Now brain mets
I’ve been gone a while… after 12 years my er+ pr+ her2- cancer showed up in my brain. I had been getting more unsteady, but figured I really needed to work on muscle strength since I’m getting older (63). Qi was having headaches which I repeatedly complained about to my primary care - nothing was helping. But then I started having weird areas in my vision. I happened to have an appointment with my glaucoma specialist coming up so mentioned it to her. She had me do another visual field test, said it wasn’t my eyes, it was my brain and ordered an mri. When the results showed a 4.7cm tumor, she called me and said to go to the er that day. They admitted me and did a craniotomy and tumor resection. She even gave me her cell # to keep in touch. It was supposed to be a meningioma… but it was breast cancer, now er+, pr- her2-, which he feels is more aggressive. TOTALLY knocked me off my feet. A follow up mri shows pieces of tumor left behind, so the rad onc is hitting it hard with gamma knife. She’s pretty positive, from her perspective anyway. However my med onc is a little more sobering. He says he’s not god, so won’t give me a prognosis, but I can tell he’s not feeling optimistic. He’s going to have me start anastrazole and Verzenio when I’m done with rads. They’ve done a ct scan which didn’t show anything else in my body’s as of now, but he kinda made it sound like he expects more to show up in my brain for sure. I felt so great after talking to the rad onc, but now so defeated after talking with him (he has a great reputation, is supposed to be crazy smart, great bedside manner etc) , so I’m afraid he’s being too realistic.
had anyone had my situation with this type of cancer and treatment? Am I being unrealistic to think I have much time?
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@sophiamarie , I too was floored when after 9 years mets were found in my lungs liver and brain. Started on Verzenio, Letrazole, which worked for about a year. Had SRS on a brain met that was growing (piece of cake). Switched to Xeloda Faslodex and Zometa. It’s been 2 ½ years since dx and I’m doing well. Living a normal life. So hang in there and take it one day at a time.
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Hi @sophiamarie,
We are so very sorry to hear that you've received this difficult news. But as you can already see from @AJ's post, our community is full of amazing members who have faced this challenge and are living full, happy lives after some treatment. We know it can be hard to not think of the worst-case scenario, but try to have some hope and get some inspiration from others here. We encourage you to join and read up on the Brain Mets thread so our members there can welcome you with open arms.
Here's some info on anastrozole and Verzenio to help you know what to expect with these medications.
Also, we invite you to join us on our free, weekly virtual support groups where you can talk face-to-face with others experiencing metastatic breast cancer and get encouragement and support — @AJ can vouch for how helpful they are!
We're all here for you and sending gentle hugs!
—The Mods
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sophiamarie, I'm so sorry to hear of your mets. But I wanted to tell you that after 6 months on Verzenio (100) my cancer in my lymph was "eradicated"! To me, it's an amazing med. I'm wishing you the best of outcomes.
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