And yet another pathology report

Hello Chris, I'm a little confused, since I haven't been on here for a while. I'm hoping, I'm reading this incorrectly. I sent you an e-mail.  If you do not see it in your Inbox, please check your Spam.

Love and hugs!

Editgrl said:

Well, I've just started

Well, I've just started researching this latest diagnosis, but my gut feeling is the initial treatment would probably have been the same.  Anyway, I'm going with that because it doesn't do any good to second guess at this point.  I did find out that the profiling they did does rule out any neuroendocrine elements.  I think Der Maus went through an initial diagnosis of undifferentiated carcinoma, too, but that was later changed.  Apparently, undifferentiated carcinoma is often mis-diagnosed and it often presents with other elements, as mine did above.  

Anyway, the disturbing thing about this is that the NCI describes undifferentiated carcinoma as Grade 4.  Yikes.  However, I am optimistic that since the cancer so far has stayed within the lymph nodes and is very small, the treatment I am currently undergoing will prevail.

As far as my horse...  unfortunately, I had to put him down at the end of January.  He was 28, and his feet were not dealing with the very wet ground.  He was in a lot of discomfort, and unfortunately, he would not allow us to keep him in a stall where we could have done something to help him.  It was a dark and rainy Sunday when I had to say good-bye, but in the grand scheme of things, the timing was a blessing.  With everything that has happened since then, it would have been very difficult to keep caring for him.  Now he's grazing on eternally green pastures and snoozing in the sun... 

i don't think,there are many things that are harder to do that lose a beloved animal family member.  It must be a little comforting though to  that your beloved friend is not suffering.

You are right about not dwelling on the past.  It is just that, the past, and you are on a very promising journey.

Hugs and prayers, Lou Ann

TeddyandBears_Mom said:

Oh Chris, so sorry to hear

Oh Chris, so sorry to hear about your loss. Just knowing you from your posts, I know he had a great life with you.

I had no idea there was such a thing as a grade 4 cancer! I thought grade 3 was the highest. Obviously, I have a lot to learn....

I'm with you - your current treatments are going to get rid of any threats to your well being!

Take care my friend.

Love and Hugs,

Cindi

I just noticed the new picture,  really cute hair you have going there. I love your fur babies.

Lou Ann

Wow Chris, that's a load of information. My understanding is that the less differentiated a tumor is, the higher the grade, however I've not heard about grade 4. Carcinosarcoma is pretty complex to start with in that it's always comprised of more than one type of tumor so I would imagine that the diagnostic process is complicated and maybe even prone to misdiagnosis. Glad to hear that your treatment is going in the right direction. That can make a huge difference in the sense of well being going forward. 

So sorry about your horse. It's really tough to lose the animals in our life who we're so bonded to.

First, thank you for keeping us posted on your German treatment. It's fascinating, much as I wish it weren't something you had to pursue. Second, I do have a diagnosis of undfferentiated carcinoma. The post-op pathology report indicated it was mixed with neuroendocrine, which is even more rare than undifferentiated. Because of that, I got two second opinions: one from Cedars Siani and one from Stanford's neuroendocrine tumor institute. Both confirmed that it was not neuroendocrine but rather 'regular' undifferentiated carcinoma that had neuroendocrine features. Worryingly, the Stanford report showed the cancer was much more invasive than originally noted and had made incursions into both ovaries. The oncologist said she'd never seen so many differences of opinion on one sample; regrettably you appear to be having a similar experience. To date I have no real answer what undifferentiated means; best I can surmise is that they want to eliminate the possibility that the cancer came from another site, thus the reports say "undifferentiated, favor endocrine origin" (vs. cervical or ovarian?). From a treatment perspective it doesn't make any difference, since it's all high grade. I think the bigger concern is that undifferentiated could be mistaken for a lower grade cancer and thus under treated, but that doesn't seem to have been true in your case; they're just shifting around the diagnoses w/in the Grade 3/4 category. Of all the literature out there, this article made the most sense to me; I'm attaching the link in case you haven't already seen it. Best wishes and please do keep us posted. B

http://www.archivesofpathology.org/doi/pdf/10.5858/arpa.2011-0461-RS?code=coap-site