mets to lung
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Lilohnnysmom, I hope that you are feeling better now. That virus that has hit many states with a POW is causing much trouble for patients with any respiratory issues. What starts out as a virus only seems to quickly move into significant respiratory issues that are demonstrating sx of a bacterial secondary infection. Many folks are reported to improve with antibiotics. Just thought that I would mention it. It is a nasty respiratory infection. Hope that this is helpful.....a hot toddy is always helpful
Peg 0 -
Thanks all! Am with you Cathy, hoping for good results for you too.
Spent my 3rd day flat on my couch after tx on Friday, hoping tomorrow'll start to be better.
Blondie, good to hear you sounding better, love & hate steroids too - they help, but at a price. I start feeling like my head's boiling inside. The funniest are my steroid lists of all the stuff I'm going to do, then don't have the energy to do any of it, so nothing gets crossed off! But I still make those damn lists lol.
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Carol, I am so sorry that you are having a miserable post steroid. Sometimes the "cure" seems worse than the disease and with steroids that is almost a given. I found that for me lots and lots of water or gatorade helped me to level off and a better sleep was possible in shorter spurts. Hope that tomorrow brings a sunnier day for you. Hugs, Peg
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Carol, myep I get it w the lists, made 1 n crossed all off.
Made another 1, some things I did without a list, am doing them like in tbe middle of the night, ddoing dishes, cleaning the bathroom sink., cant vacuum..granddaughters coming tomorrow ages 2 n 4, charli n jenifer aka lala..love spending with them h they take naps, lol.oh n my great grandchild is due April 28th, my granddaughter is 18, she has not a clue,, I am rambling, sorry
See ya bye
Me
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yeah, carol, glad to hear you're dancing with stable boy! I like Glenna, cause that's who I am .... But I am a gator fan (even with the embarrassing loss to Alabama)! I am still not feeling great. The chemo seems to have hit me harder this time but I'm assuming it's because I really hadn't recovered 100% from the bronchitis. I keep saying tomorrow I'll feel better ....
I usually spend my decadron high on the computer editing and organizing the zillions of photos I take. Definitely don't want to be cleaning house or doing laundry in the middle of the night!
Hoping for good scans for everyone. I see my Onc on Wednesday and have blood work but only because he's been away on vacation and wants to check up on me. Nothing new going on. I did have some tests done while I was in Houston so I'll get his take on those.
Meanwhile, enjoying the grandkids sports games on the weekends and looking forward to my sister and her husband visiting from N.C, this coming weekend.
So, Blondie, you a are going to be a great grandma. That's pretty exciting, though I don't think I'd want to be having a baby at age 18. Your granddaughter is going to grow up really fast! Well, she has a long way til April. You'll enjoy watching her grow ... In more ways than one!
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I know, we aren't happy, she n the boy r really immature, her mother threw her out cause she couldn't handle her, so aftrr 16 years she went to live with my son n he threw her out cause she stole a car, she did graduate from high school in june, now she lives with dd2, the person she married n 3 kids 8,4,2 and the father of the baby. It is crazy, but everything happy 4 a reason.
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Thanks Carolben .. hope your feeling better today. Man that brings back memories.Steroids interrupted my sleep pattern and made me bloat some but I guess I got off lucky.
Tomorrow is the day I get the scan results. Scanxiety has really set in.
Best to everyone!
Cathy
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Cathy hope and pray all is good with your scans.
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Hi Ladies.. first ty ty ty for all your caring and support. Second I am so happy with my results today. Scans showed that the lymph nodes show major regression and also my largest lung tumor shows good regression! Think I'm getting the good drugs on this drug trial. Sooooooo happy today.Cathy
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Yay cathy congrats
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Awesome ! Congrats Cathy
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Yeah, Cathy, so happy for your great results! We all love getting positive news!
Blondie, your family sounds as crazy as mine! LOL! My youngest son has two sons by different mamas. Never married either one of them. We are so lucky to have both boys in our lives. The oldest is 10 and the other one is 6. Also have two granddaughters by my son who IS married, and two step grandchildren by my daughter who just married in May. I remember when I found out about the first pregnancy. They were young and in love. Wish they could have made the relationship work. Fortunately they are very good friends and share the most wonderful little guy! You will love that baby more than you can ever imagine!!
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Cathy!!! Marvelous news! You got Reggie!!! Which drug are you getting besides the femara? Thank you, thank you, for sharing your wonderful news!!!
Hugs,
Brenda
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Thanks!
I am on a drug trial receiving Letrozole (Femara) and the trial drug Palbociclib (or placebo). Looks like I got lucky and am one of the few who got the real deal. Only 300 and some on this exact trial world wide and 1/3 of them are not getting the Palbociclib but rather a placebo. I'm feeling Happy.. Happy..... Happy.
Cathy
P.S. Some say this Palbo will be available for prescription by next year! Sure hope so.. some also say it is the break through drug we have been waiting for to treat late stage breast cancer long term!!!!
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Graandchild #8
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Yay for Palbo!
Congrats to Blondie!
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just wrote a whole long thing & managed to wipe it out €£¥•+*^%**
Just wanted to rejoice with you Cathy, what great news - YAY, you go girl!!
Too tired to try rewrite, gotta nap.
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Ahhh sorry Carolben and thanks so much for your YAY with me! Hope your feeling better soon. Hugs!Cathy
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Hi ladies.....Just wanted to give a"shout out"...finally my CA 27/29 is coming down. Been on Herceptin and Faslodex every 3 wks since Jan 2014. Started in the 70's and just now 45...doin my happy dance........thank you God! Bless us all with good news. Peg
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Good going, Peg and Cathy!
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Yay love when the numbers go down
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Lots of good news here .... Hip hip hooray. Peg, so glad those numbers are coming down! Affirmation that treatment is working, Cathy, glad you are getting the Palbo and not the placebo. I think I'll hang around til that becomes available!
Carolben, I have done that so often and it is so frustrating. When I know I'm going to write a long message, I write it in my notes and then do a copy and paste. I found out the hard way that you can't leave a page once you've started writing your post to check someone else's post on another page. Your post will disappear. Arrrggghhhhh!
I'm still recovering from the bronchitis/pneumonia .... Slow road. But I do love having a break from chemo. Up all night tonight with pain so catching up with all kinds of correspondence and becoming really close friends with oxycodone and my heating pad. Tomorrow, meet zombie girl!
As we continue to rejoice in the good news shared here, I continue to keep in my prayers those who are just beginning this journey, those who have been on it like me for many years hopping from one treatment to another looking for the magic bullet, and pain free days for those who have run out of options and are doing their best to enjoy their time with family and friends!
Love you all,Glenna
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Good news Peg and thank you all. Well said Glenna, I'll second that. Hugs for all.Cathy
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I just got my CT scan back when I went for chemo on Tuesday and there are no new spots, some have not changed and others have shrunk. Most of the shrinkage is in the liver. My liver numbers are now in normal range. My hemoglobin was again low (76) so I had to get another transfusion on Wednesday. So we will carry on with the regieme of two weeks on and one week off. I was hoping getting the blood transfusion would slow down by now.
Hated wigs the first time round - made my head to itchy. I just stuck with hats or nothing at all. This time I'm seeing how long I can get away without having to shave my head. I have really thick hair.
As for the bone mets he said they are hard to track as even once they heal there is still something that will come up on CT scan.
That is a big improvement because at the start of this I thought they were writing me off. The cancer came on so quick.
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Roberta,
Stable plus shrinkage is very good news! My heart is warmed by the sentiments of my metsisters and in particular, Glenna's message. Thanks for sharing that, Glenna.
Brenda
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Cathy......great news for you! Another drug of great hope for treatment success. Thanks to all for the "yays" on my CA 27/29 number report. You know, I can understand some baseball players feelings when they are out there "slugging it out" and no real obvious success. Then one day..Wow...it is starting to work out...then where do you go?...back to the dugout for a real "Shout Out" to the team. Thanks for being here Team! Peg
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Great news to all of u.so excite
How is everyone what r u all doing this weekend, me going to football games, so excited to b outside with people n the family
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Hi all - I just want to say hi to everyone on this board. It's been on my 'favorites' for almost 2 yrs. now, as I was dx'd with mets to lungs and bones in Oct. of 2012. And yet, I've been too scared to read this particular board. The main reason my mets were discovered was due to a dry cough, that probably started around March of 2012, and shortness of breath, over a period of months. My shortness of breath really showed itself when I was talking a lot on the phone, or laughing. It would catch me then.
I have asthma, and bad allergies, and I really, truly thought that was it. It never entered my mind that it could be mets. I was 12.5 yrs. out from my first dx. I had just begun thinking I was 'safe.' It was only at my dh's urging that I finally went to a pulmonologist (mostly to prove him wrong - I knew he suspected cancer). I had a tumor over 2 centimeters, and bunch of other nodules on CT. A bronchoscopy later that same day confirmed breast cancer cells in my lungs. A PET scan the very next day showed the mets in my lungs, and also in my bones. I only found out recently, that they saw more bone mets than they initially reported on. So, it's basically in my entire spine, my sacrum, the neck of the femur and pelvis/iliac. I started Xeloda just a couple of weeks later (and am still on it), and experienced a pretty rapid improvement in my breathing and cough. After a few weeks on it, my shortness of breath completely disappeared as did the cough. Completely gone. I am very lucky to say, I've been holding steady ever since, and also am able to do all I was before. Sometimes, if I am congested, I have a wheeze that seems to emanate right from the area of the largest tumor. It freaks me out...as I had horrific asthma as a child and suffered greatly due to medical neglect (looooong story). So the sound of any kind of wheezing at all, pushes ALL of my fear buttons. When this wheeze happens to me occasionally, it's a reminder that the cancer is there, daring the air to get around that particular spot.
So- due to this childhood experience I had, which lasted for years, I am very frightened at even the THOUGHT of not being able to breathe properly, and all that will probably occur as this progresses. I feel like I need to start preparing myself mentally for this.
Does everyone with lung mets eventually have a pleural effusion? Or multiple? I'm so afraid of this, obviously. I think I could handle almost anything else, but this possibility scares me so much.
Thanks,
LL
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LizLemon,
Our stories are so similar. I also wasn't at all thinking about cancer as a reason for my cough. I had the cough for months before I found out I had mets due to the distortion in my vision because of my eye tumor. I had a 4cm tumor in my right lung plus "satellites" but a lot of my coughing may have been due to the enlarged lymph nodes I had down the center and sides of my chest.
Since about a month after I was diagnosed, I hardly cough at all. I wouldn't say I'm 100% normal. Like you, sometimes I notice a slight wheezing, but for me, it seems pretty random. I used to have terrible seasonal allergies but for some reason have not had any problems since I was diagnosed.
I don't believe everyone ends up with pleural effusion. My last scan showed that the 4cm tumor was down to 3cms and the lymph nodes are all normal. I have my next scan on 10/13. I also see a Chinese medicine doctor who told me that lung health is strongly connected to colon health. I do an herbal enema every other day which I think has really helped my breathing.
You sound like you're in a relatively good place with your breathing. Try not to worry too much about the what-ifs. None of us know where any of this is going.
Hugs, Susan
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Hi Liz, Last November, some 8 yrs after my first bc diagnosis, I just didn't feel like myself..some rib pain, tired..very tired. I was seen at a local hospital..listened to my chest and dx an infection. Husband had me moved to one of the university hospitals where xray showed a pleural effusion. A subsequent procedure drained 1.5 liters of fluid that showed adenocarcinoma and pleural nodes ER+ and Her2neu positive. I was too tired to even connect it all (I am an NP) and when the young surgeon said that he was going to do a VATS procedure (basically an endoscopic procedure to evaluate the pleura) and then when all was satisfactory to reposition the lung with surgical talc to diminish the possibility of a future pleural effusion I felt that it was the right solution.....and it was.
Enough about my adventure, Liz, Your journey into this MBC arena although somewhat similar is unique to you. However there are some things for you that are very positive findings.....you had a long space of time between your first diagnosis and the second diagnosis. Your current diagnosis re ca cells that are estrogen positive..may indicate good candidates for hormone therapy....Are you Her2neu positive also? Such cells are possible candidates for one of the target drugs such as Herceptin etc. Liz there are strong choices that you and your oncologist can discuss for a good outcome. My ca 27/29 started out in Jan. 2014 in the 70s...treatment has been Herceptin and Faslodex..now all is quiet and CA 27/29 is 45. I am so sorry that you have experienced such respiratory distress in the past..very scary but there are meds now to address such breathing problems very effectively. You have my prayers for a good treatment plan that will bring a good outcome. Hugs, Peg
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