Question about reoccurence.

[Sandy H]

Has anyone had this reoccurence? A tumor in the right axillary chest wall supraclavical area? If so what treatment did you do for it that worked. hugs, Sandy

Sandy;

I had a tumor in the superclavicular node which was inoperable so received chemo and radiation. The area was very raw from the radiation and bled if I even touched it for about 6 weeks. The tumor was discovered when I was first diagnosed so the chemo was the AC then Taxol. Hope this helps.

Best regards,

Cathy

[suem]

Sandy


This was similar to the recurrence my sis had, hers was in the axilla, which her surgeon removed and in her supra clavicular area. After her surgery, her surgeon recommended chemo, but her onc said that the supra clavicular area was a local recurrence and so should be treated by localised treatment i.e radio therapy. This was confusing to say the least. So my sis had a pet scan which showed a hot spot in her lung, and that decided it - chemo. Changed oncs at that stage too. So she had paclitaxol weekly, then when the Her2 test on her axilla surgery came back, Herceptin was added weekly. This kept things stable but not shrinking, so she switched to nevalbine and contnued the herceptin. Again stable but no shrinkage. All along she had been told there was a window for having radio to the supra clavicular area as if things took off again she could have real problems with her arm / hand. So, after 3 rounds of Navelbine / Herceptin, she took radio, 25 x - which did the job on the neck nodes. She is still fighting with the lung mets. You may also want to look at the post about radiation necrosis / fibrosis treatment about a French study combining pentoxifylline and Vit E to help.

Best wishes

Sue M

Sandy,
I googled supraclavical and got lots of bc site posts and such on dx's and tx's. Pretty interesting, imo!

My first recurrance was to mediastinal node/s. I had surgical biopsy to confrim, but could not remove all as it was aortic window node. Too 'risky'.

I followed up with Navelbine/Herceptin. (Altho' the first chemo mentioned was Taxotere, I was not compliant.)
In just four rounds i was NED in body and stopped tx. That was three yrs ago.

Try the google, too. All kinds of ideas there.
hugs,
pattyz

[Sandy H]

Thanks for all who responded. This is for a friend and not me. To Sue M. this sounds like what my friend has. She completed her radiation in February and had PET scan in April and there was some activity in the chest wall. Oncologist wasn't concern and didn't think it was reoccurence. Being so soon after treatment the specialist she consulted with did not think it was a reoccurence. She was having arm pain and so went to Physical Therapy over the summer. Pain continued to get worse and in September had a cat scan which showed a 6 cm tumor in the right axillary chest wall supraclavical area. She changed oncologist at this point. She was already on Herceptin and so started Taxatere and Carboplatin for I believe 3 months (maybe only two) had another cat scan which showed 3 nodules in the lung and the tumor was 8 cm. She then went on Navelbine for 2 months and another scan showed nodules gone in the lung and the tumor has not progressed. She was told its inoperable and this area has already been radiated so unable to radiate again. The area is red and itching and burning. She thinks its might be skin mets. Oncologist thinks its radiation recall. Her oncologist does not want to biopsy because of it being a radiated area and possible infection and then she would have an open area that would not heal. The great news is the Navelbine seems to be working. She opted for the more agressive chemo thinking that would do the trick but it didn't. Now, she is running a low grade fever also has a cough (maybe chemo cough)so far oral antibotics has not worked. They can not find out where the infection is. She may start IV antibotics this weekend. We were both looking for some hope here! hugs, Sandy

[Sandy H]

Thanks Patty Z. I will do that. I neglected to say that my friend is IBC (inflammatory breast cancer). hugs, Sandy

[sherri]

Dear Sandy,

I'm sorry about your friend and I hope she gets better soon. But I like to tell you she is lucky to have a friend like you, I think you are a very kind and caring person. We all die one day, it does not matter how many years we live but how many lives we touch in our lifetime and I bet you have done a lot. Best luck to your friend.