My husband has been struggling with kidney cancer for 5 years and it
always seems like there is something new that we never expected. In 06
we discovered metastasis to the right upper lung lobe. The entire lobe
was removed and he maintained limited metastasis in the upper left lung
lobe, yet growing. It appeared that the Interleukin 2 high dose
treatments, Nexavar and Sutent did not make a significant difference.
The tumor in the upper left lung lobe was removed in Oct. 07, followed
by a few days later removing a tumor in the upper left lobe of the
brain. In addition to gamma knife radiation to another brain tumor in
the brain stem. We were optimistic that the cancer would just slow
down. Now, new tumors, very small are showing up on the right adrenal
gland, outside of the intestines, 2 lymph nodes in the chest very close
to the lungs, and in the hip bone area - (the stem portion of the
ball) Suddenly, a lung infection started and apparent bleeding through
the intestines. There was a sudden change in the hematocrit %. It
fell down to 24% before the blood transfusion just a few days ago.
There has been a colonoscopy with no evidence of cancer. Tomorrow the
small intestines will be evaluated. We did not expect the anemia. Do
any of you have experience with sudden anemia that did not result from
cancer treatments? My husband has not received cancer meds since last
fall - so that has not brought about the anemia. What can we expect in
our future?