undetermined lesions on lumbar spine

sonslovehockey

i was diagnosed with stage 2 grade 2 invasive breast cancer a year ago almost to the day. I had a double mastectomy in Sept 2014. I am on hormone therapy as it was estrogen positive. I had a PET scan in December and all was good I started having severe back pain a month or so ago i went to the orthopedic and he ordered a MRI which showed some lesions on my lumbar spine. I just went to have a bone scan on there was uptake and 3 lesions one large was found on my lumbar spine. Now, they want to order a thin section CT since the lesions were undetermined. should i worry? i have not called my oncologist about this but the orthopedic thinks it could be cancer. should i wait until the CT scan or call the oncologist now?

sbelizabeth

Sonslovehockey, I'm so sorry you're going through this experience. Just my humble opinion, of course, but if I were in the situation you described, I would ask my orthopedic doc to call your oncologist and go over his findings and thoughts. And I'd make an appointment with the oncologist too. I would want him/her involved in the diagnosis and treatment of anything as early as possible.

Hoping for good news for you!

farmerlucy

I agree w sbelizabeth. So sorry for this angst. BC is the gift that keeps on giving. Crossing my fingers and toes that it is nothing serious. Let us know.

Lynnwood1960

I would definitely call your oncologist! You want your oncologist involved in trying to figure out what this is. If it is Cancer, they can be on it right away. I like the idea of having your orthopedic doctor consulting with your oncologist. Sorry that you have to go through this, will say a prayer for you that it is not Cancer.

dlb823

I would absolutely call the oncologist now. A thin section CT is a term I'm not familiar with, and I'm wondering if it's something new or something used more often for ortho diagnostics, rather than metastatic cancer. So getting your onc involved now seems prudent, to be sure you do the right scan for his needs and are not unnecessarily over scanned. Also he can do concurrent blood work to see if you have elevated tumor markers or anything else going on that might be concerning or add to the total picture.

On the positive side, I think whenever a doc or radiologist sees a past hx of bc, they are quick to jump to conclusions about things that show up on scans. So it could all be just a jump to an incorrect conclusion. But definitely call your onc and get him involved so that you get the right scanning or other tests. Hugs and good luck, Deanna