CRC Spreading to skin/arm ... ever hear of it?

[so-scared]

So, Scott is in the hospital again. Went for chemo on Wed and they held it due to a raging case of thrush and what appeared to be an abscess type thing on his arm. His white blood cells were elevated. The onc wanted to admit him but he did not feel that bad and declined. I said that I would keep a close eye on him and that he did not appear to be hospital type sick. The onc said okay but if she gave him chemo he would be hospital type sick.

Well, last night (Thursday) he spiked a fever of 102 so I called the onc and she said to bring him in through the ER to be admitted. We showed the ER doc what we thought was an abscess and he said that it was not. We asked him to see if there was pus or something in it. He used a needle to draw it and there was nothing in it. The surgeon is going to do a biopsy on it and everyone is scratching their head not knowing what it is but a tumor is suspected. Is is so weird. It is a mass that came out of nowhere very quickly. It is hot to the touch but not really painful. I did what we should not do but always do anyway and hit up Dr Google. If this is indeed a tumor it is not a good thing. The prognosis if it is would be worse that it already is. I am hoping it is some other weird thing besides cancer. Have any of you ever heard or experienced something like this? I can see on the stomach etc but on his arm? It is just past the elbow on the forearm area. WTH??

His white blood cell count is quite elevated and significantly higher than on Wed even. They think the infection that is causing the fever etc may be c-dif. I sure hope not! My sister who has an intact immune system has been battling that for 4 months. We have not been around her to pick it up. C-dif can be a bitch so I sure hope this is not the culprit!

Scott's CEA went up by 88 units when he had it tested two weeks ago. I do not like that big jump! The CT scan was a mixed bag ... slight shrinkage in some stuff, slight growth in some, and some stuff stable. Liver, lungs, and lymph nodes.

Anyway, I am just wondering if any of you brilliant people have heard of or dealt with this type of thing. It scares me.

[janklo]

Can they/are they doing a biopsy? Lauren had a bump arise on her stomach, actually next to her incision, like in the waistline area. They did a needle biopsy and of course it was src. It was about 2 cm in size, you could touch it and it felt spongey. Both the onc and the colorectal surgeon said they'd never seen it do that before. Once inside of course it was a web of peritoneal mets and that one spot made the way to the surface and grew most.

Another time she had a weird little spot of flesh sticking out of her like under her arm. Like a finger shape of flesh. It was removed and turned out to be just a big glob of fatty tissue.

I was just reading an article in our news about a local pizza joint owner. He had a boil on his thigh that wouldnt go away and turned out to be a sarcoma. Now he's about out of time and options. Who would think something that looked like a boil was a sarcoma? Seriously?

I hope they can get you a nice easy needle biopsy with quick results showing its nothing!

[so-scared]

Yes, they are doing a needle biopsy. I am hoping it is nothing but it sure showed up quick and has a weird presentation.

I could understand something coming from the area of the primary or abdomen ... but the arm? Just crazy. Based on my googling it does happen but is very rare.

[Kathryn in MN]

Has he been tested for Lynch? If it is a tumor, it may be skin cancer. If he has Lynch, both colon and skin are within the Lynch family. Hopefully it is something benign.

[smokeyjoe]

Interesting you'd post this....last night I was on Medscape because I wanted to see concernedrelatives article he was talking about regarding the RAS mutations and EGFR. Anyhow while there there was a place that showed photos, a slide show, of skin irritations that show up with cancer patients, and it showed several types of cancers that show up mets on the skin ..... one fellow had a tiny pimple on his chin and it was mets from his colon cancer. You can log onto it for free.

[so-scared]

There is a strong family history of crc but negative for Lynch. I am hoping it is just a fatty deposit or something. Sure deposited quick! I am anxious for the biopsy to just know what the heck this is.

The c-dif test was negative but they are still treating him like he has it. They said the tests are not 100%. Who knows. He has had this several times where he develops a fever etc and the source is never found.

[MitchellVII]

Has he been tested for Lynch? If it is a tumor, it may be skin cancer. If he has Lynch, both colon and skin are within the Lynch family. Hopefully it is something benign.

I have Lynch and have had both CRC and Melanoma within the past 5 years. Pretty classic case. Men with Lynch have an 85% chance of getting colon cancer by age 48. I was diagnosed at age 48. Also high risk for melanoma. Was diagnosed with melanoma 2 years ago. Did an earlobe resection. Luckily my surgeon was great and ear looks pretty good.

I have also always had fatty lypoma's pop up. They can appear quickly, feel warm and can get red. Have had them from the size of a pea to a half dollar. Have had them removed if they looked funny but they ate basically harmless.

[Val*pal]

The same week my husband was diagnosed as having colorectal cancer, he developed a widespread skin infection on his lower abdomen. He didn't tell me about it until we were on our way to a doctor's appointment. The docs treated it with antibiotics, though the first antibiotic did nothing and they had to switch to something stronger. I was in such a weird mental state being in shock from the diagnosis that I never asked if the infection was connected to his cancer. That skin infection was awful! They almost had to postpone his resection surgery because of it, but it finally cleared up.

Has anyone else experienced this?

[so-scared]

Still no solid answers on the arm thing. He is in for a mystery infection and they don't want any more infection risks so no biopsy at this time. His elbow joint was red and swollen a couple of weeks ago. Dr Kemeny thought it was a bursitis/infection and gave some abx. The elbow cleared before I got home and had the script filled. He took it a few days to be safe but it tore his guts up and he quit taking it. The swelling/redness did not come back. One of the doctors at the hospital thinks that may have been gout from extensive chemo and that is why it resolved. He said you can get it in any joint. He thinks the mass thing that has now developed down from that elbow may be a ganglion cyst. That would be fine with me! So I am not as worried about it now and we will wait and see.