Diagnosed with Malignant Melanoma a day before starting Radiation for Prostate cancer.

pegapus

My cancer journey is getting very complicated and I'm just not sure what to do. I was diagnosed with PC, Grade T1C, Gleason 3+4=7 on July 27,2010. Biopsy indicated 2 tumors in prostate with 10 and 15% involvement. The slides were sent to a micro biology lasb and the prognosis came back as low risk if ZI had surgery. Wanted to take a few weeks to decide which treatment would be best. During this time I had nodules on my head and neck and they started to really get sore so I went to Primary care Dr. He treated them as an infection for 3 weeks with no resolve. Was sent to Emory in Atlanta for a biopsy on nodules and it was discoverd that I have malignant melonoma. Due to have nodules and lymph node removal on Oct 8. Had PET scan and was scheduled for MRI but due to previous condition I can't get any radiologist to give me one. Aneursym clip in brain from problems I had in 1990. Thats another long story so I won't get into that. I have been trying to get in contact with my Dr. in Atlanta to see if CT scan would suffice but having a hard time connectiong with him. Sure hope they don't cancel my surgery without this test. I have not talked to anyone concerning the PET scan or its outcome so I am flying totally in the dark. I had deceided to have IMRT and Brachy for the prostate but since this other problem has come up I just don't know what to do. Since the prognosis for melanoma is so scary I may just take the watchful waiting method to deal with prostate. Has anyone else been diagnosed with two totally different types of cancer in such a short period of time? How long do I have to go without treating the Prostate before it becomes a more dangerous problem? Any help would be greatly appreciated as I am going slowly crazy worrying about this. I have already beat long odds against even being alive 3 times in my life and now faced with a double dose of cancer, don't know if I have the strength to keep fighting or not. My sails are empty and the wind seems to have quit blowing for me.

Kongo

Welcome
Hi, pegapus and welcome to the forum. It seems you have more than your fair share of anxiety to deal with. I have read most of the posts on this forum that go back several years and can't recall another similar incidence, although I would guess that other CSN cancer forums might have some examples.

It did seem to me that the circumstances of your different cancers sort of backed you into a corner with different, disconnected sets of doctors and now your are somewhat cross-threaded with each group of physicians with respect to priorities and tests. I can't help but think that a single, overarching doctor or cancer center might be worth investigating so that they can help you establish priorities in treatment and ensure that treatment methodologies are not somehow conflicting. Trying to do that on your own seems like too much. Maybe someplace like Cancer Centers of America or some other cancer center in the Atlanta area can help give you a definitive assessment of where you are, what needs to be treated first, and develop a course of action that makes sense to you.

I would suppose that the melanoma in your neck is the wolf closest to the sled and you must deal with that first. If it were me, my suspicion would be that the two cancers might be somehow related because both of these happening at the same time is pretty rare, as far as I know. But I haven't a clue as to what a common cause might be. Exposure to something at work? Tainted well water? Some other toxin? Maybe there is no common link and it's just a circumstance but I would be wondering about it until the doctors could explain it.

Your prostate cancer with a Gleason 7 may not require immediate action but I would get a second opinion on your biopsy while you figure it out. If instead of a 3+4 it turned out to be a 4+3 or a 3+3 your decisons might be entirely different.

Best wishes for you in dealing with this.

lewvino

pegapus:Sorry to read about
pegapus:
Sorry to read about your double dose of cancer. The T1C is a lower rating but the Gleason 7 concerns me.
Just remember that a Biopsy is a needle in the haystack search so their Could be cancer the needle didn't hit in the 10 biopsy needles.
If you were a Gleason 6 I believe that watchful waiting would be OK, but with Gleason 7 they are typically called 'borderline aggressive' in particular with a 4+3 7. Where as yours is a 3+4 7 so slightly better at least in the two samples they hit on biopsy.

In my particular case I had 5 samples out of 12 find cancer and labelled as 4+3 7 at biopsy, then after surgery changed to 3+4 7 for overall score. The doc when discussing watchfull waiting for my case recommended NOT Waiting over 1 year since mine was looking aggressive and post surgery I do have a positive margin.

There may be others on the forum that have input but if you want 'fast' answers you might want to go to healingwell prostate cancer forum on the web. They have a very, very active group of posters over there.

Good luck on your fight and we hope the wind will shift for you and start blowing in the right direction!

Larry age 55
Gleason 3+4 7
Davinci surgery Aug. 2009