Never in a million years did I think I’d be joining this forum but hey here we are. I’m 29 yo, female and have absolutely no symptoms, so here goes my story. I had a US less than 2 weeks ago on Sunday 20Aug where they found a mass on my right kidney. This was a follow up after they found something suspicious back in 2019 but that’s another story for another day. Radiographer said her report will contain an urgent referral for a urologist/more imaging. By Tuesday morning, I had an appointment with my GP who had referred me on the NHS via the 2 weeks pathway and also gave me a private referral. Luckily, private healthcare is provided by my employer so I opted for that to ease my mind. I managed to get a urologist consultant the next day who was very concerned about the US report which could mean a full removal of my kidney. He ordered an urgent CT scan of my abdomen and pelvis. The next morning (Thursday), I was called in for the CT scan which was a weird experience given the hot flushes and the panic of thinking I almost wet myself lol. By Friday afternoon, I had a follow up consultation with the urologist who gave me the results of the CT scan. Some good news it was, it was not as big as the 10cm prediction on the US but instead just over 7cm to which he said took it to a stage 2. There was also no spread in the lymph nodes, or any other organs. Thirdly, the location of it being on the very top there was a high chance they could just “lop it off” - phew! But still highly likely to be cancerous.
Next steps was a referral to a urologist surgeon, and another CT scan with dye for my chest to ensure no spreading. Had that done on the 30th, and will be seing the surgeon this evening for the results and the treatment/surgery proposed. I’m praying it’s all clear in the lungs and no mets. I have been told multiple times by both consultants that I’m very unlucky to have this at such a young age and that they’ve rarely seen kidney cancer at my age. Provisional surgery booked in for the 11Sep already, and whilst I’m grateful of the speed of everything… I can’t help but feel like I haven’t been able to process anything or think because of how fast paced things are. I’ve had bad days where I‘m in tears for a while in the evenings and good days as if nothing has happened. I’ve been working still this whole time as with no symptoms, I feel like it’s business as usual and it’s been a good distraction - my mind would be on over drive if I was left with my thoughts all day.
I wanted to ask people here who have had stage 2 tumours and what surgery option was given to you, was it partial or radical? My preference would be partial, as there is history of polycystic kidney disease in the family. My worry is, i’ll be at big risk of dialysis/kidney function issues with just the one kidney. But will ofcourse discuss all of this tonight with the surgeon.
Thank you for taking the time to read, sorry for such a long post. Stay strong everyone and wish me luck with the results this evening 
For Wednesday
