Question:
I have been having a lot of health problems which fit into chronic kidney disease and renal cancer. I had an ultrasound of my kidenys, and my right one is significantly enlarged. My doctor is worried, but didn't say much. Would anything abnormal regarding renal cancer have shown up in bloodwork and/or the ultrasound? Or is it possible something could have gone unnoticed? Thanks!
Answer:
Kidneys can become enlarged for various reasons. Sometimes one kidney is small and non-functional (or barely functional) from birth, so the other kidney enlarges to take over for the small kidney. Often this is never even discovered, or if so, it's discovered accidentally when you have tests to rule out other things.
What are the health problems that you have that fit into chronic kidney disease or renal cancer? I would suspect that if all your blood tests (BUN, creatinine, albumin, etc.) have been normal, that there's probably nothing wrong with your kidneys, but then, I'm not a doctor and don't know everything.
Also, is your doctor worried specifically about your kidneys or more about your symptoms?
Ruth
Answer:
Thanks for responding. I figured it wasn't anything major, I was just curious. My doctor is specifically worried about my kidneys because I have been having blood and proteins in my urine, constant pain in my back below my ribs, fatigue, fever, loss of appetite, fragile skin, nocturnal urination problems, headaches, tingling in my hands and arms, terrible shortness of breath, decreased libido....the list goes on but those are the main ones that worry my doctor. He has been testing a lot for autoimmune diseases, but I came across these kidney problems and they seemed to describe a lot of my problems (much more so kidney disease than cancer). But yes, most blood work was normal except for high blood sugar, cholesterol, and sed rate.