[Guest]

A dear friend of the family's was just diagnosed over the holidays with kidney cancer; found it had metastasized and is also in the lymph nodes near the kidney and the urethra. He has had a stent implanted to help with urination. He is in severe pain, due I believe from the stent more than anything. Painkillers aren't really helping him much. He's going for a second opinion this week with a different doctor, just to be safe. My question is, has anyone out there gone through something like this? It sounds very bleak and the first prognosis he was given was devastating...6 months w/o chemo and maybe 2 years w/chemo. What quality of life are we talking? He's 70 yrs. old, married, no children. Any encouraging words out there?

[UroDoc]

Metastatic kidney disease is a tough one since it doesn't respond well to chemo or radiation. There are some experimental immune modification treatments which he maybe a candidate for, contact your local/regional teaching hospital