A good friend of mine is having his kidney and a malignant tennis ball sized tumour removed tomorrow.
On the bright side, they are going in with a scope, removing the kidney and tumour and bagging it inside of him.  Then they will make a four or five inch incision in his abdomen and remove the bag with the contained malignancy.  By doing it this way, there is a much greater chance that the cancer won't spread.  Surgery sure has come a long way from the old days where they would have cut him open with huge scars and a much longer recovery.