If you are not Stage IV but have questions, you may post here
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It's not common. Typically BC cells head for the bones, liver, lungs or brain. Liver and Bones seem most common. It's good your Dr is on top of this.
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Thank you for the response. I really appreciate it.
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Jennifer, I agree that it would be unusual for it to also be uterine.
Copper,. I was on a vaccine trail last year that has extended my life. Oncologists work 14 hours a day and can only do so much as far as keeping up with things. This is the site that I found that trail I was in; http://www.cancer.gov/clinicaltrials
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Thank you also to ma111. I appreciate that you guys are willing to answer our questions.
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Jennifersomewhere - perimenopause can cause the perpetual periods you describe. These days, there is a treatment where they can kill the lining of your uterus and voila! The bleeding will stop, forever. Not sure of your age but it's something you might want to discuss with your ob-gyn after the ultrasound.
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Thank you, Michelle! I am 40. I appreciate the information!
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Jennifer...
I had a Hydrothermal Ablation in 2008 for a big ass fibroid and a small polyp. They were causing perpetual bleeding. Rather than a D&C, I got the above. No more periods. I had some cramping right after but it went away in a day or two. It was awesome. Google it.0 -
Thanks SuperFoob. I am going to look that up right now!
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I have a request to make of our stage IV ladies. Some of the threads you start are so interesting and fun, such as how you chose your avatar name, TV shows you used to watch. I would love to join in but feel I can't because they are under the stage IV forum. So my request is, can such threads be posted in other forums for all to join in, or is the intent to keep things small within the group. Thanks!!
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My opinion is that sometimes the fun posts still are flavored by our reality. I certainly don't think one couldn't start the same sort of thread elsewhere.
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Thanks for your reply and perspective Chickadee.
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I do not have cancer so not sure if i should be posting on here, but my Mom does and honestly I feel like it may as well be me. I can't stop crying and worrying. It seems like we are always waiting for news and when we get it...It's never good. My mother has changed stages 3 times in just weeks and is now being tested to see if she is stage 4. So again we are all waiting. I never sleep during these times, so i can't even imagine what my Mom must be going through. My question is for those whose cancer had spread to other areas , were there signs? I can't stop thinking about every complaint my Mom has said in the last few years and relating it to certain body parts. If there are symptoms, could you tell me what we would be looking for? I wanted to ask the oncologist today, but with my Mom right there i did not want to sound negative.
On a good note, one of my great friends was a stage 4 almost 7 years ago and is doing great aside from dealing with a pre-existing conditioin (chrones disease) This gives me a lot of faith, i just think it is not knowing that makes it so scary.
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Hi 4ever4mom and you certainly can post here to ask your questions.
Sometime there are signs that the cancer has spread to other areas but more often than not there are no signs or symptoms. The best thing to do is wait for you mom to complete her diagnostic testing to get the answers. If you are speculating and I know you are as most of us do, you are only going to make yourself feel worse and right now your mom needs you to be calm and as strong as possible.
If you are in the docs office with your mom I'm sure she would not mind you voicing your questions to the doc. My own daughters were with me and asked questions my mind could not think of and I was very glad they were there to remind me of what was being said.
Love n hugs. Chrissy
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Did anyone start their Met journey with a local recurrence years post-Mx? My mastectomy w/Tram was in 2005 with Tamox. for 5 yrs. Now, I have a pea sized lump on the edge of recon. breast. Biopsy coming as soon as I can get a date. Curious about others which started this way....Thanks, Donna
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Hi Donna when I was dx'd stage IV I didn't have a local recurrence. Good luck with your biopsy and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it has not gone any further for you.
Love n hugs. Chrissy
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Woke up about 9 weeks ago with severe stiff neck and shooting pains into skull. Rhemy tried prednisone pack and then cortisone injections without success. Referred me to Ortho who tried a 2nd prednisone tx which was unsuccessful. The Ortho said he was mystified and said the prednisone should have worked. He sent me for mri of cervical spine and I'm waiting on results. I am a basket case thinking this may be skull mets. I'm still in pain, the neck is stiff and have intermittent shooting pains. Has anyone had these symptoms? Thanks.
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Hi Mimi and welcome to BCO and this thread.
I'm sorry I can't tell you much about skull mets but I do know there are a whole heap of other things that can cause severe neck problems. Good luck on your MRI and I really hope it points to something other than mets.
Please let us know what your results are.
Love n hugs. Chrissy
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Thank you, Chrissy, for the response. Trying to get educated as I navigate this situation.
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Thanks, Chrissy! I know I need to ignore the worry......but you know how it goes. This year I had finally gotten to the point where I never even thought about bc until it was time for my semi annual onc appt. I hope I'll be posting a good report soon. But, I don't want to worry hubby and family with my thoughts right now. So, it's wonderful to have found this board.
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P.S. Is there any way to get the threads to appear in order of most current first? Thx.
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Mimi, at the top of a thread there is a line that says Add to my Favourites. If you click on this that particular thread will always appear on the list in your favourites until you take it out again. Sorry I don't think I explained that well. When a new post added to that thread a number will appear next to your favourites in the menu.
Hope that helps if not let me know and I'll have another go at the explanation......lol. Other than adding to the list there is no way of getting latest first. The threads move so fast sometimes that it's hard to keep up and that is why we have the favourites list.
Love n hugs. Chrissy
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mimi, on the Active Topics menu, the topics with posts during the last 24 hours are listed with most recently posted to first.
Good luck with your tests.
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Hi all...it has been a while since I have posted but I have some questions that I need to bounce off of all of you.
I had originally posted here about some pain in my hips, femur and feet and have since seen my doctor, spent 5 weeks on vitamin D therapy (my level was an 11) and yet no relief. As a matter of fact, I can now add some lovely rib pain, dizziness and inability to feel sure on my feet to the list of fooishness from before. Now, my MO is waiting on insurance approval for a brain MRI as well as nuclear bone scan that will take place this week, after which she will discuss the results with me at my July 27th 3-mo. follow up.
To say the least, i am starting to get pretty terrified and being the type-A personality that I am, I just want straight forward answers at this point. Have any of you had these symptoms that I am describing and if so, could you please give me your imput on what your experience has been as far as necessary scans, diagnoses, tx, etc.? My diagnosis is listed in my signature with detail but basically, I am one blessed with TNBC stage IIb, grade III as of August 2011.
Thank you all so very much!
Blessings ~
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mnzeric..Hugs to you for going thru this. I know not all oncs treat the same way. The fact is you have symptoms of mets and are triple negative. So Im a little ticked that they waited to have scans done. Im not saying that you didnt need vit D but you should've been scanned in my opinion. I recently had issues with my onc who did have scans done but failed to read them. I only lost 10 days because I was in so much pain I didnt believe him when he said there was no cancer related reason for my pain. Mine ended up being mets. I did switch oncs. I had pain in my lower back, hips, pelvis, sacrum amd right thigh and thats where my bone marrow mets ended up being. I also am Type A and want it all laid out on a plate. I dont want any dancing around at all..just say it. I hope you dont have mets. One kind of good thing is that bone mets are more easily treated , but there can be alot of pain assoiciated with them. Please keep us updated. Hugs, Maz
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mmizerak while having extremely low vit D did you also have high calcium levels? Why I ask is that is a huge red light for bone mets and bears having urgent scans and results. It can also mean that there is a thyroid problem.
I'm happy to read that your onc has ordered the scans that are appropriate and will discuss the results on the 27th. That is only a few days away so please take a deep breath and try to not let your mind go racing too soon.
Yes extremely low Vit D will cause a multitude of problems but dizziness is not normally one of them.
Keeping my fingers crossed that it is all due to the lack of Vit D and nothing else.
Love n hugs. Chrissy
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Hi all, thanks for this very helpful thread.
I haven't read from the start, so I apologise if I'm asking a question that has already been asked.
In March this year I had a bone scan due to some paid I was having in my back. It came back negative. I still have the pain at times, so I'm assuming it is muscular.
In the past couple of weeks I've been getting some quite severe pain in my sternum/rib on the same side as my breast cancer. I'm due to see my onc again on 16th August.
My question is around the speed of bone mets developing. If I had a clear scan 4 months ago, is there any possibility this may be something to worry about?
Julie.
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mmizerak, there is such a thing as "coasting" after completing chemo - chemotherapy-induced neuropathy can cause many of the symptoms you are having. The chemo regimen you were on can do this. I had neuropathy so bad that we discontinued the taxotere after 3 cycles, it got a little better, then got much worse, and has had a fluctuating course since then. I have had severe rib pain and heavy, burning, aching pain in arms, ribs, chest. along with lots of other symptoms. I have NOT had dizziness, but many women have had this, along with balance difficulties, coordination difficulties, and motor difficulties, so it might be something worth considering along with the possiblility of mets. I found that I had such severe fatigue, that all the other symptoms were worse with more fatigue, and the symptoms made the fatigue worse. So my PCP started me on Ritalin last week and I am having miraculous results. This has taken over a year and a half to try this drug, but all others failed, had severe SEs, etc. This was a "last-ditch" effort (we also checked for anemia, thyroid problems, kidney, cardiac, etc etc etc problems, as well as mets - scans pending for next week). I will be hoping things improve for you soon - just keep asking for help. I also see a palliative care specialist as my PCP, and that is VERY helpful!
I think I am as anxious as Julie about the speed of mets developing, but am keeping a very positive attitude right now. Have PET/CT next Tuesday, results next Thursday. It looks like a long week ahead of me, but I have lots to do, most of it fun!
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Hi ladies
I never come to stage 4 but am in a panic tonight and I know many of you from other threads. I am 4 1/2 years out and have just been given green light from my ONC he stated at 4 years with the dx I had I should be OK (of course we know there are no guaruntees) I was just back from vacation today and found a lump in my right armpit on the cancer side. It is a bit bigger than a pea and it popped up overnight. I had treatment 4 years ago with double mast and TCH.
How many of your mets dx came with a swollen lymph node under the arm?
I hope I posted in the right area-
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Ok.. this may seem a really strange question and not one person on my healthcare team has mentioned mets (except at the very beginning and I got the all clear)... but does cancer in nodes define mets? Never worried me until now, but saw a post from someone mentioning mets and their nodes? I'm confused more than anything. Thanks for any advice.
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mmm5 having a lymph node pop up over night would tell me that more than likely you have some type of infection rather than a met. Take a deep breath and just see how it goes over the next few days and if there is no change make an appointment with your GP and get it checked out. Good luck!
Tazzy mets in the node denotes micromets and is not classified as stage IV but does help classify other stages. Stage IV is classified as mets in a distant location ie bones, liver, lungs, brain. Hope this helps.
Love n hugs to you both. Chrissy
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