Soft Tissue Sarcoma Health Byte

[hyperchurro01]

My cousins mom had this right after she got out of a coma from a horrible car indecent & luckily she survived my mom says its incredibly rare & shes pitiful she only has 1 butt cheek & a metal stick went though her shoulder in the accident.... Thank God Shes Alive

[KyrieEleeson]

STS is, of course, rare and most of the drugs currently used for it are prehistoric, wearing down the toughest of patients. Frequent scans will be the only way to stay on top of recurrences.

You can't feel the despair a disease like this causes until you or a family member go through it.

I imagine that there isn't much funding for this cancer and since there are few patients (rare disease), I hope and pray that experimentation will continue on tissue samples as well as theoretical models.

[KyrieEleeson]

If there are any new adjuvants (IORT or even possibly something like immunotherapy) that hold a fraction of hope in giving the slight edge that wipes out microscopic traces left behind in order to stop the cycle of recurrence, I hope and pray that the cancer community will continue to look into them.

[KyrieEleeson]

a quicker diagnosis would have given a better chance at complete resection with the initial operation (which was extensive by the time this got to surgery).

I've read that cure has classically been achieved better by initial resection.

After 3 surgeries, thank God for an experienced oncologist who knocked it out. Recurrences (two of them) were back to back (2 or 3 months apart) between surgeries but, after chemotherapy and radiation, the latest recurrence took 2 years, which is a good thing.

[KyrieEleeson]

His response to my query each time was "these aren't the *classic* symptoms of pneumonia"....so a couple of months (precious time) was wasted on antibiotics before the referral to the lung specialist.

I eventually got sucked into the pneumonia theory (I have zero medical training) and then became worried it was MRSA.

It was definitely STS. Biopsy revealed it.

I don't hate the doctor, I realize he probably will see only 1 or 2 sarcomas in his lifetime but.....

[KyrieEleeson]

"Let us decide that, not you" By "us", you might want to be more specific. As in "oncologists". If by "us", you mean "doctors", think again.

A wrong diagnosis almost cost a loved one's life.

We went to the MD, he saw a huge mass on the x-rays and insisted it was pneumonia. I kept asking "are you SURE this is pneumonia? Symptoms such as lung pain (across the chest...I've had it myself a few times), coughing, high fever and body aches are completely absent."