Does anyone have BAC

itiswhatitis
itiswhatitis Member Posts: 7
edited March 2014 in Lung Cancer #1
Does anyone out there have the bronchoavelor carcinoma. Which is a type of lung cancer. What kind of treatment have you been through??? I had this type of cancer in Feb 2007 to the right upper and lower lobe. I had surgery and they removed only the tumor which was about 25% of both lungs. I guess you can say that Im pretty lucky. Well I dont think so. I still have this kind of cancer which sucks. It was caught pretty early because I followed up with my own medical care. It showed on a lung xray back in 5/06 and I followed up on this and demanded a ct scan. This was overlooked. I was also diagnosed with breast cancer 6 months earlier. After surgery I was set up for radiation and they found a spot on my lung in the CT scan. I had a biopsy and I was diagnosed with BAC. Both the surgeon and the onocologist said that treatment would not respond. My treatment is CT scans And PET scans every six months. So far no tumor has returned.

Thanks
God Bless
Pam

Comments

  • cabbott
    cabbott Member Posts: 1,039 Member
    #2
    BAC tendencies
    When I was diagnosed, they told me that I had adenocarcinoma with BAC tendencies. I called the pathologist and he tried his best to explain that it looked a whole lot like BAC except in one corner so it had to be classified as adenocarcinoma with BAC tendencies. So I guess I am sort of what you are looking for, except not totally! All the doctors agreed that BAC cancer was actually a "good" kind to get. It tends to grow slower and not to leave the lung as much as the other kinds of lung cancer. Often surgery is curative and the cancer does not come back. If it does, more surgery might work. The surgeon explained that I could "lose" up to one lung total, so if it comes back, they can remove lobes until I'm left with the equivalent of one lung.That is based on my pulmonary (breathing) tests. The unfortunate part about BAC cancer, is that it can come back in either lung.CT and PET scans are ways they monitor your lung health. They are not a treatment for cancer nor do they prevent cancer from returning. They are just fancy 3-D images of your lungs like super duper Xrays. I'm at the two year point right now and the surgeon just moved me to either Xray or CAT scan every 6 months. I will probably be followed every 6 months for 8 years and then move to xrays every year for the rest of my life. The 8 years part is because BAC cancer can double VERY slowly. Until it doubles enough times to show up on the scans, no one will know that it is there. I do whatever the doctor says and make all my appointments, but try not to think about what might happen if a few cancer cells are still hanging around. The doctors tell me that I might respond to Tarceva if I need something more than surgery. BAC cancer doesn't grow fast enough for some of the other chemo's to catch and kill it. At least that is how I understood them. Hopefully I won't have to find out.

    Believe it or not, I'm also a breast cancer survivor. I was diagnosed with that 6 years ago. Surgery (a mastectomy) and Tamoxifen, followed by exemestane 2 1/2 years later has been my only treatment for that cancer. There seem to be a lot more options for breast cancer treatment than lung cancer treatment. The money is just not there for lung cancer research. I hope things change and they find a cure soon. We all need that.
  • itiswhatitis
    itiswhatitis Member Posts: 7
    #3
    cabbott said:

    BAC tendencies
    When I was diagnosed, they told me that I had adenocarcinoma with BAC tendencies. I called the pathologist and he tried his best to explain that it looked a whole lot like BAC except in one corner so it had to be classified as adenocarcinoma with BAC tendencies. So I guess I am sort of what you are looking for, except not totally! All the doctors agreed that BAC cancer was actually a "good" kind to get. It tends to grow slower and not to leave the lung as much as the other kinds of lung cancer. Often surgery is curative and the cancer does not come back. If it does, more surgery might work. The surgeon explained that I could "lose" up to one lung total, so if it comes back, they can remove lobes until I'm left with the equivalent of one lung.That is based on my pulmonary (breathing) tests. The unfortunate part about BAC cancer, is that it can come back in either lung.CT and PET scans are ways they monitor your lung health. They are not a treatment for cancer nor do they prevent cancer from returning. They are just fancy 3-D images of your lungs like super duper Xrays. I'm at the two year point right now and the surgeon just moved me to either Xray or CAT scan every 6 months. I will probably be followed every 6 months for 8 years and then move to xrays every year for the rest of my life. The 8 years part is because BAC cancer can double VERY slowly. Until it doubles enough times to show up on the scans, no one will know that it is there. I do whatever the doctor says and make all my appointments, but try not to think about what might happen if a few cancer cells are still hanging around. The doctors tell me that I might respond to Tarceva if I need something more than surgery. BAC cancer doesn't grow fast enough for some of the other chemo's to catch and kill it. At least that is how I understood them. Hopefully I won't have to find out.

    Believe it or not, I'm also a breast cancer survivor. I was diagnosed with that 6 years ago. Surgery (a mastectomy) and Tamoxifen, followed by exemestane 2 1/2 years later has been my only treatment for that cancer. There seem to be a lot more options for breast cancer treatment than lung cancer treatment. The money is just not there for lung cancer research. I hope things change and they find a cure soon. We all need that.

    BAC
    I know the doctors tell me if I have to have the lung cancer that this is the best type of lung cancer to have. Im still getting CAT Scans and PET Scans every six months as it has been almost 2 yrs for me for this lung cancer. The surgeon tells me that the PET scans are to see if the cancer has spread to other parts of the body. If this kind of cancer returns then it usually returns to several part of the body but like you said its slow growing and it may never return. So all we can do it hope and pray that we are finished with this awful disease. Ya know I wonder if the breast cancer has anything to do with getting the lung cancer? Of course they dont have the answers. Well I hope everything goes well for you. Good luck.
  • cabbott
    cabbott Member Posts: 1,039 Member
    #4
    itiswhatitis said:

    BAC
    I know the doctors tell me if I have to have the lung cancer that this is the best type of lung cancer to have. Im still getting CAT Scans and PET Scans every six months as it has been almost 2 yrs for me for this lung cancer. The surgeon tells me that the PET scans are to see if the cancer has spread to other parts of the body. If this kind of cancer returns then it usually returns to several part of the body but like you said its slow growing and it may never return. So all we can do it hope and pray that we are finished with this awful disease. Ya know I wonder if the breast cancer has anything to do with getting the lung cancer? Of course they dont have the answers. Well I hope everything goes well for you. Good luck.

    Causes
    I know that cancer is considered an immune disorder because our immune systems should have recognized the "bad" cells and gotten rid of them before they multiplied. It didn't. Then we got cancer. Once you get one cancer, the probability is higher than the average person who doesn't have cancer that you will get another cancer. That stinks, but it is what it is. My oncologist, who really knows his stuff, could not give me a good genetic reason why I have two kinds of cancer. Lung and breast are not known to be related, but we both have both. I asked how many folks have two or more kinds. He told me that it happens more often than many of us realize. However, he said I really didn't want to know what the record is for the most number of different kinds of cancer in one human being. I do not want to be in that record book for sure!
  • Unknown
    Unknown
    #5
    This comment has been removed by the Moderator

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