Undiscovered metastatic cancer (pain, pancreas, node, blood)
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How does one have cancer throughout their body and it goes undiscovered until it's too late?
By the time my mom's cancer was diagnosed, it had traveled to her lungs. Coughing up blood, weight loss and weakness were the signs that made me bring her to the hospital. The CT scan showed tumors in the lungs and liver, lymph system involvement and lesions on the pancreas, and other organs. I was so upset, I couldn't even read the report.
We didn't have an autopsy done but is there any other way for a doctor to ascertain where the cancer originated so that we know what to look out for for ourselves?
Aside from having fainting episodes (syncope) and the need for a pacemaker five months before she passed, the only odd medical issue was the discovery of fluid around her heart/lung area whose source was unknown. When they installed the pacemaker, they drained the fluid.
My mom never smoked, was consistent with her breast screenings, colonoscopies, and regular appointments. Plus, she ate very healthy food and exercised. She'd had a total hysterectomy about 15 years ago but not due to cancer, so it could not have originated there. And, she had never been diagnosed with cancer of any kind.
Her demise was two weeks after diagnosis and we were completely caught by surprise.
I just don't understand.
Now, I'd like to request some medical records but don't know where to begin. Any suggestions?
Depends on what type of cancer. Lung cancer is the #1 leading cause of cancer deaths, due in large part of the fact that by the time it can be detected, it has already metastasized in 75% of patients. Cancer like lung cancer can be notoriously difficult to detect simply because we don't have the technology yet to do it accurately and easily. Lung cancer can be detected using CT scans, but even then, CT scans have high rates of false positives and can trick physicians into doing unnecessary invasive surgeries. On top of that, insurance companies might not even cover a procedure like CT scans, which costs thousands of dollars, as a diagnostic, so many times patients choose to forgo it all together.
Difficulty in detection and diagnosis is just the nature of some types of cancer. We just need better technology. Sorry to hear about your mother.
I'm pretty sure it metastasized to the lungs from another location. The only pain she had was when the doctor examined her belly and she had a pain on her lower right side.
I am so sorry about your mother. My deepest condolences. Some cancers are silent killers. I was sick at least 5 years before I was diagnosed because my symptoms were so vague - itchy skin, back pain, increasing fatigue - but I was a college student working too much and subsisting on day old pizza and caffeine so it didn't strike anyone as too strange! On the day I was diagnosed, I had a softball sized mass in my chest, a tennis ball sized mass tucked deep in my underarm (that was my first palpable node and popped up overnight), and a grape sized mass right behind my collar bone plus general lymphoma in half of my nodes from my collar bone to my groin with lesions on the long bones of my legs and my spine - and my bloodwork was only slightly anemic and I did not feel the pressure of the growing nodes on my lungs and esophagus until a week or two before they started chemo. I was stage IV and only being in my early 20s and with no family history, there is no way I would have been diagnosed if not for the palpable nodes.
To find out about what type, can you talk more with her oncologist? If they took any biopsies, they should have records of the pathology. It might be better to have someone walk you through the reports - they're really hard to understand as a layperson.
As to your question - I don't know if it's true with all cancer, or all types (carcinomas vs seminomas vs melanomas, etc), but the Alpha and Beta proteins can show up in routine blood work before symptoms are present. You would want to ask for a CBC - complete blood count, and specifically ask them to check for AlphaHcG or BetaHcG, and that would indicate tumor growth. Though it would NOT tell you where, or how extensive. If you were to get a positive report, the thing to do would be to wait 2 weeks, and have the test done again. Those numbers ("tumor markers") tend to increase at an exponential rate - even when there are no symptoms - as tumors develop. So the rise in those numbers tends to be a slow, but slowly increasing rise. So - should you get a positive reading on tumor markers - you'd want to get thoroughly checked out.
As to your question - I don't know if it's true with all cancer, or all types (carcinomas vs seminomas vs melanomas, etc), but the Alpha and Beta proteins can show up in routine blood work before symptoms are present. You would want to ask for a CBC - complete blood count, and specifically ask them to check for AlphaHcG or BetaHcG, and that would indicate tumor growth. Though it would NOT tell you where, or how extensive. If you were to get a positive report, the thing to do would be to wait 2 weeks, and have the test done again. Those numbers ("tumor markers") tend to increase at an exponential rate - even when there are no symptoms - as tumors develop. So the rise in those numbers tends to be a slow, but slowly increasing rise. So - should you get a positive reading on tumor markers - you'd want to get thoroughly checked out.
Those markers only work for specific tumors that make them, including some testicular cancers and a form of tumor that develops from placental tissue.
How does one have cancer throughout their body and it goes undiscovered until it's too late?
By the time my mom's cancer was diagnosed, it had traveled to her lungs. Coughing up blood, weight loss and weakness were the signs that made me bring her to the hospital. The CT scan showed tumors in the lungs and liver, lymph system involvement and lesions on the pancreas, and other organs. I was so upset, I couldn't even read the report.
We didn't have an autopsy done but is there any other way for a doctor to ascertain where the cancer originated so that we know what to look out for for ourselves?
Aside from having fainting episodes (syncope) and the need for a pacemaker five months before she passed, the only odd medical issue was the discovery of fluid around her heart/lung area whose source was unknown. When they installed the pacemaker, they drained the fluid.
My mom never smoked, was consistent with her breast screenings, colonoscopies, and regular appointments. Plus, she ate very healthy food and exercised. She'd had a total hysterectomy about 15 years ago but not due to cancer, so it could not have originated there. And, she had never been diagnosed with cancer of any kind.
Her demise was two weeks after diagnosis and we were completely caught by surprise.
I just don't understand.
Now, I'd like to request some medical records but don't know where to begin. Any suggestions?
I am so sorry about your Mom. Not having time to adjust to the prospect before the actual loss really makes it even more difficult.
At this point, I do not expect her doctors to be able to definitively tell you the source. It would take a tissue sample to do that.
Why don't you set up an appointment to talk with her primary care doctor? That would be more helpful than just getting records.
I am so sorry about your Mom. Not having time to adjust to the prospect before the actual loss really makes it even more difficult.
At this point, I do not expect her doctors to be able to definitively tell you the source. It would take a tissue sample to do that.
Why don't you set up an appointment to talk with her primary care doctor? That would be more helpful than just getting records.
Again, my condolences for your loss.
I have already spoken with him. Unfortunately when she was admitted to the hospital, he was on vacation, and did not return until after her death. I spoke with him after he knew, and had reviewed his records but I still think that something was odd about the cardiology procedure when she had the pacemaker installed and this fluid was there that know one could identify the source of. I have read that fluid buildup can be a cancer sign. Has anyone else heard that? Should the drained fluid have been examined for cancer cells?
I am so sorry about your mother. My deepest condolences. Some cancers are silent killers. I was sick at least 5 years before I was diagnosed because my symptoms were so vague - itchy skin, back pain, increasing fatigue - but I was a college student working too much and subsisting on day old pizza and caffeine so it didn't strike anyone as too strange! On the day I was diagnosed, I had a softball sized mass in my chest, a tennis ball sized mass tucked deep in my underarm (that was my first palpable node and popped up overnight), and a grape sized mass right behind my collar bone plus general lymphoma in half of my nodes from my collar bone to my groin with lesions on the long bones of my legs and my spine - and my bloodwork was only slightly anemic and I did not feel the pressure of the growing nodes on my lungs and esophagus until a week or two before they started chemo. I was stage IV and only being in my early 20s and with no family history, there is no way I would have been diagnosed if not for the palpable nodes.
To find out about what type, can you talk more with her oncologist? If they took any biopsies, they should have records of the pathology. It might be better to have someone walk you through the reports - they're really hard to understand as a layperson.
Your early symptoms sound like mine but add in joint pain everywhere and a chest pain that no pulmonary specialist, cardiologist, gastroenterologist, or rheumatologist can identify. The gastro says I have minor reflux. The rheumy is treating me for UCTD since one of my autoimmune tests was positive. Going on 4 years with chest pain (happens upon exertion only) with no answers.
I am tired of going for tests that give no real answers.
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