Health Problems

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Haus

I am Big Balls!
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So.. because the hits just keep on comin at Chez Haus...

I think I mentioned a while back about going into the hospital over an abscess which formed, and that they detected something on my left kidney. Found out about that today....

Urologist went over everything and says it's a cyst with solid complications, putting it at a 3 or 3.5 on the Bosniak scale. Told me there's around a 60-75% chance there's cancer involvement based on her experience with these. And that we should monitor it for 3 months and do another CT with contrast, but that the long term prognosis will be that she will have to remove it. And it's at 2.8cm and partially inside my left kidney, so that will mean partial nephrectomy. Upside is that she doesn't think I'll lose the WHOLE kidney, and that it's not threatening enough to need immediate surgery.

yay

My biggest question is still what causes these, for which there seems to be little consensus. Since both my wife and I have BOTH had cystic formations on our kidneys, and that just feels way too coincidental not to have some common thread. But as has been my experience with the medical profession in the US, everybody has a pill, a surgery, or a treatment, and almost nobody can tell you a cause half the time.
 
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Kithani

Blackwing Lair Raider
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My biggest question is still what causes these, for which there seems to be little consensus. Since both my wife and I have BOTH had cystic formations on our kidneys, and that just feels way too coincidental not to have some common thread. But as has been my experience with the medical profession in the US, everybody has a pill, a surgery, or a treatment, and almost nobody can tell you a cause half the time.
To be fair knowing what caused something generally has very little to do with what to do about it moving forward. Not to mention everyone wants to know it was some weird chemical they were exposed to and not the fact that they ate crap and didn’t exercise etc. their whole life’s

Risk factors for renal cell carcinoma (RCC), the most common type of kidney cancer, include:

Lifestyle factors:

  • Smoking
  • Obesity
  • High blood pressure
  • Physical inactivity
    • Excessive alcohol consumption
    • Use of certain pain relievers (e.g., acetaminophen, phenacetin)
Environmental factors:

    • Exposure to certain chemicals, such as trichloroethylene
    • Use of pesticides and herbicides
    • Radiation therapy
 

Gurgeh

Silver Baronet of the Realm
4,924
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To be fair knowing what caused something generally has very little to do with what to do about it moving forward. Not to mention everyone wants to know it was some weird chemical they were exposed to and not the fact that they ate crap and didn’t exercise etc. their whole life’s

Risk factors for renal cell carcinoma (RCC), the most common type of kidney cancer, include:

Lifestyle factors:

  • Smoking
  • Obesity
  • High blood pressure
  • Physical inactivity
    • Excessive alcohol consumption
    • Use of certain pain relievers (e.g., acetaminophen, phenacetin)
Environmental factors:

    • Exposure to certain chemicals, such as trichloroethylene
    • Use of pesticides and herbicides
    • Radiation therapy
Most people want to hear it’s bad luck and that there is a miracle pill.
They say 40% are preventable, I'm convinced it’s a lot more than that. Same for dementia.

Doctors tend to be jaded because most people will not even consider the slightest lifestyle change, even facing the most terrible diseases, but at the very least they show major benefit in combination with regular therapies.
 

Haus

I am Big Balls!
<Silver Donator>
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Most people want to hear it’s bad luck and that there is a miracle pill.
They say 40% are preventable, I'm convinced it’s a lot more than that. Same for dementia.

Doctors tend to be jaded because most people will not even consider the slightest lifestyle change, even facing the most terrible diseases, but at the very least they show major benefit in combination with regular therapies.
Oh I don't doubt that there are lifestyle factors. I am overweight (but I don't think I'm clinically obese just yet.. not positive) But I do know I have high blood pressure (all the men in my family it seems). Haven't been a drinker of any significance in over a decade.

I'm more curious because my wife and I neither had this type of issue, then both developed it. And strangely enough, she cooks great and keeps me probably overfed, but we actually eat very different diets. So I was wondering about if there was something in our house potentially contributing that needed to be removed. It's an older house, but I had it checked for the "usual" suspects when I bought it (but that's really just lead and asbestos)

But also the Dr made me aware that this could have been growing slowly for a very long time, it was literally luck that I had to go the hospital for the other thing that let them catch it, and she said relative to the ones she's seen we caught this one "very early when it's smaller". (Which in my head contradicted the "growing slowly for years" part but whatever...)

Now it's all just getting things lined up and ready to have surgery around my 56th birthday.
 

Kajiimagi

<Aristocrat╭ರ_•́>
2,841
5,335
Oh I don't doubt that there are lifestyle factors. I am overweight (but I don't think I'm clinically obese just yet.. not positive) But I do know I have high blood pressure (all the men in my family it seems). Haven't been a drinker of any significance in over a decade.

I'm more curious because my wife and I neither had this type of issue, then both developed it. And strangely enough, she cooks great and keeps me probably overfed, but we actually eat very different diets. So I was wondering about if there was something in our house potentially contributing that needed to be removed. It's an older house, but I had it checked for the "usual" suspects when I bought it (but that's really just lead and asbestos)

But also the Dr made me aware that this could have been growing slowly for a very long time, it was literally luck that I had to go the hospital for the other thing that let them catch it, and she said relative to the ones she's seen we caught this one "very early when it's smaller". (Which in my head contradicted the "growing slowly for years" part but whatever...)

Now it's all just getting things lined up and ready to have surgery around my 56th birthday.
Bro I never got a straight answer about my brain tumor. It took them a fucking month of back and forth arguing to even agree that it wasn't the type that makes me dead fast. You'll just have to deal with what you know and move forward. Best of luck!
 

Haus

I am Big Balls!
<Silver Donator>
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Bro I never got a straight answer about my brain tumor. It took them a fucking month of back and forth arguing to even agree that it wasn't the type that makes me dead fast. You'll just have to deal with what you know and move forward. Best of luck!
I know. It's the fact that I have chronic "engineer brain" so I see everything as a problem I need to analyze to resolve.
 
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moonarchia

The Scientific Shitlord
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I know. It's the fact that I have chronic "engineer brain" so I see everything as a problem I need to analyze to resolve.
The time to resolve it was 20 years ago. Put that energy and effort into minimizing impact, and being as healthy as possible going forward. Step 1 is getting your diet and exercise in order.
 

Haus

I am Big Balls!
<Silver Donator>
14,175
55,703
The time to resolve it was 20 years ago. Put that energy and effort into minimizing impact, and being as healthy as possible going forward. Step 1 is getting your diet and exercise in order.
I agree, but I'd like to know if it was something in the house, or something in the food/stuff we brought into the house. As we're about to build a new house and I want to not potentially take anything of this situation with us.

Like many, I know I struggle with big diet changes, but I also know the reasons, and unraveling those is more complicated it seems than "be more stubborn than your habits".