If you are not Stage IV but have questions, you may post here

Citrinetiff

Hi,

I've started having pain in my lower back. It hurt more if I stood for too long, of if I sat too long (I know, weird right?). Last week my lower back starting killing me during the night. I would have to get up to pee, and I literally couldn't move I was in so much pain. I would have to use the headboard to help myself up. Taking a codeine pill (I have those for after effects of neuropathy from chemo last year) helps, but the pain is there again if I go back to bed and have to get up again. Is this something I should be worried about?

dlb823

Citrinetiff, if you haven't done anything strenuous that may have provoked the back pain -- gardening? rearranging furniture? -- AND if it's lasted a few weeks and you now have worsening pain at night, I would report it to your onc and see if he/she feels any followup is necessary. I wouldn't worry at this point, as it could be so many things. But with your history, I think checking in with your onc or PCP is entirely reasonable.

Good luck, and please let us know what you find out. Hopefully, it's not bc-related, but unexplained pain at night requiring codeine isn't normal and needs to be figured out.

Citrinetiff

Hi dlb,

Thank you for the quick response! I'm going to call my onc tomorrow and tell him about the pain.

The only thing I could have done to hurt myself is helping my sister last week. She has some mobility problems and I was helping her walk up some stairs. Maybe I pulled something? I won't take a chance and call my onc tomorrow.

Again, thank you, and I'll let you know what the doctor suggests

Sadiesservant

Hi Citrineriff,

I agree, talk to your docs but in the meantime, don't stress. I have chronic issues with lower back pain that got much worse a few years ago after I tried to move a piece of furniture that was too heavy for me. In the last few months I have had to start taking extra strength Tylenol before going to bed as by about 2:00 AM the pain was keeping me awake. I'm doing much better with the pain meds but by morning I can hardly straighten up. I walk like an old man! Another dose of pain meds, sometimes with a muscle relaxer, and I'm okay for the day.

Back pain is a huge problem for most of the population and has nothing to do with cancer. It's really a function of living longer and our sedentary lifestyles. If we worked on core strength all the time we would be much better off!

Citrinetiff

Hi Sadie,

I know the feeling! Sometimes by the end of the day I feel like an old man! I will try not to panic, and I'll call my doctor today for his opinion.

Txgatata

I posted last week when my Ct showed enlarged nodes in my lungs and they scheduled me for the biopsy which happened this past Friday (I say all of this because I changed my username since then). Because of the holiday, they don't expect the results until tomorrow. My question is, having gone through this twice before, I know you forget to ask so many things, so I wanted to have a list of questions ready for my doc. I saw the orders my MO put forth am doing they asked for ER, PR and Her status. What else should I ask besides the obvious? Do I need PET? Bone Scan?

chrissyb

Hi Txgatata, should the biopsy results say positive I would ask for a full work up just to find out if it is anywhere else. Your onc may suggest this without you asking. Other than the questions you have thought of, I cant think of any other.

Good luch with your results and please ket us know.

Love n hugs. Chrissy

Txgatata

Thanks, Chrissy!

I do hate waiting and the out of control feeling it brings. Think that's why I am trying to make lists and plan. Feels like it takes forever but then it all moves so fast when the news does come.

chrissyb

Txgatata, waiting is just the worst.........remember how it felt when we were kids waiting for Christmas? It seemed to take forever! When it arrived the day went so quick it was hard to believe it happened at all. Time has not made the waiting easier nor the anticlimax feel when what we are waiting for arrives........sigh, I guess that is where patience comes in. Hoping your news is very anti climactic and life can continue as per normal.

To do lists are always good for making time feel like it's passing a little more quickly.

Love n hugs. Chrissy

Txgatata

Results are back and it is bc mets. Don't have ER/PR/Her status yet so in a bit of limbo but talking to onc tomorrow. And after all of that talk of making lists, what do I forget? To ask for pathology report and of course it's after close. I guess I should postwhere elsewhere but is it possible to just have mets in the hilar nodes only? My hope would be then I could do the ibrance which many have said shrinks the nodes. Guess i am just wishful planning now

Lovinggrouches

Diagnosed last year in January. Had lumpectomy, reexcision, and rads with hysterectomy and taking tamoxifen. I felt a swollen lymph node in the fatty part off the side of my breast in November and had ultrasound. I was told it looked normal but they couldn't guarantee that nothing was there. I have watched it since then, it has felt larger this last month and started having edema to that side of my chest and found a tiny hard nodule. MO felt it and said it felt like it was on chest wall and not breast tissue, therefore it was nothing to worry about and he will see me in 3 months. I have since felt two more tiny hard bumps in the same general area. Pcp said to see what TO thinks, so called and got appointment with him for Monday. I only had 3 lymph nodes out with sentinel node biopsy. Is it possible to have swollen lymph nodes not be Mets?

Txgatata

I'm not an expert but I was told that swollen lymph nodes can be many things and that they can go up and down in the course of doing their jobs. So it could be infection or inflammation that they are fighting that is causing the swelling.

ShetlandPony

Txgatata, what did the doctor say? I don't know much about hilar nodes. I do know that an axillary lymph node metastasis near the affected breast is not the same as metastatic disease (a.k.a. stage iv) that has spread to lungs, liver, bone, etc. I am hoping a hilar node metastasis is considered a loco-regional recurrence rather than stage iv.

Txgatata

Thank you for asking!Unfortunately, the hilar nodes wrap around the bronchi in the lungs so it along with the other nodes there like mediastinal are considered distant mets so Stage 4. Still don't have markers or pathology back so still in the dark. They are getting me in for a PET scan early next week and I see my onco on wed. And away we go on the rollercoaster once again!

And when I say in the dark, I mean on the ER,PR and Her. It is definitely BC in the nodes

ShetlandPony

I'm sorry to hear that it is considered mets, Txgatata. Thank you for the explanation. Please join us on the stage iv forum, and let us know if you'd like help finding your way around.

EmmaW

Hi. I am looking to find anyone who has had a bi-lateral mastectomy for Stage I cancer and then was diagnosed later to Stage 4. Is there anyone whose cancer went that route (from stage 1 to 4)?

Thanks-

Goodie16

Hi Emma,

I was originally diagnosed as Stage 1. I only had a single mastectomy, though. My original tumor was small enough for lumpectomy, but I opted for mastectomy. No nodes involved. My right breast was healthy and it was not recommended I have a bilateral mastectomy. I had a solitary brain met show up about 9 months after my mastectomy. Chemo was not indicated for me at the time of my stage 1 diagnosis, as my onctoype score was only 9. My only treatment to date has been hormonals (tamoxifen and now arimidex), gammaknife radiation to tumor bed, and surgery. I am currently NED from my head to my toes.

Do you have specific questions I can help you with?

Nilelady2016

can someone help me plz.

I am 43 diagnosed in 2010 stage 3 and had mastectomy of right breast. Had chemo and rad and tamoxifen.

Since may 2017 i developed a dry cough had chest x ray where plueral effussion showed in rt lung diagnosed as pnemonia had treatment

Was fine but now its is 3 wks cough is back and today i have hoarsness voice. And shortness of breath

The polmunary dr insists i have nothing and my lungs are clear and it is only psychological

Anyone had z experience

Txgatata

I had a dry cough for several months and docs chalked it up to GERD and my blood pressure meds. I finally got a CT and that along with biopsy showed mets in lung lymph nodes however all docs still think cough is not related unless the nodes are somehow pushing on something. Have you talked to your oncologist? Perhaps a second opinion if it worrys you as CT scans are likely to show more than X-ray.

SusanaQ

Today I am a mess. I decided to go to my internist yesterday because of stomach pain likely caused by taking too much Advil. While there I mentioned a dry cough which doc said is likely allergies and she listened to my lungs and ordered a chest X-ray. She called last evening to say I have pneumonia. WTF?? I have no cough, no sputum, my lungs are clear, I have no fever, chills or elevated WBC's. I'm tired but I've been tired since I started the chemo last August. Of course it's now Friday nobody is returning my calls and I'm a basket case. Does this sound like unfolding of lung involvement?

chrissyb

Hi Susan, take a deep breath lovely and try not to over think things. It is possible to have pneumonia with out the common symptoms so please try not to go where you don't need to. Have a good weekend and call your doc on Monday so you can have a deeper discussion.

Love n hugs. Chrissy

SusanaQ

Dear Chrissy,

❤️❤️❤️ Just what I needed to read on this Friday eve. Thanks. Susan

Soxfan75

Hi ladies - I recently found a lump above my collar bone and went to my MO to have it checked out. She recommended a biopsy. My BS looked at the lump on an ultrasound and said he saw calcification. When I asked what it could be he said it was very likely metastatic breast cancer. He said it could also be metastatic thyroid cancer or lymphoma. I just finished chemo two weeks ago so I asked if it could be anything benign. He said it's possible that there was cancer in that spot the whole time and when the chemo killed it, the body's reaction is to wrap the dead cancer cells in scar tissue. That was the only benign scenario he gave me. I had a CT scan the same day as the biopsy and my RO could see it, so he went and looked at my CT scan from March, which was after my surgery but before my chemo. He said it was there at that time too. That leads me to believe that it's not dead cancer cells wrapped in scar tissue. The question is why didn't it light up on the MRI that I had done before chemo? If it showed up on the CT scan back then, why didn't they see it on the MRI? Someone told me that if I had a breast MRI done, then it wouldn't have scanned that area. It seems so odd that the lymph nodes by the collar bone wouldn't be included. Any insight is appreciated. I have to wait until Tuesday for the pathology results and it's driving me crazy. I've never been so scared.

Soxfan75

Joycek - I'm in Hampton, so not too far from you. I'm hoping for a benign scenario as well but I'm not optimistic, especially since the BS looked at it on ultrasound and said he thought it was metastasized bc. I just finished chemo two weeks ago and I can't for the life of me figure out how it could have survived, or at the very least, didn't shrink. I start rads on August 14th and my RO said that area will be included so he doesn't foresee any reason to not move forward with it. I hope your MRI results confirm that it's benign!

Citrinetiff

I posted a few weeks ago about lower back pain that was much worse at night and that the pain wakes me up. My doctor ordered a PET/bone scan, and I'm in the waiting room now waiting for them to call me to do the test. I'm a basket case. The pain has gotten worse, with a dull ache that is there almost all day. Please talk me down me. Can this be mets?

Trishyla

Citrinetiff,

Are you on an antihormonal like anastrozole or letrozole ? They can cause really bad lower back and hip pain. I'm on anastrozole and the pain in my back is horrendous. It's so bad I may have to switch to another AI.

Hope that this turns out to be something minor, and easily fixed.

Trish

Citrinetiff

Trish, no I'm not on any of those meds, but hopefully it's nothing. I should have the results by Tuesday or Wednesday so I'm in for a stressful few days

Trishyla

So sorry to hear that, Citrinetiff. Waiting for results is the hardest. Sending big hugs.

Trish

BellasMomToo

Citrinetif: I hope it turns out to be nothing. I would like to share my lower back pain story.... About 4 years ago I would have really painful lower back pain. It only occurred at night, when I was in bed. It would wake me up and was so painful I could barely get out of bed. Once I got out of bed and walked around the pain would subside. I never saw a Dr cause I didn't have a PCP at the time. I had this problem for about 3 months then it just went away -- haven't had that pain since. "The bridge" (lower back exercise) helped a lot.

Hopefully your pain turns out to be nothing too.

Lovinggrouches

I have had 2 mammograms and ultrasound of enlarged lymph node under my arm since completing rads. In November, they said it looked normal. Now it is slightly bigger and have tiny hard module below my collarbone. Both RO and MO said they are movable so nothing to worry about. Can't a lymph node have cancer in it and it be movable? I thought they only became immovable when the cancer spreads outside the nodes to the surrounding tissues? We're any of your nodes positive but movable?? Prayers to all for good test results!!