For a variety of reasons I elected to fire my previous Urologist. Coincidentally that same day I finally heard back from MD Anderson and have since handed over all of my care to them. Talk about a night and day difference, it's been incredible.
Their Urologist that I'm seeing feels very confident he can get good margins with a Partial Nephrectomy AND optimistically I might be able to maintain 75% renal function from that kidney. That is such an insane amount of optimism for a 5-6cm tumor. I think the doc MIGHT be a little overconfident, because holy shit that is such a great potential prognosis. Realistically if I can heal well and retain 33% or so I'd be thrilled, anything above and beyond I'm looking at as a bonus. I'm also well aware I could wake up from surgery to the news that they had to do a Radical after all, and Im at peace with that potential.
24hrs after my first visit at MDA they had me in for a CT with contrast to better map out their surgical options, but also to search for any spread of the cancer (yes I know it's not officially cancer yet, but at 5-6cm I'm in the 85-95% chance for malignancy so Im just calling it cancer). They also ran more blood and urine labs immediately after meeting with the doc and holy shit, this team had my results before I could even get back to my car. I've had 'good' medical care in the past, but I dont even know the words to describe how fast and efficient these folks have been. Short of being a billionaire I cant even imagine getting this level of care.
From first seeing a mass on ultrasound on April 13th to today has been one HELL of a rollercoaster, but Im feeling more optimistic today than I have during this entire month. Still some tough conversations to be had with my wife before I go under the knife, but we're both prepared to cross that bridge soon.
This sub has been great for realistically preparing me for what to expect and just the sheer amount Ive learned from everyone else's story. I hope to also be that resource for some folks going forward someday.