Topic: Just diagonsed Friday with lung mets

{{{Carrie}}} I'm sure the mets ladies will be by soon, but just wanted to say how sorry I am that you've been through so much and now having to go through so much more with heightened anxiety. Did you by chance consider some anti-anxiety meds. I know many speak of them with high regards when dealing with BC in general and with mets. Dear, I'm so sorry you got the call, but know you will be in many of our prayers and thoughts as you go through this. Danged beast should be stopped!!!!!!!! We need to stop it now, not in 20 years :(

Carrie, I have been dealing with bone mets almost 2 1/2 years and doing very very well.  This almost is like a game sometimes and what works and what doesn't.  You don't have to be the cheerleader and your family needs to step up better this time.  This disease has no rhyme or reason as to why one person recurrs immediately and nother one doesn't.  All we can do is find an onc we trust and go with our gut.

I do take lexapro and always have xanax and ativan on hand for days that are just too hard.  Lately I have had alot of them although they are not cancer related.  Please post here with all your questions and educate yourself on this disease.  To me it helps alot but you must find what works for you.

Carrie,

Sorry you had to find your way here. But this a great place for support, information and sisterhood.

I am on the same chemo you will be starting.  Most people find that Navelbine is an easy chemo to take - it does not cause hair loss, rarely causes much nausea, and does not require pre-meds (especially steroids).  Avastin usually doesn't have many SEs, although some ladies have reported some bone pain right after the infusion.  I have not experienced that. Avastin can eventually cause high blood pressure, so they will check your blood pressure regularly (they do anyway). It also can delay healing and cause nosebleeds.  My urine is checked regularly to make sure my kidney function is normal.  You do not want to have a surgery of any kind while on Avastin.

My experience with Navelbine was that it was more difficult that I expected.  My white counts got really low and I always required a Neulasta injection and occastionally an injection of Aranesp for red cell counts  I was fatigued and had a lot of stomach acid.  I experienced some weakness in my core muscles (hips and shoulders). That was on a schedule of infusions once a week for three weeks, then one week off.  When my oncologist changed the plan to every other week, the above problems went away. Generally, if you do experience SEs, it occurs during the first few days after your infusion. 

For me, having a port has been great.  My veins are very small and hard to find.  The port works well and you can't tell I have it when I'm in clothes (even with a V-neck top). I can also use it for some scans which means less endless sticking to find a good vein.

Best of luck to you. Let us know how you are doing. 

Carrie,

I am a stage 4 lung metster too.  I was dx with them in January this year.  I haven't been on your combo yet but I do want Navelbine and Avastin next.

Get a port!  You will not regret it.  Make sure it is a Bard Power Port so they can do CT contrast through it for scans.  You can't do that with regular ones.

As far as being a cheerleader?  Don't be if you don't want to.  Make your family buck up!   Around my house my having cancer is a non issue - just the way I like it.  No one talks about it.  I have two kids in college and one in 4th grade.  All they know is that my cancer is back.  I don't see the need in telling them anything more.  I feel great most of the time, just a few achey days after my Gemzar.  I have never had any symptoms of lung mets; coughing or shortness of breath, etc.

You are going to be fine!  It sucks going through all this again, but we gotta do what we gotta do!

Hugs,

Watson

Cancer sucks!

Glad you've found us...but sorry you have to join us . I too have mets to lung liver and bone, and have had good results from taxotere and herceptin. As Watson said-don't worry about being a cheerleader -it's early days for all of your family and no doubt once they've had a chance to assimilate the news, then they'll cope. Good luck to you all, and hope that all goes well with the treatment.

suzyq18,

My lung mets presented itself with a cough. I was coughing up yellow gunk and my family practice doctor put me on antibiotics. That stuff went away but the cough didn't. I had orientation with my youngest at college and we did alot of walking and climbing stairs all over campus for 2 days. I was having trouble breathing and since then I have been short of breath alot. I persuaded the onc to proscribe another course of anitbiotics, which she very reluctantly did (mumbled something about a super-infection). I was right about that. It made them do a chest x-ray, CT scan and finally the lung biopsy. I have pneumonia along with these tumors. BTW, two weeks before the chest xray, my blood test came back with "negligable" tumor markers. Thank God I knew that something wasn't right and pushed harder.

I have seen on here though that some have no symptoms with lung mets. If you don't feel right and can't breath or do have that cough, have a chest x-ray. That's how they found mine so early. My rads were done in March. I was told it was scar tissue. Not!

All the things that they recommed to relieve the cough, cool breeze, AC, etc, work really well. I have also had some success with Halls menthol cough drops when I can't get to the water fountain or somewhere like church.

hi carriej, thanks for giving me the information, sometimes i cough that much i am sick, then the cough will go away for a couple of days, then i cough no stop again, its more like a tickly cough, on sat i had a pain that went from the front into my back that was very uncomfortable and i felt awfull, am going to oncolgy next thursday so c what he says, when i had a chest xray a few months ago it was all clear, i think somethink is not right thank sue