We just came back from Columbia Presbyterian and our visit with Dr. Badani. I am greatly impressed by his thoroughness and patience. Unfortunately, I had never requested a copy of the report of my Ureteroscopy and the slides of my CT-Scan. And Dr. Badani made it very clear that he does need to see both in order to make a conclusive assessment of the situation.

But based on what he had today (PET-Slides and report, CT-Report) he assumes that we are talking about a "traditional" RCC, not transitional. Given my relatively young age, he strongly suggests only removing as little as possible and saving whatever can be saved of the organ. But this does highly depend on the exact location of the tumor and therefore he needs to see the CT-slides. If the mass is too close to the artery that feeds the kidney, or too close to the ureter, a radical nephrectomy (removal of the entire kidney) is the only way to go. And that would be done laparoscopically as suggested by my current surgeon, for obvious reasons, mainly taking into account the limited amount of pain and expedited recovery time in comparison to a "full cut open" traditional procedure.
However, if he feels that we actually can save parts of the kidney, he doesn't feel comfortable doing in via Laparoscopy, because that would require a much more delicate approach, more time and first and foremost, full sight of the surrounding areas, including the artery.

I was greatly impressed by Dr. Badani and ultimately I got to listen to my inner voice. I have a feeling that I am in good hands there and after all, we're talking about Columbia University New York Presbyterian Hospital - this is pretty much as good as it gets, ain't it? I also have to think a little bit down the road. Post surgery, close monitoring will be required to make sure that everything stays okay. According to Dr. Badani, there's a 5% chance of recurrence, which is actually surprisingly small, at least in the grand scheme of things in the context of cancer.

Alright, I'm now in the process of getting my hands on the CT-Slides and the Ureteroscopy report, and then have it fed-exed over to Dr. Badani. He's leaving town tonight and returns Friday - by then he'd like to have everything together in his office, so he can call me back right away.

But what a freakin' pain in the ass it is to get your own medical documents? Unbelievable - at my urologists office they just old me, that I would have to sign a release form. Then the urologist has to sign it off before the report can be released to me. And that might take up to ten days. 10 DAYS???
But whatever, I am positive that I will get everything together by tomorrow night.

There's one negative with switching doctors at this point. I won't get an appointment realistically before mid of December. Good doctors are always fully booked as we all know. However, that little sucker in my kidney has been sitting there for a very long time already and  Dr. Badani ensured me that another four weeks don't matter from an Oncology perspective.


The anxiety though is a completely different story, but it is what it is.

To wrap it up: it was a good day, very educational and insightful. I feel that I'm making the right decision in switching over to a world renowned cancer institution - and by saying that, no disrespect to my current doctor. Everything he did was a 100% text book procedure and according to Dr. Badani, it is likely that he will fully confirm my doctor’s diagnosis and assessments. But nonetheless, I believe that I'm better off with an organization that is specialized in urological cancers rather than "just" a kidney doctor.

Because after all: I'm dealing with CANCER.