Blood test results

Hello ,

We haven't talked before so welcome to the group from me.  I did see your previous post but was away and saw that you had lots of other responses so did not reply myself.  I found the period after diagnosis but before I knew what was going to happen the most difficult.  Everything becomes a thing to work about and it is difficult to sit down or go to bed without thinking "what if?"

The consultant will go through any concerns they have before anything happens because at the end of the day it is your decision as to what they can do.  This should be a two way conversation where you can ask questions as well so write them down before you go and I would suggest that you take a friend with a pen and paper to take a note of the responses as they may be able to concentrate and focus better than you at the time. 

Has the consultant advised you that you are in kidney failure or is this what you suspect?  If you have a kidney cancer then depending upon where it is located it could impair the function of the kidney.  It is often where the cancer is located rather than the size that causes any symptoms.  Mine was a small kidney cancer (less than 7cm) and was at the bottom of my right kidney and did not have any impact upon the kidney function at all so I was able to have a partial nephrectomy.  If your cancer is blocking the vessels which normally drain the kidney then this may be why your doctor is considering a radical nephrectomy.

Whilst low sodium can be a symptom of kidney failure it is not uncommon and so far as I know is usually treated simply by way of changing someone's diet or using a saline drip.  I have no idea if the high creatinine levels would delay your surgery.  If it is being caused by the kidney cancer then I would have thought that removing the kidney will have no significant impact but this does depend upon your other kidney being able to take up the job.  Normally your body can cope with as little as half of one kidney providing it is working properly.

I was (and still am) obese and my surgery was delayed whilst they checked to see if I had sleep apnoea (which I did) and diabetes (which I didn't).  However the doctors will not delay any required surgery unless they have to.  The one thing that I would say is that it is worth chasing them up if they are waiting for results as the other departments will not be aware that you are awaiting surgery for cancer and sometimes it is worth giving your doctor a push to chase up these results.  If you can get a phone number to contact your doctor, probably their secretary, then when they tell you they expect to have had the results back call them to see if they have them yet.

Obviously this site has some good information and you can always talk to others here in the community.  Another good site is the Kidney Cancer UK website.  If you click on the link here it will take you to their site.  You can ring the Macmillan helpline on 0800 808 00 00 for support and advice (I found them very supportive but also really useful to find out about my employment rights, claiming on my insurance and other practical issues.  However don't forget about your GP.  They will receive copies of all the letters from your consultant and can always help to explain things or help you deal with the anxiety either through referring you on to a counsellor or anti anxiety medication.

I hope that you find out soon what will be happening, do you have a date for your next consultation?  In the meantime I would suggest that you do as buttercup01 suggested and try to keep your self occupied.  I find that I can do this during the day but struggle when I try to go to sleep.  What I try to do then is design something very complicated in my head.  I let my imagination go and try to design my perfect home, garden etc.  I try to work out what I would do if I had endless amounts of money, setting up a charity, employment schemes, a gallery.  I think that you said that you knit and have lots of yarn and have tried hand spinning wool.  Perhaps you could design your ideal craft room in your head, storage for fleeces, yarns, needles, patterns, perhaps even spinning wheels and looms.  How would you decorate the room, would you want full sun or would that fade the materials, what would be the perfect chair, would you want an interesting view or would that distract you.  I find that if I can get into something like this it is a distraction but also pleasurable and I am able to relax and get to sleep.

Wishing you all the best,

Gragon x

You are wonderful ! Thank you very much for your time. I had only one consultation and preassessment the same day . That was on Friday. The blood test I was talking about is from my GP- booked before we knew the diagnose, made yesterday and I had a phone call today from the receptionist, passing message from the GP that my blood is worsening and they would like the test repeated in 2 weeks.Then I Googled high creatinine-means kidney failure. I concluded that my healthy kidney is no more healthy and they will just cancel my operation. My diagnose is 10cm tumor in front of my left kidney, not spreaded for now.Diagnose is based on CT scan from 17th of August.

About the operation, I have tried to contact the secretary of my Doctor and to ask about the date. She wasnt very helpful and transferred me to waiting time line, which was a voicemail service. I left my voice message, begging them to speed up with the date as I cant cope with the uncertainty.

Hi @zmei4o_ pk

The creatine level is always checked for me before I have my ( routine) scans. I've only one kidney following a radical nephrectomy 15'years ago.  My tumour was 9cm. So far its been OK, so how high is high in your case?

.Dont Google things if you can help it. The results will be a worse case scenario n also several years out of date.

There are a lot of meds available to treat kidney cancer, which is a slow grower compared with other cancers. Many of these treatments have only been developed in the past few years with others in trial as well.

Can you try n get hold of the secretary's email? You may have more joy with that than phoning her up.

Waiting is the pits. Once you have a treatment plan you'll feel better  - and relieved!

Distract yourself by designing that craft room Gragon mentioned in the meantime

Hi, zmei4o_pk

Just wanted to say that it is natural and perfectly normal to be afraid and in shock at first. I was the same and, unusually for me, pessimistic. My blood test results were all over the place, so much so that they did not use the contrast dye in my final CT scan. However, the kidney removal op went ahead a few weeks ago and my consultant is confident and reassuring. This is an very helpful forum, with some lovely people; I also have a support contact at the hospital who will answer any questions. In fact, he was my first contact point. I wish you all the best.