Stage 4 her2 postive mets to the bone, spine & lungs !

Sam76

Hello!

I have few questions!  we just find out this last September that my mother in law has a breast cancer stage 4  on her left side, it is big tumor 9x7, ER- PR - and HER2 postive . They were going to to shrink the tumor to remove the breast but they canceled the surgery as now it is mets to the bone, spine and lungs.  She is taking herceptin and Tykerb ( 4 times a day) but her body is not taking Tykerb very well, so they stop her for few days and put her back to 2 times a day but she has to slowley go back to 4 times a day for the treatment to work,  my mother in law is 68 yrs but look older as she hasn't been active for years because of her arthitis  and she had hip replacement last year ( they didn't do a good job on her hip replacement)!

My question is how long you think she has to live! she has no treatment plan beyound Febrary not sure why !  She doesn't have any major pain yet or at least nothing different then the pain she has with her arthitis!  is it normale to not have a pain even with her advanced cancer! she is taking some pain medicine.  She is just pale and coughing, she goes downstrais to watch TV all day and come to breakfast table to eat her meals !   I am the one who take care of my mother in law and I need help to understand what going on and what to expect !! please help !

Elizabeth1889

I am so sorry for all that you, your mother-in-law, and all of you are going through.  You have a very difficult road ahead of you.  There is much more information for you on the Stage IV and Metastatic Breast Cancer forum.  Sending hugs to you.