is this right ...pls help !!

Manuel said:

Hi, My sister, a thirty three year old, has been diagnosed
with adenocarcimoma. They have also established
brochioalveolar carcinoma and a suspected malignant nodule
in her thyroid gland. In spite of this the primary cancer
has not yet been identified.

At present she is hospitalised where several tests have
been undertaken, albeit, to my layman's judgment at an
absurdly leisurely pace. She has been interned now for
29 days and although they have eliminated breast cancer
and identified the malignancies mentioned above, no
therapy has yet been delivered nor determined. At the
moment, in fact tomorrow, she will undergo a biopsy of
the thyroid gland to ascertain if this could have been
the primary site.

My wholehearted request is if you could answer these
uncertainties: Is this the standard procedure? Isn't time
of essence? Should she receive some sort of prophylactic
therapy whiles further investigations are carried out?
What are the chances of a condition like hers being
treatable? I appreciate that it may be difficult to answer
some of the questions above. Regrettably, the doctors
involved are not being very empathetic and are exercising
a very reserved release of information. Obviously, I do
not expect to be privy of technicalities nor of
preliminary evaluations, nevertheless as a very concerned
family member I seek essential information, thus my
request to this forum. I await your reply with much
interest. Yours truly,

Manuel

Hello Manuel, Are you in Gibraltar ( near Spain and
Portugal) ? There 4 types of thyroid cancer
endocrineweb.comthyroidca.htmlOpen ↗

It takes time and patience to sort that out, because there
are different specialists involved for the thyroid. The
treatments for thyroid cancers are different (not
chemotherapy), so hold on until they've done the biopsy.
I've had one and my nodule was benign.

Maybe she has two types of cancers or the primary is in
the lung(s)?

Chemo /radiation cannot (as far as I know) be given at the
same time as the treatment for thyroid cancer, so they have
to determine which is the most urgent.

It takes time and other investigations to find out if the
lung cancer has spread. cancer.orgcOpen ↗
ontent/cri_2_4_1x_what_is_lung_cancer_26.asp

Non-small Cell Lung Cancer The remaining 80% of lung cancers
are non-small cell (NSCLC). There are three sub-types of
NSCLC. The cells in these sub-types differ in size, shape,
and chemical make-up.

Squamous Cell Carcinoma: About 25% - 30% of all lung
cancers are squamous cell carcinomas. They are associated
with a history of smoking and tend to be found centrally,
near a bronchus.

Adenocarcinoma: This type accounts for about 40% of lung
cancers. It is usually found in the outer region of lung.
People with one type of adenocarcinoma, known as
bronchioloalveolar carcinoma (sometimes called
bronchioalveolar carcinoma or bronchoalveolar carcinoma),
tend to have a better outlook (prognosis) than those with
other types of lung cancer. Large-cell Undifferentiated
Carcinoma: This type of cancer accounts for about 10% 15% of
lung cancers. It may appear in any part of the lung, and it
tends to grow and spread quickly resulting in a poor
prognosis.[]

I realize it must be a worry for you. You may wish to post
to news:alt.support.cancer (which is for patients and family
members). We have doctors who read that newsgroup also.

You may also wish to use a newsreader such as Outlook
Express or netscape (if possible) because it can take 3 or
more hours for your posts to show up on newsgroup using
Google, and similarly our replies back to you.

Keep in touch and let us know. J - not a doctor

J <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Manuel said:

Hi, My sister, a thirty three year old, has been
diagnosed with adenocarcimoma. They have also
established brochioalveolar carcinoma and a suspected
malignant nodule in her thyroid gland. In spite of this
the primary cancer has not yet been identified.

At present she is hospitalised where several tests have
been undertaken, albeit, to my layman's judgment at an
absurdly leisurely pace. She has been interned now for
29 days and although they have eliminated breast cancer
and identified the malignancies mentioned above, no
therapy has yet been delivered nor determined. At the
moment, in fact tomorrow, she will undergo a biopsy of
the thyroid gland to ascertain if this could have been
the primary site.

My wholehearted request is if you could answer these
uncertainties: Is this the standard procedure? Isn't
time of essence? Should she receive some sort of
prophylactic therapy whiles further investigations are
carried out? What are the chances of a condition like
hers being treatable? I appreciate that it may be
difficult to answer some of the questions above.
Regrettably, the doctors involved are not being very
empathetic and are exercising a very reserved release of
information. Obviously, I do not expect to be privy of
technicalities nor of preliminary evaluations,
nevertheless as a very concerned family member I seek
essential information, thus my request to this forum. I
await your reply with much interest. Yours truly,

Manuel

Hello Manuel, Are you in Gibraltar ( near Spain and
Portugal) ? There 4 types of thyroid cancer
endocrineweb.comthyroidca.htmlOpen ↗

It takes time and patience to sort that out, because there
are different specialists involved for the thyroid. The
treatments for thyroid cancers are different (not
chemotherapy), so hold on until they've done the biopsy.
I've had one and my nodule was benign.

Maybe she has two types of cancers or the primary is in
the lung(s)?

Chemo /radiation cannot (as far as I know) be given at the
same time as the treatment for thyroid cancer, so they
have to determine which is the most urgent.

It takes time and other investigations to find out if the
lung cancer has spread. cancer.orgcriOpen ↗
/content/cri_2_4_1x_what_is_lung_cancer_26.asp

Non-small Cell Lung Cancer The remaining 80% of lung
cancers are non-small cell (NSCLC). There are three sub-
types of NSCLC. The cells in these sub-types differ in
size, shape, and chemical make-up.

Squamous Cell Carcinoma: About 25% - 30% of all lung
cancers are squamous cell carcinomas. They are associated
with a history of smoking and tend to be found centrally,
near a bronchus.

Adenocarcinoma: This type accounts for about 40% of lung
cancers. It is usually found in the outer region of lung.
People with one type of adenocarcinoma, known as
bronchioloalveolar carcinoma (sometimes called
bronchioalveolar carcinoma or bronchoalveolar carcinoma),
tend to have a better outlook (prognosis) than those with
other types of lung cancer. Large-cell Undifferentiated
Carcinoma: This type of cancer accounts for about 10% 15%
of lung cancers. It may appear in any part of the lung,
and it tends to grow and spread quickly resulting in a
poor prognosis.[]

I realize it must be a worry for you. You may wish to
post to news:alt.support.cancer (which is for patients
and family members). We have doctors who read that
newsgroup also.

You may also wish to use a newsreader such as Outlook
Express or netscape (if possible) because it can take 3 or
more hours for your posts to show up on newsgroup using
Google, and similarly our replies back to you.

Keep in touch and let us know. J - not a doctor

Hi J, thanks for your reply. Yes I'm in Gibraltar although
my sister is in a hospital in Spain. I do appreciate that
tests have to be done but as stated it all seems to go at a
very slow pace(i.e they said they suspected the thyroid
option last thursday but have failed to do the biopsy until
today Thursday, thats a whole week gone by!, surely time is
a major player in this situations ?. now they say they hope
to have an answer and a treatment by next Tuesday, so I
guess we will have to wait till then. I will post my
original message again in the the newsgroup you suggested
although it will have to be through google as my ISP does
not provide this facilty. I will post some more info when it
becomes available. regards Manuel

Manuel said:

Hi, My sister, a thirty three year old, has been diagnosed
with adenocarcimoma. They have also established
brochioalveolar carcinoma and a suspected malignant nodule
in her thyroid gland. In spite of this the primary cancer
has not yet been identified.

We are talking 3 simultaneous, different cancers here! -
highly unlikely.

Quoted message said:

At present she is hospitalised where several tests have
been undertaken, albeit, to my layman's judgment at an
absurdly leisurely pace. She has been interned now for
29 days and although they have eliminated breast cancer
and identified the malignancies mentioned above, no
therapy has yet been delivered nor determined. At the
moment, in fact tomorrow, she will undergo a biopsy of
the thyroid gland to ascertain if this could have been
the primary site.

What did you expect in Spain, mañana?

Quoted message said:

My wholehearted request is if you could answer these
uncertainties: Is this the standard procedure?

The whole case does not sound standard

Quoted message said:

Isn't time of essence?

In cancer, always..

Quoted message said:

Should she receive some sort of prophylactic therapy
whiles further investigations are carried out?

Diagnosis before therapy is important, but making a diagn
should not take long.

Quoted message said:

What are the chances of a condition like hers being
treatable?

Everythings treatable, I think you mean cureable. If the
bronchoalveolar ca is focal ie resectable then she is
curable, if its diffuse/multifocal its not. The thyroid ca /
met and the adenocarcinoma (lung/gut/cervix?) can only
worsen this prognosis.

--
madiba

Hi, Doctors have now discarded the thyriod as being the
primary and have now concluded that it is a case of
adenocarcinoma in the lungs. They have not found the primary
and are indicating that it might possibly be in the lungs
although they are not assuring it. All this has taken 5
weeks now, and we are back to square one !!. They are going
for chemo starting next week when she has to go to see this
other doctor that will oversee the the chemo sessions.
Personally I'm not very happy about this situation and I'm
wondering if a second opinion is the way to go forward or
accept this doctor's prognosis and not delay the chemo any
more?. Another question I have is, will starting the chemo
affect any further investigations ?. All other relevant
imformation I suppose I will get over the next couple of
days but at this point in time this is all I can offer.
Waiting for your views or suggestions. best regards Manuel