Cyst

Hi Danni,

Posting on this group is fine as a cyst in the kidney could well come under the remit of kidney cancer, you are more than welcome here.  I am not surprised that your head is in overdrive, I had to deal with one cancer and found that difficult enough.   I have not heard of a cyst in the kidney as a consequence of breast cancer but I am not a medical expert.  I cannot address that but I can offer some information if it is related to a kidney cancer primary.

Treatments for kidney cancer tend to be targeted biological therapies or immunotherapy as in general, chemotherapy and radiotherapy are not very successful in treating kidney cancer..  It is therefore unlikely that stopping your breast cancer treatment has had any impact whatsoever on the growth rate.

If a cyst is small they will quite often watch and wait to see how quickly it is growing.  If cysts get large and complex then they are more likely to be cancerous.  The preferred treatment for kidney cancer is surgical removal and for a lot of people this stops the cancer in it's tracks.  Depending upon where the cancer is they can remove all or part of the kidney.  You can function satisfactorily with less than 1 whole kidney.  They have the option of doing the operation via keyhole surgery or an open cut.  The surgeons are guided by what they see so what sometimes starts out as keyhole ends up as an open operation.  The time in hospital does not seem to vary much and recovery varies from person to person but I was advised at least six weeks.  In my case it took longer, some others have been quicker.  A good site for information about Kidney Cancer is not surprisingly the Kidney Cancer UK website.  If you click here the link will take you directly to that site.

Given that you are undergoing treatment for breast cancer then they will obviously have to consider the implications before deciding upon any treatments.

Have you got a cancer care nurse that you can talk to?  They would be the obvious person to keep you informed and up to date with what is a complicated situation.  Your GP may be able to offer you some clarification as well as they are technically in control of all your treatments and receive copies of all the letters and reports.  I have also asked my consultant for copies of all letters, CT scan reports and blood test results and over the years have educated myself in what most of it means for me.  I find that it makes sure they keep me informed but also enable me to ask more relevant questions of them.

Please come back if you have any more questions or even if you just want a chat.  It is not always the busiest of groups, especially following the site "upgrade" but there are members about and if they feel that they have anything relevant to say they will pitch in.

Wishing you all the best, love and hugs,

Gragon. x