Forums > Social Discussion > Stage IV Renal Cell Carcinoma
Login/Join to ParticipateHOP Mad Doctor
13,925 posts
Location: San Francisco, CA, USA
So when I came to New York, the first swim coach I met here was Paul. I showed up to a Team New York Aquatics workout as a drop-in and he gave me a very thorough going-over, put me through a hum-dinger of a distance workout, and became one of my favorite coaches very quickly, even if I learned to hate and fear his workouts. He had a wonderful sense of dry, sarcastic, raised-eyebrow humor. He also wore huge, wire nerd glasses that sat off-center.
He's at Columbia Presbyterian starting chemotherapy for Stage VI renal cell carcinoma. I wonder how he got such advanced cancer without it being picked up.
So I'm a pediatrician and I know jack squat about cancer other than that it's bad and urgent and needs to be seen by an oncologist immediately. I seem to remember something from medical about renal cell carcinoma being a "surgical cancer," meaning that it can only be cured if removed surgically. And I know that stage IV means widespread disease. So I guessed that the prognosis was poor.
But, as it happens, one of my very best friends from childhood is an oncologist. So I gave her a call.
And, he has, at best, 2-3 years to live.
He's 50.
-Mike
Certified Mad Doctor and HoP High Priest of Nutella
A buckuht n a hooze! -Valura
the kicker of elves
371 posts
Location: Dublin, Ireland
Dude, that sucks. The only comfort I can offer is sometimes people shock the doctors treating them by living much longer than seems possible. Not common, but it happens, there's hope.
Man is no more than a conduit for excrement to pass through.- daVinci
Jointly owned by BurdA and Tinypixie
Wielder of the voice of Patrick Stewart
HOP Mad Doctor
13,925 posts
Location: San Francisco, CA, USA
What hope? He might live longer, but he'll still suffer the same slow decline in quality of life.
-Mike
Certified Mad Doctor and HoP High Priest of Nutella
A buckuht n a hooze! -Valura
old hand
929 posts
Location: Oregon, USA
My grandmother was told she would have 6 months max when she was diagnosed, and she lived for another 12 years. Cancer doesn't always mean it's done and over.
Go and see him, even if it's rough and hard on you it will mean a lot to him. I'm sure you know as much, I don't know if he's got a family, or if you're still close or anything, but there is nothing worse than dieing alone.
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Carpal \'Tunnel
5,814 posts
Location: Perth, Australia
Sounds like a man that has touched many people and had more positive effects in his just on 50 years than many others who have lived longer.
Is it the Truth?
Is it Fair to all concerned?
Will it build Goodwill and Better Friendships?
Will it be Beneficial to all concerned?
Im in a lonely battle with the world with a fish to match the chip on my shoulder. Gnu in Binnu in a cnu
the kicker of elves
371 posts
Location: Dublin, Ireland
True enough, i'm sorry there's nothing i can say.
Man is no more than a conduit for excrement to pass through.- daVinci
Jointly owned by BurdA and Tinypixie
Wielder of the voice of Patrick Stewart
wandering thru the woods of WI
3,556 posts
Location: Wisconsin, USA
cancer always sucks and my family is all too familiar with such types. It will be hard but quality of life can be pretty decent for much of the time. They are doing great things with medications and treatments. And everyone deals with it differently.
Faith
Nay, whatever comes one hour was sunlit and the most high gods may not make boast of any better thing than to have watched that hour as it passed
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