Can you live with one kidney? Yes, you can, at least I am living with one kidney only.

Before I tell you my story and how I manage my life after my left kidney was removed because of cancer, let me make one thing very clear: there is a whole variety of reasons why people will have to learn with one kidney, such as a kidney transplant or kidney cancer for example. It all depends on your specific situation how you either need to or want to change your life after you lost one kidney. What you are...

Cancer is a very complex disease. I had to learn that the hard way. first my wife got diagnosed with breast cancer and later on I was diagnosed with kidney cancer. If there is one thing I came to understand is that everybody's cancer is very different. The the same applies to kidney lesions. You may have seen the expression 'lesion on kidney' on pathology reports - it wasn't on mine. My kidney was completely overshadowed by a large 7cm mass and way beyond the stage for a kidney lesion.

So basi...

When I encountered the blood in my urine alongside this weird abdominal pain, I had no idea that I would get diagnosed with kidney cancer within a matter of two weeks. My doctor, my family and my friends were convinced that those were typical kidney stones symptoms plus the fact that I was only 37 years old was another indicator leading us to believe that cancer was out of the picture. But it wasn’t.

Anyway, let’s start with some basic information about kidney stones, medically referred to...

Well, what can I tell you about statistics and survival rates, or specifically the renal cell cancer survival rates? Everything is relative. And whatever you are about to learn this or any other cancer website, keep in mind: those are just numbers, and you are not a number. You don’t know in what category you fall. Later on I will give you a good example why cancer statistics are almost completely irrelevant to the individual patient, at least in my opinion.

It is only normal if you have jus...

The treatment of renal cell carcinoma depends on a variety of different factors, including the stage of the disease, the age of the patient, his general health and other aspects. Usually, the appropriate treatment protocol is being planned by the patient and his team of doctors.

At this point, let me pause for a minute and emphasize on the importance of getting a second (or even third) opinion. When I was diagnosed with kidney cancer, I wanted everything to be done and over with as quickly as ...

I remember very well when my urologist told me that he will have to place a ureteral stent, commonly referred to as kidney stent, in my ureter. I was just diagnosed with kidney cancer a few weeks earlier. The blood in my urine and the dull pain I had experienced for a while turned out to be the result of a 7 cm tumor that was in the process of eating my left kidney.

I had had no idea what I was in for when I just nodded my head to my urologist’s announcement. Kidney stent – to me that sou...

The so called transitional cell carcinoma of the kidney (TCC), also referred to as renal urothelial carcinoma (UC), is the least common form of kidney cancer. It only accounts for approximately seven percent of all kidney cancer diagnoses.

The cure rates for transitional cell carcinoma are roughly 90% as long as the cancer is confined to the center of the kidney, also know as  renal pelvis. However, and like many other malignant diseases, the cure rates decrease drastically once the cancer ha...

Renal cell carcinoma, like so many other forms of cancer, is known for its long latency period. There are basically no early warning signs which must in large part be attributed to the existence of a second functional kidney. In my case for instance, my left kidney was completely consumed by a large mass and basically in the process of dissolving, however since my right kidney was perfectly fine, I did not encounter any symptoms of renal cell carcinoma up until the point I peed blood. Accordi...

The symptoms of kidney cancer in women are pretty much the same as they are seen in men. 

So in my case for example, I encountered all of the most commonly seen kidney cancer symptoms at the same time: blood in the urine, discharge of clots of bloody tissue through the urine, discomfort in either side of the flanks, and a feeling of being inadequately tired all the time.

At first I didn’t make too much about that slight pain above my hip on either side of my lower back. That was back in Sep...