will do is to check the bladder and ureters to see whether there are any sings of malignancy.

The cause of kidney cancer is unclear. Or in other words, kidney cancer can be caused by a variety of things, but in the vast majority to all cases, it is practically impossible to determine what actually triggered one's renal cell carcinoma. In my case for example there is a whole list of potential kidney cancer causes: I had a rather tough childhood, I used to smoke and drink and I was exposed to asbestos fibers over a prolonged period of time, all of which are known kidney cancer risk factors. However, nobody will ever be able to conclusively tell me what my RCC was caused by, therefore I simply stopped speculating.

The symptoms of kidney cancer can vary strongly on the type of cancer and overall condition of the patient. One of the most commonly reported kidney cancer symptoms is blood in the urine. This is how I actually found my cancer. I had a little bit of an abdominal discomfort going on for a while, however, I attributed it to the fact that I was doing a lot of physical task (installing a patio) at that time, so I basically thought I was just not used to the strenuous work and therefore just a little sore. But shortly thereafter I literally peed blood. That's when I went to see an urologist and a few weeks later I received my kidney cancer diagnosis. The diagnosis of kidney cancer follows a certain sequence of procedures and includes blood tests, urine tests, PET-Scans, CT-Scans, Uteroscopy and Cystoscopy.

Kidney cancer treatment options are complex, it all depends on the patient's individual situation. But I guess it is fair to say that the most common treatment options for kidney cancer are: Radiation, Chemotherapy, Surgery and Immunotherapy.

The number of estimated new cases and mortality of kidney cancer in the United States in 2009, according to the National Cancer Institute, is:

New cases: 49,096
Deaths: 11,033