stage IV breast cancer (hormone receptive)

morehous

I visited my oncologist last may 2013 for a checkup for a reoccurance of breast cancer at the same site the tumor was removed in 2006.  I was cleared to go on a 4 month RV vacation with no sign of cancer.  When I returned from vacation,  two months later, (NOV 2013) I noticed some pain in my shoulder.  I went to a orthopedic MD thinking it was bursitis.  When the cortizone injection didn't work, he sent me for an MRI which revealed metastatic breast cancer in the shoulder.  I went back to my Oncologist and had a PET scan which showed the cancer was sprinkled throughout all the bones of my body.  Is it possible that all this cancer showed up in only 6 months?

blainejennifer

Sadly, the answer is yes, depending on your pathology. If you don't have diagnostic tumor markers, and/or your oncologist doesn't monitor tumor markers in the absence of symptoms, it's hard to tell what is going on with small, non-symptomatic metastases.

Come join us in the Stage 4 forum. There's a whole lot of information to be had, and reassurance that - even with this unsettling diagnosis -  life stays good.

What treatment are you going to pursue?