Liver Mets - need encouragement

There is a lot of information on liver mets on the Stage IV forum. A lot of encouraging information from women who have been dealing with them for years. Good luck.

I am SOOOO sorry you had to cross over to mets world. I am 37. I was 36 when dx last year. It was less than three months after radiation when I crossed over. I too was stage IIB. I am triple negaive...WHICH IS REALLY SCARY. I got my dx in May 2010. Mine was mediastinal node. Left mammary node and LIVER. I too was devastated. As far as the liver symptoms. I NEVER HAD ANY. Atleast none that I knew about. I do know since you are hormone positive then you have a lot more options. I too had both breast removed TRYING to keep it away. Well it did NOT WORK. How did u find out u had liver mets? I do know there is one lady who comes on here from time to time and she has been like 17 years with liver mets. I am here if you need to talk. PM me anytime. I hope someone else comes along to help both of us with this.

Oh yea I do want to tell you that the regimen that I started after the mets was Carboplatin/Avastin/Taxotere. After three treatments we scanned and there was markable shrinkage. So they say it is responding to the chemo. I no longer take the Avastin. Long story....I ended up with blood clots in both lungs. So they pulled that one from my regimen. I go for #6 treatment in a couple of weeks. Then we SCAN AGAIN.....

Hang in there.....REMEMBER YOU ARE NOT ALONE....AGAIN PM ME.....

Lots Of Love....and May God Bless Us All

Diane

So sorry you are joining us...and so young too...it isn't fair.

As Robin says, there's tons of info on the stage iv board, so make sure you check it out.  There is so much room to be hopeful, don't do too much googling.  The stats you read about prognosis are old.  I was diagnosed with 14 liver mets (plus a bunch of lung and bone mets) nearly a year ago and I am doing great.  Just finished climbing to the top of Mt. Adams with a bunch of other women cancer survivors.  There are loads of women who are living YEARS with good quality of life.

As my husband reminds me (quoting Churchill), "Never, never, never give up."  There are many treatments available and tons of support on these boards.

Hugs, NancyH

I too was diagnosed with Stage II and shortly thereafter found out through scan that I had liver mets too.  Had 4 treatments of Adriamycin &Cytoxan followed by Taxol and Herception (am HER +).  First scan showed liver mets(2) to be 1.3 X 1.7 cm and 1.1 x 1.0.  Second scan they had shrunk in size to 1.2 x 1.5 and 0.5 x 0.5.  Third scan is due this Friday.  I finished chemo today, but will continue with Herceptin for a year.  Besides actual size pay attention to the FDG activity which I believe measures density.  In mine it had decreased by about 50% in the second scan which was really good news.  I have pain, but nothing terribly bad, where the masses are, occasionally.  Actually had significant pain prior to the BC diagnosis. Aleve helps. God Bless, my dear.   

The waiting IS the worst part. Hope you find out your plan of action very soon. Take care... Paula

Stitchyphis, I am very sorry to hear about this new development especially at your age.  I too was just recently diagnosed with liver mets...5 identical small looking spots, and my oncologist said he was 80% sure they were cancer.  I am scheduled for a liver biopsy tomorrow. I had a lump removed from under my arm July 30, and since then my tumor markers have doubled and my liver enzymes, which were normal, have doubled and are now out of normal range.

I was never tested for BRCA, but there certainly appear to be a large number of women in my family from past generations who had breast cancer. 

It's scary.  I'd like to more know about the protocols they are using in your Dana Farber study. 

Hope everything goes great and that you are NED in no time!!!

Bo 

Hi there---I am 6 yr breast cancer survivor...athlete, in shape. last friday, it felt like a pulled muscle on my right side lower ribs..so to get ultrasound and they say they see spots..now I am going thru bone scan, heart. lung. brain before i see oncologist on Tuesday.  I feel fine, thats the worst part of all of this.

I lay awake at night thinking of everything bad...i feel so helpless. I have two kids 12 and 16...and I am so scared.  I dont care about the chemo or the drugs just that it isnt a death sentence.  You sound a lot like me...that once you knew, you were ok.  Did you feel the way I did for thee days leading up to the oncologist's office?  I cant sleep, I imagine the worst, as opposed to the best.

Any advice? Thanks so much!

sportsmom

Stichyphish, I wonder if your oncologist is talking abou PARP inhibitors.  There have been good results from clinical trials with women with the BRCA1 & 2 mutations. 

Curious how you are doing..i was diagnosed around same time as you with liver mets..put me on just avastin/taxol...had cat scan just after 6 rounds and one tumor grew a tiny bit and one shrunk.  he is adding carboplatin.....have you had any experience with them? 

I haven't diagnosed with liver mets..But i felt so tired too and sick all the time like nauseous feeling and dizzy..I have been feeling pain under my right ribs for awhile but haven't yet do any scan or MRI except ultra sound..Am so scared now about this..I really wanna know too, what did you all have test to find the liver met?..And how does the biopsy procedure done?..I would appreciate any info..

hydeskate..how does the biopsy procedure done?..Was it painful?..and after the diagnosis, what treatment did they do for the Liver Mets?..Now i am so scared..Don't know what to expect..Am always sick and tired feeling nauseous and dizzy..Did you have any symptoms like this before the liver mets diagnosis?..What is that port in you said? Is that invasive that they have to have surgery kind type?..Sorry for asking so many questions, i just need so much info for me to be ready and face this terrible journey..I am so depressed and need some support..Help me get through with this..God bles us all!..

linfer7358-Sympton wise I had a pain in my side, felt like a muscle spasm,  The biopsy did hurt but not for long becasue they gave me some pain medicine that knocked me out shortly after so they could put in a  Power Port (so you don't have to get poked every time you go for treatment) .The port is to for the chemo the two where done together to save time becasue I was Stage IV by the time they realized it wasn't a hemotoma that was in April 2008. It was a day surgery, I went in at 8 am out by noon. 

I had a Round of Abraxane, then Adriamycin, Surgery, Radation, Abraxane, they planned on using the cyberknife on the liver but the last round of Abraxane wiped out all signs of cancer in my liver.  Currently I am NED (No Evidence of Disease0.

It is alot to take in and process, just take it one day at a time. 

Abraxane and Adriamycin are two different Chemos there are alot more types, what you get depends on your type, I am triple negative which responds well to Chemo.  No surgery on Liver the Chemo took care of it. 

Power Port: Local anethesia and pain medicine the pain medicine knocked me out

Chemo- April 08-dec 08 Feb 09 Surgery, July 09 Radiation August 09-Oct 09

Feeling good and enjoying my time off from Chemo.

stichyphish- I had chemo first Abraxane, finished that took Adriamycin, then surgery, radiation and another round of Abraxane at the highest possible level until I started get tingling.  I was lucky not to have any symptons so they where able to push the limits of the drugs.

The biggest spot in the liver was the size of dime, there where several other small spots about the size of an eraser head.  The smaller ones disappeared after the first round of Abraxane, the big one didn't disappear until after the 2nd round of Abraxane.  I also had spots in my lungs, the doctors where shocked that the liver was clear they had planned to use the cyberknife on the dime spot. 

It was funny the doc had the chessiest grin when she came in to tell me that I was NED and done with chemo for now.

I get checked every 3 months, this past October I had a CT Scan, but my onc had just read an article and decided to have another PET Scan, and I ended up getting a chest x-ray due to some pain but all three came up clean.  I go back the first of Feb for a Chest x-ray, I rotate between Chest X-Ray and CT Sscan every 3 months.  Anytime I have any problems I just email her and she decides whether or not I need to be seen and she will work me into her schedule. 

I already know what my next treatment will be the PARP inhibitor when my cancer decides to come back to play.