As the title says, after two weeks of radiation they told us the machine was improperly calibrated and they miss the area that was supposed to get it. So for two weeks my mom has been getting radiation into completely healthy cells while already at an increased risk for long cancer. They told us today that we would have to go in tomorrow and redo all of the imaging and marking. They said it so flippantly like it’s no big deal.

“a little extra radiation never hurt anyone” (I added this for dramatic purposes) as this is what they basically said in a lot of words while never apologizing or offering information about what it means to “accidentally” get two weeks of radiation into completely healthy cells near where cancer was just removed. No information of what the plan is going forward. I hate the medical system so much. This has broken me. Her initial surgery was postponed 3 times and happened two months late because everyone needed their last summer vacation and they didn’t plan.

Is this something I should be contacting a lawyer about? I don’t know what to do beyond go make a scene. I feel like radiation is one of those things you don’t get a two digit millimeter variance on. I’ll spare y’all the rest of but I am so tired. F$&k the American healthcare system.

I read the rules and I didn’t see anything about this. I hope it is not inappropriate. I do not know who else to ask. Thank you to anyone who read it. I appreciate your time. I’m bad at asking for help, but right now I need help.

I’ve been fighting for about 6 months now…chemo, immuno, surgery, pretty much everything except radiation which is probably coming…

Things are going relatively well in terms of treatment. Constant mental and physical warfare, but getting through it…

Does anyone else struggle remaining close and communicating with loved ones (family and oldest friends)? I can tell that my lack of communication with them bums them out and borderline offends some of them…but I find that I’m most comfortable relaxing alone and when I do have the energy to do things in my free time I prefer solo self care activities like gym, cooking, etc…

I have been dating someone new recently and it’s been going exceedingly well and I wonder why I have the emotional capacity for this new person who I only met a couple of months ago but not friends of 10+ years and family? I also feel pretty guilty about it when I think about it like this…

I just finished treatment not too long ago, what are some after chemotherapy treatment effects that i should know about? will my acid reflux go away and stuff like that?

Hi, I (18M) finished chemo for my CHL back in August. NED and complete remission since first scans during treatment. The last couple days I’ve been going crazy touching my neck and collarbone feeling for lymph nodes. Sometimes I’m sure that I’m touching nodes and other times I feel like I’m either touching muscle tissue or just imagining things. Or I’m touching lymph nodes that were previously inflamed but are no longer cancerous.

I’m just wrapped in this anxiety trying to figure out what’s real and how I should be feeling and it’s completely taking over. I have a regularly scheduled return visit at the hospital on Thursday that I’m trying to get moved up, but I have things that I need to get done before then and I can’t do anything because I’m so anxious.

Worst case scenario nothing is extremely inflamed and it’d be extremely early on in the relapse, but I haven’t really had any other symptoms and my care team didn’t seem too concerned on the phone.

How do you guys deal with this anxiety? There’s a part of me that feels so sure that I’ve relapsed even when there isn’t a ton of evidence to suggest that.

I (23F) was diagnosed with stage 3 colon cancer + stage 1 lung cancer back in march of this year. I had 4 intensive surgeries and 5 months of chemotherapy. I was in survival mode these last couple months, just focusing on taking it one day at a time. Now that I am 1+ month out of treatment I am battling feelings of anger at what I had lost due to cancer (a long distance relationship, job, apartment as I had to move back home with my parents), and I feel sad at the person I have become as I used to be really energetic and positive and people were uplifted when they were around me. I don't feel like I am that person anymore. Are there any tips for letting go of this anger, resentment, and overall bitterness at what I have lost? The socialization I have been deprived of the past couple months has worn down my self esteem, as I spent most of my time with my parents and family. Can I get back to my old, friendly and positive self?

tl;fr struggling with feelings of loss and bitterness at the more quiet, less friendly person I have become

I was diagnosed with stage 4 NSCLC in June. My work has been really good and I continue to work full time, it keeps me sane. I have 7 plus weeks built up of vaca and sick time, but I'm very stingy about using it. If I miss time I work longer days etc so I don't have to use too much of it. Here's the rant....they encourage me to take time off when I feel bad etc. But the minute I do, our HR person starts asking for Dr. Notes clearing me to work. I work behind a desk and my job is not physical at all. The minute she heard of my diagnosis she started shoving paperwork at me, which i do understand is her job, but would've been nice iif she could've waited for the dust to settle. I almost feel like she is trying to push me out.

Hello all, I'm after some clarification. My father (lives in Sweden) was diagnosed with gastric cancer stage 3 about 1.5 years ago. T3 N0 M0. He had a chemo, good result, the tumour shrank quite a bit, then he had a large part of the stomach removed and chemo again. Fast forward to about 1 month ago he started to experience pain in his back. Here comes the confusion, the doctor told my parents that the CT showed he had plenty of small tumours in his back/bone. My parents asked if its the same cancer that has come back, and the doctor told them no, that my father most probably had bone cancer even before the gastric cancer, and that is why the chemo that was for the gastric cancer didnt kill it.

And here comes the weird thing. If it's bone cancer (not metastases), the reasonable thing to do would be to determine what kind of bone cancer it is with biopsy, am I right? But the doctor has already determined the medication... And the other weird thing, I read my fathers medical Journal and the doctor wrote that the CT scan showed metastases in the spine. So if It's metastases, why did he tell them its bone cancer?

If have not told my father that I've read the Journal, and he has also not read it since he dont know how to access it, and I also dont want to tell him that the doctor wrote its metastases since I dont want to worry him even more. And since I live in another country I dont know what to do. Could it really be so that the doctor dont care to diagnose the type of cancer correctly and just prescribed medication (he said it has about 60-70% success ratio).

Dad was diagnosed 2024 january and beat it once already according to doctors. It turned out that the hospital left treatmenta unfinished because of decreasing goverment funding and massive layoffs. It came back 3 months ago because of it and my dad has gone through almost every possible treatment there is in my country.

The cancer has been resistant to everything and there is only one treatment option left. 2 months ago i was still hopeful about him beating it again, but when i saw him cry for the first time in my life, i broke down. The treatment starts next week and i feel hopeless. Does anyone have stories of the last treatment option working?

Had my last round (at least until after my surgery) of CAPOX about four weeks ago and the peeling on my hands, and finger tenderness, isn't really stopping. My feet are under control; I use Udderly Smooth and Bag Balm on them after every shower so I assume that's helping, but keeping my hands moisturized the same way is near impossible because wearing gloves 24/7 isn't realistic for me.

So. How long did it take for the peeling on your hands and feet to stop?

Last October I (35f) was diagnosed with stage 3 colon cancer (adenocarcinoma). The initial PET Scan noted the original tumor, and that it had spread to my nearby lymph nodes - it also noted an indeterminate spot on my lung that the oncologist said they did not believe was related to my colon cancer. I had a bowel resection last November and started chemo in January. I finished my 12 rounds of chemo therapy in mid June.

Following my bowel resection the surgeon ordered Signatera testing every couple of months to monitor the amount of the tumor DNA present in my blood. Following chemo I’ve had a clear blood test, CT, and a clear colonoscopy.

So this brings me to now, and the reason for my post: Two weeks ago my most recent Signatera test came back positive for the tumor DNA in my blood again. My oncologist ordered a PET scan and additional blood testing.

I’m hoping someone else has had similar issues with the tumor DNA testing and can tell me what this meant for them? I suspect that the spot in my lung is actually in fact related to the original cancer and I’m probably in for at least more chemo therapy, if not surgery.

I joined this community on my original account during my initial diagnosis period but in the process of chemo I broke my phone and lost the log in information (and some of my mind I guess).

TIA for anyone who responds

Hello everyone!!! Im starting Chemotherapy this week and I'm about to shop for my weeks groceries. I was told my diet might change due to chemo. I was hoping you guys would share your own experiences with me? Like how you felt and what were you able to keep down and what did you could just not stand to eat. Also PLEASE include how long it started after chemo treatment #1 and or 2 and what days you started to feel back to normal somewhat? Things like that.

I've already changed my diet to healthier choices but I'm talking about food that didn't cause you nausea or to throw up. I KNOW EVERYONE IS DIFFERENT but I just want an idea of what food/drinks you guys were able to tolerate.

I use to drink coke a cola every day and I love it but since I found put. I cut back 95% I'll have a drink or 2 every week. Stuff like that. I also eat very spicy food. I'm latina lol but I've gone to very mild and I might have to just quit until my body is over Chemotherapy.

So yeah any advice is welcomed. Thank you so much!! I honestly get so much help here and ideas on what to do or find. I really appreciate all of you taking time to reply and comment and help me. TYSM!!!

Hi, I'm Janine from CancerGrace. I'd like to share info about our upcoming lung cancer OncTalk live forum. It's free; there will be presentations from leading oncologists and panel discussions. You'll also have the opportunity to ask questions of our oncology faculty. It's live Saturday, Dec. 14. Registration, faculty info, and the agenda are on our homepage.

hi! so, i haven’t been diagnosed for sure but i have a mass on my right kidney and im due to have a partial nephrectomy at the end of the month. they told me they wanted to treat it to be sure. i have some questions regarding the procedure, healing, and aftercare. robotic assisted partial right nephrectomy is what they called it. i know some of these really depend doctor to doctor but mine have been a bit iffy with responses due to the holidays.

• generally how long is the healing period of this surgery? i know it’s different for everyone but i’m talking on average.

• what are some things i would need to aid with aftercare? like should i get a pillow to prop myself up with? ice packs, foods high in cover ect?

• about how long does the procedure take?

• what should i do to prepare for the surgery in the coming weeks?

• and should i sleep in a different room, because my cat sleeps on my side sometimes and i know that’s a big no go.

i will probably edit as i have more questions. im really nervous and i cant believe that this is actually real to begin with. i’m 21 years old and will be turning 22 during the recovery period. they said this is really uncommon for someone my age and that id need to meet with someone who specializes in genetic and stuff because its really weird.

in any case; thank you so much for taking the time to read and answer my questions.

My husband has a cancer insurance policy, now he passed, can I claim his last hospital bill? I am also the beneficiary on the policy.

Just had to take my rescue oxy because I tried to eat like half a bowl of corn and my body decided that this was the most cruel and agonizingly painful decision I could have possibly made.

What the hell man

Hi there, I am 24 and have been diagnosed with CRC 3 weeks ago with spread to nearby lymph nodes.

I've done all the tests we could have done, and was pretty much convinced that it would be classified as stage 3.

However, after the PET scan, they found an uptake of 6.4 in my L4 bone while the main tumour had an uptake of 23. The doctors ordered an MRI and found a singular lesion in the L4 about 2cm in size. The PET scan also showed no metastasis in any other parts.

The doctors cannot determine whether it is cancerous or not, as apparently, it doesn't look like "classic" cancer and that the uptake levels are so different from one another - when it should be very similar to one another if it did metastasise. However, because there is an uptake, they are worried about it.

I started chemo last week. 1 week on, 1 week off for 12 weeks (6 rounds in total). Halfway through the treatment (6 weeks in) we will do an MRI to see how the chemo is working. The doctor said that if the L4 lesion responds to chemo (meaning it shrinks), then it would be considered cancerous (praying it is not cancerous).

I do not have any bone pain whatsoever, or any of the symptoms i've seen online for bone metastasis.

If CRC metastasises to bone only, are you still able to live a long life?

I've been looking around at different groups for some success stories for some positivity, and have seen quite a few people with breast cancer (for example) that have lived many years with bone metastasis which is common in that form of cancer.

Hoping that the lesion they've found in my L4 is benign.

Thank you!

Holidays make me feel so much more alone. Everyone's getting together with family and friends, happy and cheerful, and here I am all alone by myself. This time last year I was going through surgery and chemo. At least during surgery and chemo I was focused on surviving and had hope that I would be better. Now I don't know what I'm doing. I guess I'm better physically despite the side effects from maintenance drugs but I don't understand how I can be in an emotionally worse place than I was during frontline treatment. I'm about to throw up just thinking about spending Christmas by myself. I hate this season so much. I hate me for hating it.

I may have that option because a tumor scar tissue is compressing a vein causing some slight swelling in upper body

I was in the middle of some sort of anxiety attack/whatever the heck it was and I'm sorry if my post was confusing. I am just panicking bc I have bloodwork on Tues and a CT scan on the 10th to find out why I lost my appetite. According to someone on here, it can't be caused by my CLL ... so...

Again, I am a cancer patient. I have loss of appetite which is just basically my eating disorder and is not cancer related so I won't bring it up. I won't be around much tomorrow (busy week in fact) ... I need a rest. See y'all soon!♥️

How do you process the news of cancer? How do you stop from going crazy while waiting for life-changing test results?

I really can't accept that this is happening to me. I keep forgetting about it and ask myself why am I so tired? Why can't I eat? The answer feels like a slap in the face everytime. It's cancer. I never expected to hear those words. Nobody does I suppose. I really had it in the back of my mind that I was going to receive a call saying, "oops sorry the test was wrong." But then they didn't do that. They did call to say, "oops sorry we said the cancer was slow growing, it's actually aggressive." I don't even know what that means. I have to wait for the PET scan and another biopsy for more answers. The PET scan is this week but I'll have to wait for another week for results. I can't keep drinking this much. But what else am I to do?

my neighbors down the street were supportive when I was going through kidney cancer surgery 3 weeks ago. Since then the dr said I had a 98% cure rate. Knock on wood. I visited them the day before thanksgiving and my neighbor told me the dr said he likely has pancreatic cancer and likely spread . He finds out tomorrow. I tried to explain that it could be a benign mass but I think we all know this is not good news. what Should I say if the news comes back bad. all I can think of is I’m sorry and let me know if I can help in any way. I handled my diagnosis fine but I had a better prognosis. I just don’t know what to do.

I had my port removed in April and they do an xrau to make sure nothing was missed. This tube feeling is still there. Could it be scar tissue?

I had it in for 15 years, so I'd imagine it had time to form a good sheath around it? The operation team said they didn't see anything unusual, but both my oncologist and ENT think it's a foreign object. Anyone have any experience?

https://imgur.com/a/aJRIqWg

Long story short: My mom is undergoing treatment (chemoradiation) for limited-stage small-cell lung cancer (i.e., only in one lobe of her right lung and a few lymph nodes on the same side) at MSKCC. In staging that cancer, they discovered that pancreatic cancer she had in 2016 (Stage 2B, Whipple+adjuvant gemzar treatment and considered cured) had recurred in two small spots in her liver--8.5 years later. The liver biopsy showed well-to-moderately differentiated adenocarcinoma (stains confirmed pancreatic recurrence), so the gastro onco the pulmonary onco consulted said she recommends finishing the intense lung chemoradiation, which will be done at the end of December, before treating the pancreatic recurrence because the lung tumor is more aggressive.

For the SCLC, the next step would be immunotherapy. Her SCLC molecular pathology showed a relatively high TMB (15.7), indicating she has a biomarker for immunotherapy response. The report mentioned Keytruda, though the doc had discussed durvalumab previously (Imfinzi).

For the liver: We meet with the gastro onco this week. We are going to ask about RFA, SBRT, and histotripsy (which they don't offer at her hospital but do at others she can get to--she's in NJ so can do NYC or Philly) in the meantime before she starts chemo after finishing her chemo for the lung.

My head is swimming because none of this is easy. She is 78 but in excellent health except for, well, the two very aggressive cancers. She is tolerating chemoradiation very well. Her bloodwork remains excellent. She wants to fight.

Any thoughts on ablation or SBRT or other for liver mets from pancretic? Can she do immunotherapy for the lung while on chemo for the liver? I saw that durvalumab + gemzar/cisplatin is approved for bile duct cancer, wondering if they'd do that for her pancreatic since the durvalumab might help the lung cancer?

I don't know. Any words of wisdom or thoughts would be helpful.

My long term partner left me when I started getting sick we’ve been broken up for a year or 2 now. I’ve now been diagnosed with cancer, I’m a lesbian but I’m failing to see how I’ll ever be able to date again?

Life gets lonely and I was in the middle of dating and getting to know people before I was diagnosed I’ve silently just ghosted those people because idk how I’d even begin to explain I have cancer. It feels like a burden to put on someone.

I’m just wondering if there’s anyone LGBTQ+ who has experience with dating with cancer ? And if there are any cancer related dating apps or groups that could be joined ?

Hi, newly diagnosed with b-cell ALL - 32 year old female. It’s just me and I can’t afford to take off work for months at a time or I’d be homeless. I realize how this sounds as I obviously don’t want to die either but my options are limited. Can I still be at my full time job while undergoing treatment for cancer?

Can someone ease my mind and let me know your experiences. Disability and fmla do not cover everything I need.

I don't know who to talk to about my recent cancer diagnosis. I was having dysfunctional uterine bleeding and a lot of pain, and I went to my OB to seek treatment. First, we tried an endometrial ablation and I learned I had two fibroids. Well, flash forward 7 months, and I'm still having heavy bleeding, though not as heavy, and even more pain. So, as we had previously discussed, we went ahead with the hysterectomy, but I kept my ovaries. Then, I learned I had stage 3 endometriosis, which was pretty shocking, and that they had found a suspicious nodule that was sent off for expert evaluation. Well, that came back as cancer, and from what I understand thus far, it looks like it's endometrial stromal sarcoma with myometrial invasion and vascular invasion. As it turns out, I didn't have any fibroids, just the tumor. My first oncology appointment is on December 10th, and I am not dealing with this well. Any advice, kind words, personal stories (both good or bad), etc. would be most appreciated, just so I can know what to expect. I have never felt more alone.

The PTSD has been hitting hard lately and I find myself missing, in the middle of all the anxiety the pre-treatment experience brought, how good I felt when I woke up from a biopsy. I haven’t slept that well in months

Just wanna rant a bit. Fair warning, I talk about poop a lot in this story.

Every week after chemo I get an extremely sore anus, and going to the toilet feels like pooping glass. I've tried every cream, home remedy, and pain killer but nothing really helps, I just have to sit it out.

On top of that it gets worse every chemo infusion, and since I'm nearing my final chemo it's pretty much at it's peak right now.

I recently finished radiotherapy, and since some of it was near my bowels, I now need to poop multiple times a day. Before I would hold it in for 3 to 4 days, to keep pain to a minimum, but that's just not an option now. I'm so fucking frustrated, and my anus doesn't get the opportunity to heal since I have so many bowel movements.

I'm genuinely scared this is gonna end up turning into some chronic wound on my anus at this point. It's healing extremely slowly, if at all, and I'm just laying on the couch all day cuz walking and sitting hurt too much. I hate this.

I was diagnosed with Hodgkin Lymphoma and had done 6 cycles of chemo (ABVD). I was told that it s the most curable cancer and my final PET results are good, but the whole journey confused me a lot.

It didn t feel like a fight, but more like a continuous humiliation (with body changes, for 2 months I just wanted to die and I asked my doctors about eutanasia but it is not legal in my country). I didnt have much hope for future even if the treatment was going well. And now that I m cured, I feel more depressed that ever (I can t read, I just watch movies in order for the day to end faster).

I saw a psichiatrist and was prescribed Zoloft and Anxiar, but they don t make life brighter, they just make me numb.

Has anyoane gone trough this at the end of their cancer treatment? Am I just a sad person and I will be like this forever?

My husband was diagnosed with Hodgkins a few months ago, and it really is not a chore to take care of him as he suffers through chemo. He’s my best friend, and I love him.

But after long days of working full-time and caregiving, I’ll lay next to him at night and think “I should scratch his back/hold his hand/etc. I haven’t done that in awhile.”

I am honestly forgetting that we are husband/wife and not patient/caregiver. Has anyone experienced this? Do you have advice?

Traditional marriage advice is “Get in the bedroom!” But let’s be real. Getting whooped by ABVD and being hospitalized multiple times, that’s the last thing happening in our bedroom.