If you are not Stage IV but have questions, you may post here
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I had to initially take taxon but it was dropped due to side effects. Normally, it will be dropped after 6 to 8 cycles anyway after scans to check if Mets are stable, shrinking or gone. I am just on Herceptin and Perjeta now.
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I had to initially take taxol but it was dropped due to side effects. Normally, it will be dropped after 6 to 8 cycles anyway after scans to check if Mets are stable, shrinking or gone. I am just on Herceptin and Perjeta now.
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Liz, you can most definitely hope for NED! It is the aim for all. Just because the treatments are gentler doesn't mean they don't do the job.......I have a close friend who lives not far from me; she was dx stage IV about six months ago. She had a large abdominal tumor and bone mets......her lastest scans have come back as no evidence of bone mets and the tumor has shrunk to half it's size. Her treatment has been Faslodex and Aromasin. She has been living her normal life and is as busy as ever with her six daughters the youngest which is 12.
I can give you a list of people I know who have been where you are only months ago and are now either back at full time work or studying or jusy living life to the full..........there is always hope! As Stage IV we need to learn to live with cancer not die from it. ........it's amazing how the change in attitude really does help.
Just a thought, do you have in England a group called Canteen? Here it is a group for children of parents or siblings who have cancer and it helps the kids know that they are not alone.......they also do loads of fun things. If you do, it may help your daughter make some friends, do some activities and generally help her. Your Cancer Council should be able to give you information.
I'm glad our little chats are helping......Tuesday is getting closer.
Love n hugs. Chrissy
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Hi Chrissy,
Yes I need to hold on to the many treatment options that are available and if I am Her 2 again then my past history suggests that these drugs do work. Thanks for the note about gentler chemo. I am making some false assumptions here and jumping the gun before I have the whole picture! My breast care nurse says it's because I am a teacher and I love to plan.
I have been given lots of great advice on this forum and being off work now means that I have the time to look into various options. The clinic in Manchester has excellent facilities but I very much doubt it as a treatment option because of cost. However I may well use its second opinion service.
The cancer charities are one avenue of support and will be able to help me navigate financial matters. Macmillan offer grants and as yet I'm not sure what benefits I may be entitled to.
The story of your dear friend is uplifting and I do hope she continues to do well. 6 daughters- goodness me, she must be one busy mum!
My family and I have a holiday booked in August, in England so no foreign travel. I live in hope that we can go. It is a company called Center Parcs. They have a number of holiday villages set in acres of woodland and we love the whole family friendly set up.
I am frightened about getting my results tomorrow because I think I will swing back down again. When I think about walking in that room I feel running in the opposite direction. I know my husband is hoping for a surgical option but we have been told it is unlikely. For me, the location of this mass is adding to my fear, but as you said treatment does work for many. I have only come across one other person who I believe had this kind of mets, but again I may be confused? I had one positive intra mammary node in 2011 and so it appears that the route has been through lymph nodes into the chest area. All very scary.
Thank you Chrissy for holding my hand through this.
Love Liz
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Liz, it's all about just taking things one day at a time.......don't worry about yesterday, you can't change it, it's done and gone and of course tomorrow never comes because when you wake it is already today.........just today is what we work on.
I fully understand the need for irgamization and preparation, I have a tendancy to be the same.....lol. yes, the having to know options, treatments, outcomes, possibilities etc, etc, etc. The list goes on and on and eventually we can drive ourselves crazy. I've learned to let it go and let the universe take care of it (and it usually does) which makes my life so much better.
Keeping everything crossed that tomorrows results are not nearly as bad as you are thinking.
Love n hugs. Chrissy
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Hi Chrissy
Tomorrow looms. Trying to hold it together, just very scared to the point of feeling like I cannot walk in that room. Richard will be with him. I pray for some positives and for the strength to face this all again. I may be 46 but o feel like a child.
Lucy came in from school and we had a cuddle, she is 14 but still needs her mum.
Hugs to you x
Liz x
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Deep breath Liz, you can do this.........it's not bad news until you hear it, until then it's just conjecture. Hold tight to your hubbys' hand and draw strength from him.
Daughter cuddles a the best.
Thinking of you. Love n hugs. Chrissy
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Chrissy you are amazing, thank you for reaching out to us who are not Stage IV and have questions. You are definitely an inspiration. So I had my regular MO appointment on Wed. She is still wanting to run more tests, MRI of brain, and biopsy spine spots. She has me on arimidex and I have not taken for 30 days and now she wants to change to something else? Why not let me try this, it has shrunk the neck nodule. She also stated my bloodwork showed High cancer markers, my response, kind of a smart ass. "Of course they are high you havent done any treatment"
Cant wait to change to new MO
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Hi Goincrzy, am I understanding you correctly, your MO put you on Arimadex which you haven't taken for thirty days. Question......why haven't you taken it? And why does she feel the need to change it?
It can take a good three months to find if a med is really effective........it sounds to me that the Arimadex was doing what it should by shrinking your node. Markers can take a while longer to move in a downward direction due to the fact that they are influenced by other things in our bodies.
It's not unheard of to have a break from treatment but not in the early part, only after things have been stable for sometime.
When do you see the new MO? Hopefully soon.
Love n hugs. Chrissy
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Chrissy what I meant was I have not been on the Hormone Therapy for 30 days. She prescribed on Feb 9 I started on Feb 10. I have no clue why she wants to change it, she didnt even ask if I had any SE's. So she is moving on to another drug that I have just started on with no issues.I have to have kidney removal at end of month, so in April I wiill change my PCP and Medical Group and see new MO.
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Goincrzy, did she specifically tell you to stop? Maybe she thinks that it coukd interfere with your up coming surgery but I have never heard that it has before. I was on Femara when I had a full hysterectomy last year with no probs at all.
Arimadex, Femara and Aromasin are all AI's and work much the same way and usually to swap one for another is only done when there has been further spread or side effects are totally debilatating. I think I would be making a phone call and asking these questions and if she doesn't have a reasonable explanation I would just take them until I saw the new MO.
Love n hugs. Chrissy
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Im a 31 year old and has just been diagnosed with stage iiia breast cancer which has travelled to the lymph nodes. I did a PET CT scan but the results was received 2 days after which i have already started my chemo (TAC× 6 cycle)...from the PET CT scan it appears that the cancer has reach my liver and described as metabolicaly active wide spread liver metastases. Thus changing it to be a stage IV ..What are my chances?
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Im a 31 year old and has just been diagnosed with stage iiia breast cancer which has travelled to the lymph nodes. I did a PET CT scan but the results was received 2 days after which i have already started my chemo (TAC× 6 cycle)...from the PET CT scan it appears that the cancer has reach my liver and described as metabolicaly active wide spread liver metastases. Thus changing it to be a stage IV ..What are my chances?
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Hi
Liz here, my results have been delayed and won't be ready now until Wed!
My husband has an important audit at work on Wed too. All this is just too cruel.
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Oh no Liz! What a terrible blow for you to have to wait another day when you are already climbing the walls. Do you have a friend or family member that can go with you for moral support?
Sending special ((((((hugs))))) as I know you need as many as you can get. Chrissy
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Chrissy,
My mum is on her way round. Trying to take it in baby steps x
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Maybe I have detected a miscommunication about the Arimidex, Goincrzy8 and Chrissy. Maybe G meant she had indeed been taking the Arimidex, but had only taken it for 20-something days before her doctor proposed a change. Not that she failed to take it at all. Is that right, G?
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Liz, I'm glad your Mum is coming around as she will definitely give you the support you need right now.
Love n hugs. Chrissy
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Shetland regardless if that was the case, my point was that twenty days is not near enough time to see if the Arimadex was doing the job but I see your point. Thanks for the input.
Love n hugs. Chrissy
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I agree with you that a month is not enough time to tell. I'm curious to know the onc's reason for changing the drug.
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Me too.
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Shetland yes you are correct. I started on Feb 10and I have been taking daily and my appointment and with her was March 8th. I see no reason to change yet. So not sure why she wants to try something else. Another reason to move to the new MO
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What is the new drug? Perhaps she wants to use letrozole so she can add Ibrance (insurance likes standard combinations), or aromasin so she can add afinitor? Or she thinks you need a very quick-acting treatment? Just conjecture.
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Shetland, she mentioned Ibrance, she asked what my copay was with Arimidex, it is 0, she said Ibrance would be a lot more copay. Why after one month would she want me to change.? Can you take arimidex with ibrance?
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Yes, I believe we have a few women here on Ibrance with Arimidex, but most are on Ibrance with Femara/letrozole. These two aromatase inhibitors are very similar, so if your onc is swapping Arimidex for letrozole, that is not much of a change. The reason could be that an insurance company is less likely to balk at the standard combination of Ibrance + letrozole. That is the combo that was tested in the trials that led to the approval of Ibrance. (Ibrance is now also paired with Faslodex, but most of the time first-line treatment is with letrozole.) The idea behind adding Ibrance to the anti-estrogen therapy -- letrozole, Arimidex, or Faslodex -- is that it can roughly double the time before progression and the need for a new treatment. So if that is the plan for you, your onc is not changing treatment so much as giving you something additional. I think she should explain things better and not leave you to wonder and worry!
Look on the Ibrance thread for discussions of cost. Don't panic -- There are ways to make it affordable.
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I have several new sclerotic lesions in spine and pelvis. I was originally told they are too small to biopsy but my oncologist talked a radiologist into doing a biopsy. I am having it done tomorrow on my pelvis and I just wanted to ask if they sedate you. How did you feel afterwards. I move patients all day and wanted to know if I would be sore or in pain and for how long. Thanks in advance.
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I had the biopsy and it wasnt bad. Now I just stress on whether they got a good sample and whether it is mets. I just started researching what else it could be. Cant come up with anything. Thanks for letting me vent.
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Hello. I was diagnosed in October, surgery in November diagnosed me Stage 1 Grade 2 and 0/5 nodes. Been on Tamoxifen since December.
Yesterday I was blindsided with the possibility of skin mets. We did a biopsy and I will get results in 3-5 days.
My question is this: can it really progress that fast from Stage 1 to Stage 4? Or is it possible that I had mets all along? Nov - now is only 4 months.
I am not denying the possibility of recurrence, but I thought since my cancer was the slow growing kind and we caught it early it wouldn't happen this fast. Thoughts?0 -
So sorry for your worry. This kind of situation scares me so much. How did they suspect skin mets? Was your surgical pathology clear?
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Does an abdominal u/s show mets or is it only through CT/Pet scans.
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