I will do my best to keep our story to the point. My wife is a 31yo mother of four who was diagnosed with a cancerous tumor in her left kidney in November 2007. The tumor seen on a CT scan (done for an unrelated reason), was about 5cm in diameter and incapsulated in the kidney. The tumor, however, had grown into the renal vein and looped into the vena cava (artery). A radical nephrectomy was done to remove the tumor and kidney, and margins were clear. Testing revealed the tumor was Synovial Sarcoma.
About six weeks after surgery she started chemo treatments; one treatment per month for four months of Ifofsamide and Adriamyacin. A scan done in July, for the purpose of restaging and since she was having chest pain and shortness of breath, showed a tumor in the left center portion of the lung near the heart (I apologize I do not have the report with me now for the terminology on the location). The report stated this was about a 1.5cm nodule. The last specialist we saw reviewed the same CT images and called it a tangerine-sized mass. It is believed the tumor may involve a lymphnode in that area. A PET scan is scheduled for tomorrow and we are awaiting the results of a bone scan (we were unofficially told it looked fine). Other small nodules (a few mm size) are seen in the right lung. Surgery is scheduled for a little over a week away to remove all disease found in the left lung.
An important factor in her case is that she has one kidney that has not functioned well since her chemo treatments that ended last March. Because of this we are being told that the recommended method here is to remove the disease from the left lung and start on Taxotere/Gemzar about six weeks after surgery, and monitor the situation through scans. We are told that these chemo drugs are the next best alternative to other preferred chemo drugs that cannot be used because they are filtered through the kidney. Taxotere/Gemzar apparently are filtered out through the liver. No plan is in place to look further into what is going on in the right lung at this time, other than through future scans.
This is obviously a very rare condition. My heart goes out to all of you posting stories, and to those reading stories; because I know that if you are here reading, it is for a reason. I am looking for anyone with similar experiences to this that may be able to share a story and/or offer advice as to what else, if anything, can be done. I've read countless entries and have tried to relate them to this situation, but I have a hard time relating her situation in looking for a desired resolution to this mess.