Anyone with 2 different Cancers at the same time?

DelilahB

I recently was diagnosed with DCIS.  The day before my surgery my doctor called me to tell me there was a mass on my left kidney the size of a golf ball.  I ended up having 3 surgeries mastectomy and partial of my kidney removed. I was diagnosed with RCC. Since both cancers were detected so early I do not need any chemo or radiation.  I am only 39 years old.  My life has changed drastically.  Its only been 3 weeks and I feeling so many emotions. What should my next steps should be?

Tabatha00

Me!!!   I was dx with bc on May 22.   I had to go through all the tests, etc., and there was a 2cm tumor dangling from my right kidney and guess what.......cancer.   It was Grade 1 which is the slowest growing and my doctors called it an "incidental cancer" which means that normally it's found when someone is going through testing for something else.  I had the tumor removed and I'm good to go.  

MaryDee

Me too!!!  In Feb 09 I had my gallbladder removed because of gallstones, and during regular pathology they found primary lymphoma of the gallbladder. I weaned my baby just before the gallbladder op, so found out about the lymphoma just as I started to notice the breast lump.  Even at that stage the general surgeon did an ultrasound and said the breast tumour was nothing.  So I consider I was pretty lucky to be referred to the oncologist at that stage. My BC was actually found as a result of PET scans done to stage the lymphoma. 

Because lymphoma is by nature a systemic disease, we didn't know at the start whether the breast tumour was another lymphoma site or BC.  All up it was 6 weeks from when the lymphoma was diagnosed to when the BC was biopsied and a treatment plan made. You can imagine my state of mind during that time.  Luckily for me it was still DCIS although all up they excised 7 cm first and then another 3cm during my mastectomy.  Given the size,grade, etc I wonder how long I might've gone being fobbed of with ultrasounds if the lymphoma hadn't been found.  So I consider myself a pretty lucky lady that it was caught before it became invasive disease.

Treatment involved a WLE - they didn't get clear margins - followed by 4 months of chemo for the lymphoma. I then needed a mast to remove the remainder of the DCIS, and I was lucky to have an immed Lat Dorsi recon.  That was 3.5 weeks ago and still very much in recovery mode.

Delilah I know what you mean when you say your life has changed drastically, it's one almighty wakeup slap isn't it?  I feel like my whole life now needs to be rehabilitated -  my fitness & arm movement, my daily routines, I even delayed returning to work because of treatment so that looms ahead of me.  But I've had 10 months now to come to grips with it - and believe me I read a lot and sat in the bath a lot and stayed in bed a lot during that time - just thinking, crying, processing, making sense of it all. You're in the early days yet.  You need time to process. Talk, share, cry, get some counselling, read books by other survivors.  Think about what changes, if any, you want to make to support your ongoing physical and emotional health.  Make these changes slowly, and with love for yourself and what you have experienced.  I feel like I've had a journey through the underworld, and I don't expect everyone in my life to understand what that is like. Be kind to yourself, you need time to adjust to what has happened. xxx

DelilahB

Mary Dee, thank you for your kind words.  When I wrote the post I was filled with so much emotions.  Everything you suggested I have done so far.  There was a few complications since my last posting.  The orginal plan was to have a mastecomy with the Tram Flap but since the Kidney Cancer came about. The day of the surgery doctors decided to put a tissue expander. I ended up with a serious  infection.  I had 6 surgeries since November 2009. There still no breast on my left side.   I was afraid what my family was going to think of me walking around with one breast.   I had to force myself out of my bed for my husband and my children. I became distant from my friends and family.  I felt I needed to "deal" on my own.  How do you deal with Cancer right and two types of Cancers?  I am in better spirits now.  I go out now to the movies, to the zoo, the musuems, even dancing with my friends.  I feel that I have to appreciate that I am alive.  "Enjoy what is to enjoy and suffer what is to suffer".  My next surgery is for July to finally do the flap. Then after that it will be to reduce my right breast (I am very busty).  I am so looking forward to it. My breast surgeon, who is so wonderful, said to me that no matter what happens when I wake up in the morning, put on some makeup and do my hair. Even if I went back to bed.   That advice help so much!