Daughter Worried by Mom’s latest BC XRay followup

ANSMommy

Hi everyone!

My mom is well into her third year (Dec 2016 dx) after being diagnosed with stage IIB breast cancer at 65 and post menopause (two tumors, one node involvement, OncType low risk). Her treatment consisted of a mastectomy, radiation and now daily Arimidex. She’s unfortunately been down a road of reconstruction hell that would take too long to explain right now.

Anyway, she is already prone to osteoporosis due to genetics and was showing several signs before the cancer treatment. Her bone scans point to this and her internist mentioned the Arimidex hastens it.

Anyway today, she had her six month bloodwork which we are waiting on but her Chest X Ray results were posted with this:

'There is a new compression fracture of likely the T9 vertebral body with loss of approximately 40% height anteriorly. Given patient's history of malignancy, this may be further evaluated with MRI of the thoracic spine as well as a bone scan to evaluate for possiblE metastasis.'

She hasn’t had any new pain.she did wrench her back months ago playing tennis. But again no new aches and pains. She sees her oncologist Wednesday but I’m thinking terrible thoughts. She’s more calm than I.

Anyone with a familiar experience?

pure0323

Hi ANSMommy- I’m nine years out and just went through my own scare. While I haven’t dealt with the osteoporosis, I have had an MRI and it will give a much better picture of what’s going on. I know more knowledgeable ladies will come along soon and give some good advice. My only advice is follow your moms lead. If she is staying calm, try your best to stay calm. I think waiting is absolutely one of the hardest things we go through. I had a very stressful couple of weeks and it took its toll on my mind. Don’t go down the rabbit hole of fear...it’s a bad place. Try to stay busy and take of yourself. I wish the best for your mom.

KBeee

Keep us posted. Hoping it is osteoporosis and not cancer related.