hidradenocarcinoma (cancer of underarm sweat gland)

sgtdad
sgtdad Member Posts: 3
edited March 2014 in Rare and Other Cancers #1
i am looking for any information or anyone that has this rare cancer or anyone that has first hand knowledge of it. i have found it almost impossible to obtain information and i have information on my treatment which may be helpful.

Comments

  • Linda321
    Linda321 Member Posts: 2
    Sweat Gland cancer
    Hi!

    I was diagnosed with the same thing in 2007. I had surgery to have a big chunk of my armpit removed. There didn't seem to be any evidence that removing lymph nodes made a difference for survival so I did not have them removed. I'm going to the dermatologist next week because there is another little bump in the same area...hoping it's not related! What did your treatment consist of?

    Thanks!
    Linda
  • sgtdad
    sgtdad Member Posts: 3
    Linda321 said:

    Sweat Gland cancer
    Hi!

    I was diagnosed with the same thing in 2007. I had surgery to have a big chunk of my armpit removed. There didn't seem to be any evidence that removing lymph nodes made a difference for survival so I did not have them removed. I'm going to the dermatologist next week because there is another little bump in the same area...hoping it's not related! What did your treatment consist of?

    Thanks!
    Linda

    hidradenocarcinoma
    linda---i am sgtdad. i am sorry for the delay in my answer. i did not have any activity so i stopped checking this site until tonight. as for treatment---i am being treated by mayo clinic, dr. axel grothey. after removal of the underarm tumor i had 39 nodes and fatty tissue removed from under the arm. 27 nodes were bad, 12 ok. i was postive for her2 protein which is present in 30 percant of breast cancers. the her2 protein feeds the cancer cells. the drug herceptin blocks the protein from feeding the cells. before removal of the nodes and tissue a pet scan showed the cancer ha not spread beyond the underarm area. i was treated as if i had breast cancer. i received chemo which was adremyicine (spelling?), cytoxin and taxol. i then received radiation followed by the drug herceptin for a year. i returned to mayo for ct scans and blood tests first every three months then every six months. so far i am ok. i go to mayos again september 10th for my next check. this is a brief account of my treatment. i pray everything is going well for you and hope you contact me. god bless and keep you.

    Lee Arnold (sgtdad)
  • Linda321
    Linda321 Member Posts: 2
    sgtdad said:

    hidradenocarcinoma
    linda---i am sgtdad. i am sorry for the delay in my answer. i did not have any activity so i stopped checking this site until tonight. as for treatment---i am being treated by mayo clinic, dr. axel grothey. after removal of the underarm tumor i had 39 nodes and fatty tissue removed from under the arm. 27 nodes were bad, 12 ok. i was postive for her2 protein which is present in 30 percant of breast cancers. the her2 protein feeds the cancer cells. the drug herceptin blocks the protein from feeding the cells. before removal of the nodes and tissue a pet scan showed the cancer ha not spread beyond the underarm area. i was treated as if i had breast cancer. i received chemo which was adremyicine (spelling?), cytoxin and taxol. i then received radiation followed by the drug herceptin for a year. i returned to mayo for ct scans and blood tests first every three months then every six months. so far i am ok. i go to mayos again september 10th for my next check. this is a brief account of my treatment. i pray everything is going well for you and hope you contact me. god bless and keep you.

    Lee Arnold (sgtdad)

    Hidradenocarcinoma
    Hi Lee!
    Thank you for your response. Sounds like your treatment was exactly the same as my breast cancer treatment. I hope you tolerated the chemo well. I know those are very difficult drugs to handle. I'm glad to hear you are doing well. Sounds like you have the best treatment/doctor around. Those very drugs have kept me breast cancer free since 2001 so they do work.

    If you don't mind my asking, how did the original tumor present itself and how large was it? Mine was a very small bump on the skin under my arm. I chose not to have lymph nodes removed when I had my surgery and am hoping that was not a bad decision! Because I am a breast cancer survivor and had lymph nodes removed on the other side, I chose to keep the ones I had left!

    I appreciate the info on your treatment and doctors. Should the hidradenocarcinoma present itself again, it's good to know who the good docs are!

    Thanks again and stay well!

    Linda
  • This comment has been removed by the Moderator
  • EvieL
    EvieL Member Posts: 1
    Hiradenocarcinoma
    I have recently been diagnosed with hidradenocarcinoma on my lip. I am about to visit Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, but I am curious about Mayo in Jacksonville. Can you tell me what location of Mayo you visited and hopefully what Doctor treats this?
    Please help...
  • Sharnine
    Sharnine Member Posts: 3
    sgtdad said:

    hidradenocarcinoma
    linda---i am sgtdad. i am sorry for the delay in my answer. i did not have any activity so i stopped checking this site until tonight. as for treatment---i am being treated by mayo clinic, dr. axel grothey. after removal of the underarm tumor i had 39 nodes and fatty tissue removed from under the arm. 27 nodes were bad, 12 ok. i was postive for her2 protein which is present in 30 percant of breast cancers. the her2 protein feeds the cancer cells. the drug herceptin blocks the protein from feeding the cells. before removal of the nodes and tissue a pet scan showed the cancer ha not spread beyond the underarm area. i was treated as if i had breast cancer. i received chemo which was adremyicine (spelling?), cytoxin and taxol. i then received radiation followed by the drug herceptin for a year. i returned to mayo for ct scans and blood tests first every three months then every six months. so far i am ok. i go to mayos again september 10th for my next check. this is a brief account of my treatment. i pray everything is going well for you and hope you contact me. god bless and keep you.

    Lee Arnold (sgtdad)

    cancer underarm
    i just reread ur old message. i see there is nothing new on how ur doing.looks like 2009 was ur last one.how are you?
  • carly2468
    carly2468 Member Posts: 3
    Apocrine Hidradenocarcinoma stage 4

    My sister was diagnosed in March of 2021 with Apocrine Hidradenocarcinoma Stage 4 we are struggling to find out anything that we can because it is so rare...does anyone have any input? More of her story is in our profile blog. They had a hard time classifying it and we were sent to MD Anderson for a second opinion.