r/Oncology

Hello and happy Wednesday everyone. I know we are not doctors but I just would really appreciate any inputs of suggestions because I’m really tired and want to figure out what’s wrong with me. Appreciate anything really thanks so much.

So in context 33yr old female

I have had a lot of systemic issues that started 6/7 years ago and it started with night sweats. And I’ve been dealing with on and off chronic pain, nausea, fatigue etc.
but recently things have been worse and more consistent
- night sweats
- around 6pm every evening I get like hot flash feeling like feeling sick internally and under skin
- bone/joint pain that changes areas and fluctuates can be dull with also sharp pain that comes in waves
- muscles twitches a lot
- numbness and specially in toes these days
- fatigue
- nausea lack of appetite at times, vomitted a few times the other month. Always in the evening.
- lost almost 20lbs without trying (everyone keeps asking if I’m okay)
- swollen fingers in the morning

Basically my rheumatologist says my Ana could be undifferentiated connective tissue disease but does not explain a lot of my symptoms

Oncologist says my levels of lambda bands are small and so it’s not hematology issue. And that my electrophoresis results can be a UTI which I don’t have right now.

I am honestly just so tired of feeling this way and I want to feel normal again. I literally am in tears every time I go to the doctors because I’m tired.

IMMUNOFIXATION, SERUM    
IFE INTERPRETATION
- IgG lambda monoclonal band present.
(This was on multiple blood tests and was present but not present in urine)

PROTEIN, TOTAL AND PROTEIN ELECTROPHORESIS, URINE    
PROTEIN, TOTAL, 24 HR UR 136 mg/24hr
PROTEIN/CREATININE RATIO 0.082
ALBUMIN 20%
ALPHA-1-GLOBULINS 3%
ALPHA-2-GLOBULINS 20%
BETA GLOBULINS 23%
GAMMA GLOBULINS 34%
INTERPRETATION
Pattern consistent with glomerular proteinuria.
No abnormal bands suggestive of monoclonal free light
chain (Bence Jones protein) detected.

ALPHA 2 GLOBULIN 0.9H
ABNORMAL PROTEIN BAND 1 0.1H
ABSOLUTE EOSINOPHILS 10L
SED RATE BY MODIFIED WESTERGREN 22H
EGFR - ranges from 72-88 usually(normal but low for my age)
My other results are either within or borderline normal so did not bother to post.

ANA SCREEN, IFA Positive
ANA TITER 1:320 Nucleolar nuclear
ANA TITER 1:80 speckled nuclear
(I had same ANA patterns last year but it was lower titer at the time and it has not gone up)
***EVERY specific Ana test I’ve taken has come out negative though like literally every autoimmune test)

URINALYSIS REFLEX (test was done three different times and showed up on each)
KETONES trace
PROTEIN trace
LEUKOCYTE ESTERASE Trace(sterile)
RED BLOOD CELL COUNT 3.95
CREATININE, RANDOM URINE 234 mg/dL

KAPPA/LAMBDA LIGHT CHAINS FREE WITH RATIO, SERUM    
KAPPA LIGHT CHAIN, FREE, SERUM 11.4mg/L
LAMBDA LIGHT CHAIN, FREE, SERUM 11.4mgL
KAPPA/LAMBDA LIGHT CHAINS FREE WITH RATIO, SERUM 1.0

My dad was diagnosed with Oral SCC in dec 25. Tumor was on lateral side of the tongue , underwent surgery with clear margins. PT2N0, no LVI/PNI, DOI 4mm. END was done, 20 lymph nodes were removed, all tested negative. Doctors had not suggested Chemo/radiation back then.

2 weeks back, my dad felt a pea sized lump near his collarbone. Ultrasound/FNAC done, followed by PET CT confirmed SCC in multiple levels in neck, bilateral until level 6 (pre/para tracheal). 1.8 * 1.3 cm lump in left submandibular level. Doctors suggested a surgery but said it would be a major one with reconstruction (plastic surgery) due to lump being closer to the mouth. My dad does not want to go for the surgery

Doctor has given a few options -

1. Surgery followed by chemotherapy and radiation. Has said there is 50% chance of it not recurring again

2. chemotherapy and radiation. 30% of not recurring

3. chemotherapy followed by Surgery and then radiation.

The radio onco has also suggested surgery as the first option but my dad is just not ready for the surgery. He is just scared that quality of life will significantly decrease post surgery.

Just wanted to see what folks in similar situations have done and what was the outcome? Also, is surgery after chemo + radiation not recommended?

Hello has anyone tried Ivermectin with pdac and did you see any results positive or negative?

Hi everyone. My mum (59Yo F) was diagnosed with HPV+ SCC of right tonsil with lymph node involvement, T2N2M0, in December 2025. She began treatment in late March, plan was 3 rounds of high dose cisplatin and 35 RT. She completed 2 out of 3 chemos, last one was cancelled, and 34 out of 35 RT’s. Her last one was supposed to be yesterday. She started spiking fevers & chest infections after every chemo session, first she was admitted for a week on IV antibiotics. She started having mucous and a cough then that hasn’t left since. A week after 2nd chemo once again temperature spike, legs swelled out, found fluid on lungs, hospital admission, 5 days antibiotic treatment, was going in the right direction but hasn’t been let home since. About 6 days after antibiotics finished she spiked another fever, antibiotics started again (believe it was Taz each time), bloods started improving, speech and language therapist suspected its aspiration pneumonia and been NPO since. NG tube fitted, she started vomiting the next night. Feeds reduced and anti nausea meds charted. This brings us up to Thursday just gone.
Friday morning I got a call of the hospital she was admitted in. I was told that nurse went to administer antibiotics at 6am, came back at 6:30 to check vitals and found her unresponsive and not breathing. O2 stats 65% on room air, temp 38.2C. Was given paracetamol, gentamicin and hydrocortisone. They stabilised her on 12L/min oxygen, didn’t need CPR, she came to by herself thankfully. She was transferred to a bigger hospital by ambulance an hour later, met her in critical care ED, later that day transferred upstairs to oncology.
She’s been on oxygen ever since. Chest x-ray suggests severe pneumonia, was told possible sepsis but that hasn’t been mentioned since.
She’s very flegmy, barely able to bring it up & when it does come it it’s yellow/green with bright red blood.
The NG tube has been taken out and replaced twice since it came out on its own while she was coughing, she felt the feed go down the wrong way (on pump), so we feel like that’s unsafe now because of aspiration risk.
I stayed with her last night, she went to the bathroom this morning and when she came back she was very weak and oxygen stat 60%. She can’t leave her bed.
The consultant came around shortly after that, said she’s being treated for a blood clot in the lungs until they’re able to rule it out via CT. She’s also on piptaz I believe and vancomycin.
I guess my question is does this sound like a blood clot? Is it something that she’ll come out of? Is this cureable? Will she be okay? We’re all very scared. Obviously it’s the weekend so she’s not being seen by her regular doctor, that’ll happen on Monday, until then we’re terrified and sleeping on the floor beside her bed incase something goes the wrong way.

EDIT TO ADD
72kg, 170cm
Her regular medications include entecavir 0.5mg for HEP B, she’s been switched to 40mg Oxycodone/24hrs via pump (was on 70mg on Thursday, switched because she didn’t seem herself at all, fairly dopey and sleepy on it), lansoprazole (I think ) for stomach protection, escitalopram 15mg, metoclopramide added on 13/5, I think some laxatives aswell.

Long story short, my dad was diagnosed with liver tumors. They suspect it metastisized from somewhere else in his body. Apparently it's very aggressive because his biopsy showed a Ki-67 of >95%.

His biopsy results were delivered on 5/8/2026 and the first available oncology appointment is 6/2/2026. This is nearly a 4 week wait. Meanwhile his bilirubin count has been doubling every 5 days.

Does anyone have advice for how to accelerate this process? I worry, at this rate, he doesn't have another 20 days in him.

Any advice will be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Hello all. I’m looking for the doctors/researchers of reddit who may know what could be going on.

I work at a hospital in the oncology ward in the Downtown Fort Worth area of Texas, USA. Over the last 2 months, we have had 6 different female patients be diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. 2 of them are already gone just weeks after they were originally diagnosed. This surge is astounding to me, as approximately 67,000 people were assumed to be diagnosed in 2026 in the whole of the United States. To have so many cases pop up in such little time… It’s baffling and heartbreaking.

They have all been women aged from their 50s-70s, and all are being diagnosed at least stage 2. Their only complaints were fatigue and abdominal discomfort.

What’s going on? Does anyone know of any possible causation for these diagnoses? The oncologists in my department are equally baffled and curious. If anyone has any insight as to what’s happening, why it’s happening, or about any research that has begun recently to try and figure it out, it would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you in advance to anyone who may have insight! Any and all theories are welcome. I’ll update as we see more diagnoses.

Can a member of the public leave a box of donuts and a flyer in the break room of a cancer center or oncology wing? Would an oncologist even see it?

I have nothing to sell but I am soliciting interviews as part of the NCI STEP training program to apply for federal grant funding

I'm a chemist and have to start interviewing doctors as part of an I-CORPs training class and I'm absolutely terrified of talking to anyone because I barely understand what they do.

I loved House MD as a kid and its a big part of why I made a career in science, but I imagine real doctors aren't burgling peoples homes and making offensive quips as much?

Where can I find more about what doctors do? How do they differ from oncologists, physicians, clinicians?

For cancer, what factors do doctors consider for choosing a line of treatment (cost, efficacy, mechanism)? How do they handle resistance when it develops and what do they wish could be improved?

Some of you here are probably familiar with the situation of running out of treatment options locally - or being told there’s no way to access a medicine until it’s approved in your country.

In some cases, that’s not the end of the road.

There is a legal pathway that allows patients and their doctors to access (cancer) medicines before they’re approved locally.

It’s often referred to as named patient import (or personal importation). It allows a doctor to prescribe a treatment that’s approved in another country and have it supplied for personal use.

This is already being used in many countries.

In practice, it usually involves:

• A prescription from your doctor
• A short import letter outlining your treatment plan
• Sourcing the medicine from a country where it’s approved

I work with Everyone.org, an organization that helps patients access medicines before they’re available locally. One thing we see often is that many people simply aren’t aware this pathway exists.

We put together a short guide that explains how this works and what your doctor typically needs to include. You can select your country to see the relevant requirements:

https://everyone.org/country-regulations#import-guides

Sharing this in case it’s useful for anyone looking into additional options.

The answer is extremely simple: AI can search through and find solutions in 10 minutes from approximately 600 clinical studies and articles; how long would it take an oncologist to read through them and draw conclusions?