rinksgal Posted July 12, 2003 Share Posted July 12, 2003 Can someone tell me what stage my s/o is in now... We don't see the oncologist until wednesday.... He was a stage 1B T2N0M0 they removed his upper rt. lobe in May, but now his cancer is in the lymph nodes in the meiastinum area they said... this showed up in a pet scan he had 2 days ago... (SVU max of 10.4g/ml) He was a T2 because of the size of the tumor 4.5 cm. adenocarcinoma poorly differentiated..... what I don't understand is this is about 6 weeks or so after surgery and now its already in his lymph nodes...Shouldn't these after been removed during surgery of the orginal tumor??I don't get it? So does this mean he has mets or is that only if it gets into another area, like liver, brain, bones etcs....??? Does this make him go from a 1b to 3a or b it doesnt make him a stage 4 does it??? Can someone please answer this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
norme Posted July 12, 2003 Share Posted July 12, 2003 Hi Rinksgal, so sorry to here about the spread to the lymph areas. how many are affected? My husband had stage IIA when he was operated on. He had two tumors in the same upper left lube and had very small traces in 5 out of 7 lymph nodes. It was only a matter of a few months when it was found in the brain and a few months later when found in the bone. Good news is after all the suffering he went through and the weight loss, no eating, he is back feeling a little better. walks the neighborhood to get some exercise and is eating great! From what i am reading on staging it looks like stage IIIA. Stage IIIA reads: Refers to a T1 or T2 primary tumor that has spread to mediasinal nodes on the same side (N2), but has not spread to distant sites (MO). Alternatively, Stage IIIA can refer to a T3 tumor that has spread to lymph nodes (N1 or N2), but has not metastasized (MO). Stage IIIB: Tumor (any T) that has extensive spread to the lymph nodes (N3), but no metastasis (MO). Alternatively, Stage IIIB refers to a tumor that has invaded the mediastinum, heart, great vessels, trachea, esophagus, spine, carina or has developed separate tumor nodules in the same region of the lung, or a tumor that is shedding malignant cells into lung fluid (T4) with any N classification, and no metastasis (M)). Patients diagnosed with Stage IIIB cancer because of malignant fluid in the chest are treated as if they have Stage IV disease.. Stage IV: Any tumor that has spread to a distant site (M1). Hope this helps you . Looks to me it is Stage IIIA, maybe Sam can help you with this, he is a medical dr who to is on this board..... No matter what stage it is, try and stay calm, for there is really nothing we can do by worrying. Just enjoy each day as much as possible and feel like tomorrow will be even better. If not then the day after. God Bless Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rinksgal Posted July 12, 2003 Author Share Posted July 12, 2003 Norme, thanks for your reply. His family doctor couldn't tell us..Its not his field of medicine I guess... We'll have to wait till we see the oncologist on Wednesday and take the report to him.. Its a long story but his family doctor order the pet scan because of a fever that has returned.. For some reason Darrell runs a fever when his cancer is active...Which is good, but convincing others that this is the reason hasn't been easy, they just thought we were be overly parnoid!! I have another question what is the mediastinum?? I just feel like I need information...knowledge of whats going on helps me!! I also wish both of you the best of luck, and glad things are going better!! I just don't know how everyone deals with this!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sam'swifeShirley Posted July 12, 2003 Share Posted July 12, 2003 Hi, I agree with Norme. If there is no cancer anywhere else, he would be either a stage IIIa or IIIb depending on exactly which nodes are involved, probably a IIIa. It's really a moot point because the treatment will most probably be the same at this point anyway. It's very unlikely that anyone would want to do more surgery to try to get those nodes at this point. Treatment is going to be chemotherapy with a platinum drug (cisplatin or carboplatin) and one other newer drug (Taxol, Taxotere, Gemzar) and maybe radiation to the chest, that I'm not too sure about. The mediastinum is basically that area of the center of the chest that contains everything except the lungs. Here's a good link. http://www.bartleby.com/107/239.html The newest studies that were just reported at the big cancer meeting last month indicate that chemotherapy after surgery (adjuvent chemotherapy is what it's called) is recommeded for patients like your SO and if he were having surgery now, it would probably be done right after surgery to try to prevent this type of reoccurrence. The surgeons do try to get all the nodes that they can but it's not possible to get them all as the mediastinum is a complicated area to work in. I wouldn't blame the surgeon. There is still a decent possibility that chemotherapy +/- radiation may get a remission. You guys are in my prayers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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