I haven't watched it yet. They don't know what stage it is yet?
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My first thought is oh no Brian is using "click bait" and that at the end it was going to be benign. It is incredible after what Jessica went thru.
They weren't the clickbaity type so when I saw it my heart sank.
It seems to be contained in the kidney so early stage discovered during routine colonoscopy although that procedure did not sound normal. When a doctor does the colonoscopy normally if they find polyps they remove but they did not seem ready to do that.
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I agree not the click bait type and at first I thought YT really makes people do strange things.One thing is for sure he is ready to YT his cancer now.
It's true that obesity is a known risk factor for renal cancer, as is smoking and hypertension (I don't know if Brian has high blood pressure). The other thing it could be is an oncocytona, which is a benign tumor. If it IS cancer the docs won't know the pathological stage until it's removed and then it's staged based on size and whether or not it has extended into the tissues surrounding the kidney. The surgeons usually don't take out any lymph nodes during a nephrectomy; and Brian didn't say the docs saw any enlarged nodes on the CT scan.
PLUS ..he has some other medical issues that have to be put on hold for now. I'm hoping it's an oncocytoma and once it's gone then he can get that large polyp removed before it misbehaves.
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Going back to the colonoscopy ... the GI doc can remove smaller polyps with a snare device but for larger polyps ... about 3 cm or larger ... those have to be surgically removed... they cannot be removed during a colonoscopy. The GI doc will tattoo the polyp so that the Gi surgeon can locate it during the surgical procedure.
PLUS ..he has some other medical issues that have to be put on hold for now. I'm hoping it's an oncocytoma and once it's gone then he can get that large polyp removed before it misbehaves.
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Going back to the colonoscopy ... the GI doc can remove smaller polyps with a snare device but for larger polyps ... about 3 cm or larger ... those have to be surgically removed... they cannot be removed during a colonoscopy. The GI doc will tattoo the polyp so that the Gi surgeon can locate it during the surgical procedure.
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How do you find a renal tumor during a colonoscopy?
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Okay. I'm reading the transcript. They didn't find it during the colonoscopy they found it from a CT.
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Okay. I'm reading the transcript. They didn't find it during the colonoscopy they found it from a CT.
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Yes sorry it was on the CT. That made no sense.
I was like... hmmmm, I've had several colonoscopies but they never mentioned my kidneys.
I have/had colon cancer and read a lot about colons in my past but never heard anything about mega long colons like Brian's. He's an interesting dude.
They did find benign cysts on my kidneys during my frequent CT scans.
I was sort of thinking all along that it would be benign...but when Mayo says 85% chance it is not I have to think it may well be cancer.
Here's my maybe not nice take on his extra long colon. When you weigh over 500 lbs you must eat a tit ton of food so your colon just expands to contain the aforementioned tit.
Not logical but sounds like an interesting theory.
Not logical but sounds like an interesting theory.
no matter what kind of procedure or surgery Brian has he is a high risk patient.
True. He still is morbidly obese.
I think plant based eating is admirable and I wish I was that disciplined. I'm a vegetarian that can't give up cheese unfortunately. I don't think it's the way to avoid cancer.
A bit more on unusual colons .. I have a friend who has GI issues and has to undergo colonoscopies more frequently. Her colon is atypical (I can't remember if she told me why) so for her colonoscopies she has to do a 2-day prep. Ugh. Maybe she has a redundant colon like Brian, she is slightly overweight now, I don't know if she was heavier in the past. Her next colonoscopy is actually this week, unless she's rescheduled it again. She also wants to refuse the sedation each time but her GI says nope.
Not sure why but so many on YT and social media that get cancer seem to have diets such as "plant based" etc. Does make one wonder. I think the key may be to make sure your diet has lots of plant type foods but maybe not to the exclusion of other food groups? Do people that eat this way maybe enjoy their sweets way more than the average? I mean the link with sugar and cancer is real...that is a fact.
So true. I think it also depends on how people approach this "plant based diet". What does it even mean? I have a vegan friend who eats so much junk. You can eat a lot of junk even as a vegan. And look at Brian. He clearly eats too much. They went the extreme road by doing a pure plant based diet but haven't mastered the most important and basic aspect of healthy eating - balance.
Also, genes play a big part too. If you are genetically predisposed to get cancer (whether it's hereditary or a pesky mutation takes place), there is only so much you can do to try to prevent. Eating "plants' might not help in such a case.
Robin Gibb had stomach cancer and he was on a plant based diet. All Gibb brothers suffered from stomach issues.
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I lost my husband to renal cell carcinoma. RCC doesn't show up in urine and it doesn't show any abnormalities in urine samples, which is what makes RCC a very difficult to spot cancer. Not sure what Brian means when he refers to urine samples. If caught early it can be cured with nephrectomy alone. Anything below 4cm is considered to be small. 6cm is a medium-sized tumour. The biopsy will show the grading of the cancer (if it is RCC),if it is aggressive depending on the Furhman grade, they can offer adjuvant immunotherapy (at least here in the UK they do) pembrolizumab.
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What I do know is that size is irrelevant, its positioning that's important. My husband had a small renal tumor which was positioned close to the middle pole, it grew and invaded the inferior vena cava. Had it been in a different position he would have likely been alive today.
www.cancerresearchuk.org
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Fully finished watching his video now and he is correct. The info that he's been told, it could have been there for many many years. My husbands oncologist predicted via the growth rates that he had RCC since late teens or very early 20's. Brians tumor could have been growing for many years. He wasn't symptomatic (no blood in his wee) and it was an incidental find whilst looking for something else.
I do wish Brian the best. Although a full kidney removal isn't as plain sailing as its made out to be! Brian would have to look after the one remaining kidney. Many Kidney cancer patients that have full nephrectomy end up with low EGFR, unable to tolerate the contrast used in CT scans, and other complications with high urea and high creatinine. People can live with one kidney but care needs to be taken with the remaining kidney.
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Staging for kidney cancer is a little different to other cancer. Brians states the size is 6cm x 6cm which if it hasn't spread to nearby lymph nodes or breached the kidney, it would make him stage T1B
What I do know is that size is irrelevant, its positioning that's important. My husband had a small renal tumor which was positioned close to the middle pole, it grew and invaded the inferior vena cava. Had it been in a different position he would have likely been alive today.
TNM stages of kidney cancer
Your doctor might use the TNM staging system for kidney cancer. This describes how big it is and how far it has spread. TNM stands for Tumour, Node and Metastasis.
Fully finished watching his video now and he is correct. The info that he's been told, it could have been there for many many years. My husbands oncologist predicted via the growth rates that he had RCC since late teens or very early 20's. Brians tumor could have been growing for many years. He wasn't symptomatic (no blood in his wee) and it was an incidental find whilst looking for something else.
I do wish Brian the best. Although a full kidney removal isn't as plain sailing as its made out to be! Brian would have to look after the one remaining kidney. Many Kidney cancer patients that have full nephrectomy end up with low EGFR, unable to tolerate the contrast used in CT scans, and other complications with high urea and high creatinine. People can live with one kidney but care needs to be taken with the remaining kidney.
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He sounded very motivated and committed to eliminating his excess weight to try to improve his circumstances.
Sounds like the prognosis is cautiously optimistic as he's not anticipating any adjuvant treatments after surgery. But, without a biopsy, it's still too early to definitively say, I'm sure.
On the plus side, at least glad for the CT that discovered it as an aside to his colorectal symptoms. I wonder if the polyp has created his intestinal symptoms? Very good that he's being seen at a top cancer care facility, that must be a relief to them.
I really thought it was far too early in Jessica's post-cancer recovery period to be confident in bringing a child into the equation. But, I certainly never expected it to be Brian who would be facing his own cancer challenge so soon after Jessica's. Goes to show that cancer does not discriminate, you can try to improve your odds by what you eat and your lifestyle choices, but it is certainly no guarantee of good health.
If anyone follows eamon and bec, I see her breast cancer that had been in remission just went crazy after carrying a child, forcing her to deliver early. They've not shared many details except she's now Stage 4, but nothing further regarding prognosis, treatment, etc. This is why they took the last 5 months or so off their channel.
That's two established vloggers, both with new babies, sharing terrible health news.
I thought the same, they don't lead people on or sensationalise anything. Very sad news. They seem to be very disciplined youtubers, not a mention of his issues all these months that they vlogged about the new baby, new home, Jessica's health updates, etc. It sounds like a business decision was made at this point to include his journey into their channel as it will encompass a substantive narrative to share. They are not the haphazard type who include any vacuous thoughts that enter their heads or the verbal diarrhoea that others use to fill up content or create clickbait draws for viewers.
Sounds like the prognosis is cautiously optimistic as he's not anticipating any adjuvant treatments after surgery. But, without a biopsy, it's still too early to definitively say, I'm sure.
On the plus side, at least glad for the CT that discovered it as an aside to his colorectal symptoms. I wonder if the polyp has created his intestinal symptoms? Very good that he's being seen at a top cancer care facility, that must be a relief to them.
I really thought it was far too early in Jessica's post-cancer recovery period to be confident in bringing a child into the equation. But, I certainly never expected it to be Brian who would be facing his own cancer challenge so soon after Jessica's. Goes to show that cancer does not discriminate, you can try to improve your odds by what you eat and your lifestyle choices, but it is certainly no guarantee of good health.
If anyone follows eamon and bec, I see her breast cancer that had been in remission just went crazy after carrying a child, forcing her to deliver early. They've not shared many details except she's now Stage 4, but nothing further regarding prognosis, treatment, etc. This is why they took the last 5 months or so off their channel.
That's two established vloggers, both with new babies, sharing terrible health news.
Research into RCC is very slow Suze. Although the landscape does finally appear to be quickly changing more recently. I know that just 10 years ago there was absolutely no treatment for RCC other than TKI's (blood vessel blockers). What Brian didn't say or what Brian maybe hasn't been told is that RCC is resistant to chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Researchers have tested so many chemotherapies on RCC and none have been of any benefit. I asked the oncologist why and he said this " Chemotherapy and radiotherapy works on fast dividing cells, RCC is very slow growing and cell division is very slow, therefore chemotherapy and radiotherapy are not effective". The breakthrough for Kidney cancer was immunotherapy, which does work wonders in many kidney cancer patients.He sounded very motivated and committed to eliminating his excess weight to try to improve his circumstances.
I thought the same, they don't lead people on or sensationalise anything. Very sad news. They seem to be very disciplined youtubers, not a mention of his issues all these months that they vlogged about the new baby, new home, Jessica's health updates, etc. It sounds like a business decision was made at this point to include his journey into their channel as it will encompass a substantive narrative to share. They are not the haphazard type who include any vacuous thoughts that enter their heads or the verbal diarrhoea that others use to fill up content or create clickbait draws for viewers.
Sounds like the prognosis is cautiously optimistic as he's not anticipating any adjuvant treatments after surgery. But, without a biopsy, it's still too early to definitively say, I'm sure.
On the plus side, at least glad for the CT that discovered it as an aside to his colorectal symptoms. I wonder if the polyp has created his intestinal symptoms? Very good that he's being seen at a top cancer care facility, that must be a relief to them.
I really thought it was far too early in Jessica's post-cancer recovery period to be confident in bringing a child into the equation. But, I certainly never expected it to be Brian who would be facing his own cancer challenge so soon after Jessica's. Goes to show that cancer does not discriminate, you can try to improve your odds by what you eat and your lifestyle choices, but it is certainly no guarantee of good health.
If anyone follows eamon and bec, I see her breast cancer that had been in remission just went crazy after carrying a child, forcing her to deliver early. They've not shared many details except she's now Stage 4, but nothing further regarding prognosis, treatment, etc. This is why they took the last 5 months or so off their channel.
That's two established vloggers, both with new babies, sharing terrible health news.
Researchers know that immunotherapy kills off/ controls existing tumours. At this moment in time they are unsure if immunotherapy can work on microscopic cells. Adjuvent immunotherapy (to try prevent a recurrence) is very experimental, but early UK data is showing positive. I know a few kidney cancer patients that was at very high risk of a recurrence following Kidney removal. They had immunotherapy for a year via a trial, and many have remained NED for several years.
It's very sad news for both Brian and Jessica.
Aha, well that explains why chemo- or radiotherapy might not be expected, then! Brian was so matter of fact in his narrative, I wonder what kind of emotional response they are actually having to this terrible turn of events.
Thanks for the added info that helps fill out the picture a bit better.
I can't imagine what is going on behind closed doors. I already sense that Brian is beating himself up about putting back on some pounds when Jessica was ill.
If it really is contained in the kidney then Brian stands a chance of kidney removal being curative, but it will come down to the grading after biopsy. Also I am wondering why he is jumping straight into kidney removal? Many patients in the UK are offered partial nephrectomies, cryotherapy where they freeze the tumor. Brian is relatively young, I would be looking into a partial nephrectomy first.