The universe has a sick sense of humor

bmpntherd

This past year has been rough on everyone with deferred dreams. I was diagnosed with breast cancer 5 years ago. 5 lymph node biopsies negative. I threw the book at it- mastectomy, chemotherapy, and I've been on tamoxifen ever since- rarely missing a dose. I've gotten my yearly mammograms and have seen my oncologist annually. In fact, was just cleared 3 weeks ago, breathed a sigh of relief and moved on.

On my birthday weekend, woke up with visual loss in my right eye and have since had 2 ophthalmology appointments - yes - retinal detachment from a lesion which I'm being told is most likely a met. Now for staging.

Of course, I'm lost. Would love any words of wisdom or experiences from you beautiful ladies!

Cure-ious

Bmpntherd- Arrgh!!! Very Not Fair!!!! Perhaps it IS a met, or perhaps something else, but what is wonderful is it clearly hasn't impacted your dry sense of humor!! If this is mets, try very very hard not to go down any dark rabbit holes of despair, many of us are years out and still on early lines of therapy with a fine quality of life, and view it as the job of Modern Medicine to keep those advances and breakthroughs rolling along.

moth

hi bmntherd, wow, that is crazy. You must be pretty stressed.

I have seen a few mentions of eye mets on the board but I don't think we have an active thread or anyone currently coping with eye met. Maybe you'll be our current resident expert?

Meanwhile welcome to the sucky club. Maybe come hang out in Mel's living room? https://community.breastcancer.org/forum/163/topic...

So do you have a flurry of appintments & scans now or? When do you meet with the team for a treatment plan?

Hugs

buttonsmachine

((Hugs)) I don't have eye mets, but I have mets nearby that affect my vision and also seemed to come out of nowhere. My MO ordered a brain MRI and then bam. Mets in the head are certainly scary. If you do have mets there is a good chance that you can knock them back with a treatment change and get to feeling better soon. It's nevertheless quite a shock though. Be kind to yourself right now. Best wishes.

jobur

Bmpntherd,

That is one shitty birthday gift. I don't have any experience to help you, but I do have a few words of wisdom that I hope will not sound cliché. We human animals have an amazing ability to adapt to whatever horrific situations we find ourselves in. You are stronger than you know and will find ways to deal with whatever is going on. Don't assume the worst unless and until you know for certain that is the case. One foot in front of the other, take things as they come, day by day. My favorite movie line of all times (from Out of Africa) is "The world was made round so we cannot see too far ahead."

Here is the link to the brain met sisters thread in case you need it going forward.

https://community.breastcancer.org/forum/8/topics/777599?page=236#top

And please stop back and let us know how you are doing. Your post was the first thing on my mind this morning. Sending you a dose of hope and a ginorrmous hug.

Jo

moth

jobur, i love that quote, thank you for sharing it!

GG27

I have bilateral eye mets which weren't discovered until a blood clot medication caused blurriness to my right eye. Opthomologist told me that they are seeing them more often because stage IV patients are living longer. I had no treatment for them other than aromatase inhibitors which took care of them. They still show up on my eye appts but optho says they are dead. They cause me no issues.

BevJen

Bmpntherd,

There is a woman in Chicago who was diagnosed within the last year of a very specific type of eye mets -- her screen name is ChiSandy. You might try checking with her also to find out the type, etc., and her treatment path.