supraclavicular lymph node
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Hi Billy,
Thank you for posting an update, and it was great to hear your wife has had a year without treatment. The latest development of a possible recurrence is not the best news, and it seems hard to find information when a rare event (in this case, a suspicious lymph node distant from the original cancer) happens with a rare cancer. Since there are many reasons a lymph node can be swollen, hopefully further investigation will determine the cause is a benign one.
My impression from patient case studies is that a recurrence in one lymph node may be treated systemically with chemo, or locally with surgery or radiation. The doctor’s judgment on which treatment seems to be based on the lymph node’s location as well as views on whether the recurrence is confined to the one location or if it suggests a process where the cancer is spreading. As with round one of cholangiocarcinoma, it seems important to get a surgical opinion and maybe to consult a radiologist if radiation is a possibility.
Your question about repeating a previous chemo combination is interesting. Hopefully other board members will chime in on this one.
Take care, regards, Mary
Hi,
It’s been a while since I’ve posted about my wife’s condition, because she has been treatment free for just over a year (and is 18 months post op). However, in mid-October she felt an enlarged lymph node in her left supraclavicular area (above the collarbone). She told her oncologist, and they ordered a ca 19-9 level which was slightly elevated but basically within her range (kathy also has psc so her numbers have fluctuated since the surgery) and since she was also having a cold they felt it was just a reaction to an infection. The node remained enlarged, and firm, so her primary care doc ordered an ultrasound, which is suspicious since the borders are irregular and the node is 1 cm x 0.9 cm. Kathy is currently talking to her oncologist and surgeon in deciding the next step (biopsy vs pet scan), but we fear it’s signs of a recurrence. I know that lymph node area is common for abdominal cancers. Her last scans were in July and were clear. Has anyone had a recurrence that was first found by a lymph node? I also wonder what the next step would be- her original tumor responded to gem/cis enough to shrink it for surgery, but that combo also took a lot out of her. That’s why she then went to gem/ox post op, and attempted xeloda with radiation but had to stop it due to meningitis (all in 2017). Do some oncologist start patients back on a prior therapy if it worked initially? What other options (other than clinical trials) are common for recurrences with lymph node spread? Im sure we will be asking the oncologist and surgeon these questions but I’m just looking for anyone who has experienced this. I feel like I did 2 years ago when this all started. I cant express how much this forum helped back then, and thank you all for it.
-Billy
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