We did get to talk with Dr. K yesterday. We asked how long the tumor was there and he said most likely years. Since Joe never had a reason for a CT scan it was never found. It could have continued until there were symptoms. It was expected that there has been blood in the urine for sometime but was over looked or just not tested for the times he had urine tests for insurance or work.
Pathology reports will dictate the next steps but there is still a chance it is benign. If not this type of cancer does not respond to Chemo or radiation but there are targeted drug therapies. A PET Scan would also not show if it is elsewhere in the body. Dr. K said if anything part of it could have come off in the vena cava and traveled to the lung like an embolism but chest x-rays does not show that as a concern.
He is not on food yet but thinks they are going to start him on tea and broth today. They also want to control the pain more because while he sleeps through the pain, when he wakes (and not pushing the pain pump button when he sleeps) it is hard to get the pain back under control when he wakes.
Other than the pain, Joe's other complaint is he can't watch Cleveland Indians games because the cable does not have Fox Sports Ohio. He thinks it is outrages that even though the Cleveland Clinic sponsors the Indians broadcast the hospital cables does not show it. I set up his iPhone with a stream of WTAM 1100 in hopes they will stream the game audio. If not he can enjoy all the ESPN Sports Center he wants.

Thanks for keeping us in your thoughts.