Richard Welshons

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A couple months ago after doing some hard labor work raising up a sinking sidewalk my Dad started to have hip pain.  He tried different conservative treatment including anti-inflammatory medications, rest, icing the area and physical therapy, which all were without benefit.  It was suggested he have some imaging done on the hip and at that time it was discovered there was a large tumor in the hip joint.  More extensive imaging revealed there was also a tumor on the left kidney.  


He was quickly referred to the University of Minnesota Cancer Center where further testing and physician meetings with urology, orthopedics, oncology and radiation have been taking place the past week.   At this point it has been confirmed that he has Stage IV cancer of the left kidney that appears to have metastasized to the right hip.  On Thursday, September 15th he had an MRI with contrast of the kidneys to determine the extent of the tumor on the left kidney and of the right kidney to determine if what they saw on CT scan was cysts or more cancer.  Friday, September 16th he had a bone biopsy of the right hip, which the results should be available to us sometime next week.


After the scans and biopsy results have been reviewed, the team of physicians will discuss a plan of action.  At this point we've been told the  right hip is very unstable due to the extent of the tumor and will require a total hip replacement.  A final determination has not yet been made as to the left kidney, which will depend on the results of the MRI he had yesterday.  If the right kidney has cysts and not cancerous tumors then they would like to remove the left kidney 6-8 weeks after he has the total hip surgery.