Diabetes: My endo took me off metformin and my insulin usage increased by 50%

I popped in to post an update and saw this mail from Druid. I can share my experience: when I was diagnosed with kidney cancer last July (can you believe it is almost a year?) my endo took me off metformin and my insulin usage increased by 50%. I have also gained about 20 pounds; can't say exactly, I have lost the nerve to approach the scale and find out just how much. I don't remember where I left off - had ablation on the right tumor Feb 4, and the surgeon said they got all the cancer. There was a cat scan at the beginning of April, no live tumor, still showed dead tissue. Inbetween I broke my rib at the airport, going to TN. That delayed things a little!

A month or so ago I began taking sutent, an anti-angiogenesis drug, to shrink the tumor on the other side. When I began having very difficult side effects, I thought, maybe I should call UCSF and make sure it could be ablated, if shrunk. No, bad place for either ablation or a partial nephrectomy, high danger of spreading the cancer. So it will be surgery. kidney and all; I need to begin the process all over again. I contacted my pcp and asked for a referral to UCSF and the surgeon I saw there last fall.

When it is all done, I plan on going back on metformin, begin to move my body again, drop back to the previous level of insulin and lost this weight that I have gained.
You are doing very well for being at the beginning of your journey thru the scenario of life with diabetes.