I suffered frm multiple myeloma three years ago. My main treatment was VELCADE. I feel fine except for weakness in my legs. I am 75 years old, still play golf once or twice a week. Nine holes only. The damage I had was in the lumbar spine bones. My question is, what can I do to fortify my weak legs? Thank you.

Due to extreme neuropathy, my mother's oncologist is wanting to start my mother on Alimta since it has recently been approved for first line therapy. The problem is that a couple months ago, her oncologist added the chemo drug Avastin. At first, her oncologist did not want to have her on both chemo drugs (Avastin and Alimta), as there is a contraindication between the two. After a CT scan of lung and MRI on brain showed growth of tumors in both areas, the oncologist now thinks the Alimta/Avastin combination is worth the risk of the contraindication. What my understanding of this contraindication is that it has resulted in hemorrhaging of 25% of patients that this treatment has been used on of primary brain cancer patients. The oncologist could not give us any statistics as there have been no studies on patients in my mother's situation. The studies have only been done on those with primary brain cancer. So my family is faced with this decision: go ahead with the Alimta/Avastin combination and risk brain hemorrhage for the chance at more time, or forgo the Avastin and possibly have less a chance at her surviving longer. My family feels so incredibly uninformed to make any such decision and my mother's oncologist is not adequately able to answer our questions (plus, we only ever get to see her for about 20 minutes every 3 weeks since she has so many patients). So, our question is: what significant benefit would this combination have? I know it can only be a guess, but do you think the time it could buy her would be significant? A couple more months, six months? We just don't know if it's worth the risk of possible bleeding in the brain. Our main concern is that she be as comfortable as possible. Do you know of other adverse effects from this option? I would certainly appreciate if it's at all possible that you could send the pro's and con's of using these two drugs together. Thank you for your time, Jessica Cummins

what are current treatment options for IDC stage II grade 3? I have had two opinions and both have very different treatment options. One MD suggests lumpectomy then radiation, the other suggests Chemo first followed by lumpectomy then radiation. Please tell me your treatment recommendations

My wife's father passed away from stomach cancer, her 54 yr old brother is now being treated for the same. My wife has had an endoscopy, her doctor has had her do different blood tests. Everything appears fine and she does not have any vitiman B12 deficiency. She is currently checking to see if she has the intrinsic factor. If her B12 is fine, and if she does show that she has the intrinsic factor present, should ther be any concern about the pernicious anemia...can it be present even if everything else appears fine? Thank you

I had a radical protectomy five years ago- he just had blood work done and his psa is at 1.0 his ck level is 655 (alert) and his macro type 1 score says 5 (high) his previous psa scores over the last 2 years have been 0.3, 0.5, 0.7, and now it has jumped to 1.0 does this mean the cancer has spread. What is the next course of treatment.

My husband is 30 years old and 3 years ago he underwent an auto stem cell transplant. He did well and recovered wella fterwards. His counts returned to normal. His wbc never fully got normal, but everything else did. In April of this year, he was diagnosed with testicualr cancer. HE had 4 rounds of chemo and he finished July 2. We have been going back for cbc checks and his counts have dropped some since he finished treatment. Especially his rbc. Last week it was 6.7 and this week was 7.9. He did receive a procrit shot last week. Will his counts recover? IF so, how long could this take. He wants to feel better!! HE is an active guy, and being tired is not fun for him. I am worried about him. The doctor said the cure rate for his testicualr cancer is excellent, but I am now concerned about his blood counts. His platelets last week were 18 and this week were 88. Does that mean everything should be on the rise? IS there a chance his rbc may only recover to 12 and if so, would he be ok?

Hello I saw the rhuematologist today to get the results of a recent bone scan and she said the bone scan part was normal how ever the injected radiation that was supposed to spread to my bones caused an upflow in both breast which they have never seen before and that my family doctor should send me for a mamagram. She said because she has never heard of that happening she cant tell me if thats a sign that something serious is wrong or not. Do you know anything about this and if its a bad sign?

I'm currently on Avastin to treat a benign tumor. Will it have any adverse interactions if I take ecstasy?

My mum has been given 15 factions of radiotherapy. They're aiming for a cure but I've read a cure is usually around 25-35 following 3-4 cycles of chemotherapy. Why then is she only receiving 15?

My question is, is she really lost for any attempt on chemo?She's only got 1 cycle, so how can we be sure the tumor in sot responding to it?She's a big fighter,and has just turned 70 years. Thanks for your answer! Question is from Croatia,Europe.

I wan't to know if a person has had acute lowback pain and it hurt's him in the tail bone and the tail bone itself continues to hurt off and on but my low back don't hurt much now for a week i had severe lowback pain and i could hardly walk much at all because of my lowback pain and the pain radiated to my buttocks and my thighs and legs and my tail bone and my tail bone and buttocks and thighs still hurt, could this be psostate cancer because my tail bone continues to hurt and my tail bone area continues to hurt also, a lot.

Why cant cancerous tumors past a certain stage be surgically removed?

I was wanting to know if I could be at risk for recurrence due to not taking any medication for a year and a half. In 4/2009 my meds were reduced, and lately it feels as though I am taking too much medicine. I'm real nervous, anxous, I can't sleep, I'm hot, sensitive to light, can't concentrate, and it has become awkward to swallow-some pills, Advil, and food gets stuck. A TSH test and a throidglobulin (?) test was done-4/2009-and both came back normal. What is the rate of recurrence due to no medication?

I have someone living with me that has nymposidic sarcoma - is there anything I need to know about care should there be an emergency? I cannot find any information on this type of cancer but have confirmed with her that this is the type she has.

I have a swollen lymph node in the back of my neck and swollen lymph nodes in the groin. They are at least 2 cm. They have been swollen for a list a year and they are painless. Sometimes after showering I have severe itching of my lower legs. The itch is a burning itch and it happens mostly after taking a shower. Is is possible I have Lymphoma, Leukemia, or another type of cancer with the swollen lymph nodes and itchy lower legs? I will see a doctor, but was interested in having some idea of what it may be. Thank you.

I am pregnant and I have ovarian cancer. I already undergo OOperectomy operation removing my left ovary that has ruptured inside of me. My cancer is called Yolk Sac Tumor. I am 33 weeks pregnant and my Alpha Feto Protein is 152.68 IU/ml. My question, What is the normal Alpha Feto Protein of a 33 weeks pregnant in IU/ml? Thanks a lot.

Sir, my mother had been reported Moderately Differentiated Ductal Carcinoma when she self recognized a lymph on her right breast. Within a week she had been taken to the Tata Memorial Center at Mumbai. There she had lumpectomy and the lymph was of about 2 cms. After that she had all the tests and they found no spreading of the nodes. She had been advised to take 8 chemos first 4 with Formorubucin RD and the next 4 with Taxol. Next the doctors have advised to take a radiation therapy of 44 days. Sir, will she be fine after that? What are the chances of reoccurrence of the disease? Please help.

I'm a 24 yo female. About 2 months ago I noticed a swollen lymph node on the right side of my neck, probably in the mid-jugular chain area. It was about 3cm long and 2cm wide, non-tender, pretty firm, and moveable. I had not been feeling sick-- no fever, sore throat, cough, rhinorrhea, etc. A couple days later I noticed another smaller node swell up to about 1cm by 1cm. This one is located behind my ear, on top of the sternocleidomastoid. It is also non-tender, but it feels fixed and non-moveable. I saw a doctor about a couple weeks later. He drew blood and got a chest xray and sent me to an ENT. The tests came back normal (except my platelets were slightly elevated at 450k-- I'm not sure what my baseline is). The ENT doc told me that he wasn't very excited about the nodes since it had only been a couple weeks, and he didn't want to do an FNA. It has been 2 months since the nodes first swelled up, and now my larger node has gone down a bit, but it is still palpable and probably about 2cm long and 1cm wide. It feels much more firm now, but it is still moveable. The smaller node has not changed. I have been relatively symptom free this whole time, although I think I might have some allergies (I tend to need to blow my nose in the morning and sometimes my throat is very mildly sore). I never did figure out why the nodes became enlarged in the first place, and now I'm wondering if they should have gone back down by now? Should I see a doctor again, or keep waiting for them to go back to normal? I've been checking for additional swollen nodes, and in the last couple days I seem to be able to feel some small nodes above my left clavicle (note, the neck nodes are on the right). I might just be imagining things though. Anyway, your thoughts are much appreciated. Thank you.

I have a lump in my chest bone where the thymus is located. First was sent for two breast ultrasounds just to find out it?s too high to be the breast now I am being told it could be an extra rib bone forming. I have had a chest x-ray that said a ct scan may be needed because the x-ray couldn?t detect the lump. I have felt really tired lately but am told it?s due to fibromyalgia and the pots (orthostatic tachycardia) condition I suddenly got last December. I have a problem with my labs showing a slow increase of my lymph count, and my white blood count is now almost past the normal range but falls just below the high marker. However my lymph count is high and is higher than it was last summer when the lump developed. The doctor said that some people run high lymph count and I would be dead if I were to have cancer for the past year, he also said that the rheumatologist I was referred to could answer why the lymph count is high. Unfortunately the rheumatologist said a high lymph count goes against any diagnoses she would be able to make and it?s not her field but is sending me for a nuclear bone scan next week to see of that detects the tiredness lump in the chest and the muscle pain. My question to you, is it true the cancer would have already spread so fast that I would be dead if I were to have cancer for a year or could it be a slow progressive one? Also will the bone scan be able to detect any tumors or will it only pick up bone cancer? And my last question is should I let this all be or should I find a specialist who can actually tell me what that lump is and why my blood work is off, does this all sound bizarre enough to peruse? Please help me I am tired of feeling bad and tired of feeling like I am being pushed off.

I am a 27 year old female with a 10-15cm wide Supraclavicular mass that was first found around age 14. It is soft and has slowly gotten larger over the last year. It has started to throb over the past 6 months and I frequently feel numbness or tingling in my right arm. I have had symptoms of anxiety dissorder and depression since around age 14 that may or may not be related. Extream sweating including night sweats. Chest pain and raceing heart. Tightness in chest and loss of energy. I am waiting for a ct scan appointment. What are the possible causes and were can I find more information.

Patient is my mother. While in a nursing home recovering from a broken wrist and pelvis she fell again and broke her hip. While in the hospital she basically stopped eating and was put on a feeding tube. After release from hospital she reentered nursing home, still on feeding tube. She has recently started eating again, but not a full diet. Nursing home ordered a full battery of labs and her CEA came back at 3.5. According to my research I understand that CEA is not a screening test for cancer, and other factors may be causing an elevated level, and that 3.5 may not even be an elevated level; but, considering her history of colon cancer - what should be done next? The nursing home wants to know if I want Mom to see an oncologist? Is this called for at this point? Should other tests be done first? Chances of a false positive? Worried and confused. Thanks.