› Forums › General Melanoma Community › Those who have had adrenal or liver mets
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kylez.
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- December 16, 2011 at 7:20 pm
Hi there.
I currently have an adrenal gland tumor that is pressing on my liver. They do not see any mets in my liver, but the latest CT write up said that they cannot exclude invasion of the liver.
The only side effects I have noticed from the adrenal gland tumor has been some lower back aching on the side of the tumor and a sharp pain in the lower back on occasion. I was just wondering what others with adrenal gland tumors and liver mets have noticed as side effects?
Hi there.
I currently have an adrenal gland tumor that is pressing on my liver. They do not see any mets in my liver, but the latest CT write up said that they cannot exclude invasion of the liver.
The only side effects I have noticed from the adrenal gland tumor has been some lower back aching on the side of the tumor and a sharp pain in the lower back on occasion. I was just wondering what others with adrenal gland tumors and liver mets have noticed as side effects?
I just had my first CT after Yervoy and the adrenal gland has continued to grow. I don't have anything new and the spots in my lungs are still stable. We don't know that what is in my lungs is even Melanoma. I've had two biopsies of areas on concern in the lungs before and they have not been Melanoma. But, the existing spots have never been biopsied and have been stable now for almost a year. But, the doctors still treat it like it's Melanoma, even though it could be nothing as the others were.
We are waiting to do another scan at the end of January before making a determination that Yervoy didn't work for me. I'm just wondering what I should keep an eye out for as an indicator that things could be progressing into the liver or the adrenal tumor could still be growing.
Thanks!
~Angela
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- December 17, 2011 at 2:01 am
Hello Angela,
I had a 4.5cm liver mets surgically removed in 2005. It was in the right lobe of my liver. I had no symptoms which surprised my doctors. It was found on a routine PET/CT. Some symptoms of liver mets can be nausea, right upper chest/shoulder/right upper arm pain, yellow tinge in the whites of the eyes. Others have complained of abdominal bloating, dark colored urine and vomiting. Oh and FYI…my blood work was normal including my liver enzymes and the LDH.
Wishing you the best.
Keep us posted.
Stay Strong
KingStage IV 7/05 Liver mets
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- December 17, 2011 at 2:01 am
Hello Angela,
I had a 4.5cm liver mets surgically removed in 2005. It was in the right lobe of my liver. I had no symptoms which surprised my doctors. It was found on a routine PET/CT. Some symptoms of liver mets can be nausea, right upper chest/shoulder/right upper arm pain, yellow tinge in the whites of the eyes. Others have complained of abdominal bloating, dark colored urine and vomiting. Oh and FYI…my blood work was normal including my liver enzymes and the LDH.
Wishing you the best.
Keep us posted.
Stay Strong
KingStage IV 7/05 Liver mets
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- December 17, 2011 at 2:01 am
Hello Angela,
I had a 4.5cm liver mets surgically removed in 2005. It was in the right lobe of my liver. I had no symptoms which surprised my doctors. It was found on a routine PET/CT. Some symptoms of liver mets can be nausea, right upper chest/shoulder/right upper arm pain, yellow tinge in the whites of the eyes. Others have complained of abdominal bloating, dark colored urine and vomiting. Oh and FYI…my blood work was normal including my liver enzymes and the LDH.
Wishing you the best.
Keep us posted.
Stay Strong
KingStage IV 7/05 Liver mets
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- December 17, 2011 at 4:06 am
Hi Angela,
One of my friends discovered he was stage IV from back pain (sound familiar, right?) which turned out to be an adrenal gland tumor. He eventually had surgery (I'm almost certain) to have that tumor removed. I remember him telling me about a lot of staples and a pretty good scar. He's been on a couple of systemic treatment clinical trials since then.
Have your docs talking at all about surgically resecting the adrenal tumor (and then I would assume continuing with some kind of systemic treatment, either more IPI or something else)? At times there can be something to be said for reducing tumor burden.
Have you also thought of getting a second opinion (if you haven't already?) There's two NCI-designated cancer centers in Chicago, if you haven't looked into that.
Best of luck with your treatments. Kyle
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- December 17, 2011 at 4:06 am
Hi Angela,
One of my friends discovered he was stage IV from back pain (sound familiar, right?) which turned out to be an adrenal gland tumor. He eventually had surgery (I'm almost certain) to have that tumor removed. I remember him telling me about a lot of staples and a pretty good scar. He's been on a couple of systemic treatment clinical trials since then.
Have your docs talking at all about surgically resecting the adrenal tumor (and then I would assume continuing with some kind of systemic treatment, either more IPI or something else)? At times there can be something to be said for reducing tumor burden.
Have you also thought of getting a second opinion (if you haven't already?) There's two NCI-designated cancer centers in Chicago, if you haven't looked into that.
Best of luck with your treatments. Kyle
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- December 17, 2011 at 4:06 am
Hi Angela,
One of my friends discovered he was stage IV from back pain (sound familiar, right?) which turned out to be an adrenal gland tumor. He eventually had surgery (I'm almost certain) to have that tumor removed. I remember him telling me about a lot of staples and a pretty good scar. He's been on a couple of systemic treatment clinical trials since then.
Have your docs talking at all about surgically resecting the adrenal tumor (and then I would assume continuing with some kind of systemic treatment, either more IPI or something else)? At times there can be something to be said for reducing tumor burden.
Have you also thought of getting a second opinion (if you haven't already?) There's two NCI-designated cancer centers in Chicago, if you haven't looked into that.
Best of luck with your treatments. Kyle
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- December 17, 2011 at 11:16 pm
The doctors don't want to do surgery because of the spots in my lungs. I've talked with three different Melanoma specialists in regard to this. IF they truly are Melanoma, then they want to treat it systemically. The doctor said if those spots weren't there, we would be talking about surgery now. I've done IL2, MDX-1106 clinical trial and Yervoy this year. So far, none of them have stopped the growth of the adrenal tumor. It has been there since November of last year. However, treatment does appear to have slowed the growth rate.
If January's CT still shows growth, then I think the doctor and I will be having a very serious conversation about surgery. We don't know that those spots in the lungs are anything, so if we just cut this thing out, I could possibly be NED. I'm just worried that we might be waiting too long to do surgery and it could end up in my liver by the point that doctors consider that an option. But, I did Yervoy, so now I have to give it time to see if it's going to work.
~Angela
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- December 18, 2011 at 4:35 am
When I had 8 unknown (but suspected to be melanoma) lesions in my lungs (both sides), my doctors at the time had a thoracic surgeon do a VATS (Video Assisted Thorasoscopic Surgery) procedure on my right lung and confirmed that a sampling of the lesions were melanoma. The lesions were too small to do a needle biopsy, which is why they did the more involved VATS. When they confirmed, I started IL-2.
I don't know what if anything might enable distinguishing any symptoms you're feeling, as originating from the adrenal gland vs. liver. Other than, my friend definitely did have back pain from a very large adrenal met.
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- December 18, 2011 at 4:35 am
When I had 8 unknown (but suspected to be melanoma) lesions in my lungs (both sides), my doctors at the time had a thoracic surgeon do a VATS (Video Assisted Thorasoscopic Surgery) procedure on my right lung and confirmed that a sampling of the lesions were melanoma. The lesions were too small to do a needle biopsy, which is why they did the more involved VATS. When they confirmed, I started IL-2.
I don't know what if anything might enable distinguishing any symptoms you're feeling, as originating from the adrenal gland vs. liver. Other than, my friend definitely did have back pain from a very large adrenal met.
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- December 18, 2011 at 4:35 am
When I had 8 unknown (but suspected to be melanoma) lesions in my lungs (both sides), my doctors at the time had a thoracic surgeon do a VATS (Video Assisted Thorasoscopic Surgery) procedure on my right lung and confirmed that a sampling of the lesions were melanoma. The lesions were too small to do a needle biopsy, which is why they did the more involved VATS. When they confirmed, I started IL-2.
I don't know what if anything might enable distinguishing any symptoms you're feeling, as originating from the adrenal gland vs. liver. Other than, my friend definitely did have back pain from a very large adrenal met.
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- December 17, 2011 at 11:16 pm
The doctors don't want to do surgery because of the spots in my lungs. I've talked with three different Melanoma specialists in regard to this. IF they truly are Melanoma, then they want to treat it systemically. The doctor said if those spots weren't there, we would be talking about surgery now. I've done IL2, MDX-1106 clinical trial and Yervoy this year. So far, none of them have stopped the growth of the adrenal tumor. It has been there since November of last year. However, treatment does appear to have slowed the growth rate.
If January's CT still shows growth, then I think the doctor and I will be having a very serious conversation about surgery. We don't know that those spots in the lungs are anything, so if we just cut this thing out, I could possibly be NED. I'm just worried that we might be waiting too long to do surgery and it could end up in my liver by the point that doctors consider that an option. But, I did Yervoy, so now I have to give it time to see if it's going to work.
~Angela
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- December 17, 2011 at 11:16 pm
The doctors don't want to do surgery because of the spots in my lungs. I've talked with three different Melanoma specialists in regard to this. IF they truly are Melanoma, then they want to treat it systemically. The doctor said if those spots weren't there, we would be talking about surgery now. I've done IL2, MDX-1106 clinical trial and Yervoy this year. So far, none of them have stopped the growth of the adrenal tumor. It has been there since November of last year. However, treatment does appear to have slowed the growth rate.
If January's CT still shows growth, then I think the doctor and I will be having a very serious conversation about surgery. We don't know that those spots in the lungs are anything, so if we just cut this thing out, I could possibly be NED. I'm just worried that we might be waiting too long to do surgery and it could end up in my liver by the point that doctors consider that an option. But, I did Yervoy, so now I have to give it time to see if it's going to work.
~Angela
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