Please talk me off the ledge - is it sciatica or mets?

Hi Yorkiemom!  Good to see you!  Thanks for answering!  I've had sciatica before, too.  Honestly, I've hurt myself in running/yoga - twice this year.  Once in my knee and once in my arm. It was frustrating, but not scary.  Took about 3-4 weeks for both issues to resolve.  So I know that I should be patient, but it's hard when it's lower back pain.  Plus, I'm worried that this will kick up something on the bone scan that will require further testing and that will continue to freak me out.  But thank you!

Yes, I don't think they would have scheduled scans for me, either.  I'm honestly wondering about the wisdom of having them done.  I really don't think it's mets, (but what if it is? I should really decorate the rabbit hole while I'm down here) and now I'm concerned the scans will pick up on all of this  activity that is no doubt taking place and then I will need more tests.  Arrgh.

lovetodance - thanks!   A herniated disc would definitely fit the symptoms.  

Nettie, so the doctors are just adopting a wait-and-see approach?  How long have you  had the pain?

Yorkiemom- I am so sorry to hear that you have so much pain!  (Pretty jealous that you are going to Turkey, though!)  Have you ever read "The Method of Health Through Motion," by Pete Egoscue?  Great book and an easy read.  Talks about our various physical dysfunctions and how to correct them.  Might help!

I totally had back pain after finishing rads.  Totally freaked me out.  I think it was from lying so still on the table for so long.  It went away after about 6 weeks or so.  I'm going to refer you to the book that I mentioned in my post to Yorkiemom- The Method of Health Through Motion by Pete Egoscue.  Cheap and an easy read and has really helped me every time I have had any sort of back/hip/neck/knee type issue.  

I'm doing the two super gentle "stretches" right now and definitely seeing results.  I put "stretches" in quotes because they are both flat on the floor with either one leg up on a chair (so that the knee is at a right angle) or both.  Just gets your hips and hip flexors to relax back into the right position.  My pelvis tends to tip up, which has gotten me into trouble in the past.  Anyway, the pain is definitely less today, so I am celebrating!

OK, I had my scans yesterday and my oncologist called me with the results.  She said some new stuff popped up - she said she honestly didn't think it was cancer, but since it couldn't be completely ruled out, she wanted to get a second opinion from another radiologist.  So that might take up to another week.  

The two things she saw were a small thing on my liver that could have just been the dye not taking.  She said it didn't look like cancer and she was not worried.  The other was a bit of uptake in my left tibia.  She also didn't think that was cancer, for a variety of reasons, one of which being the fact that she had never seen BC metastasize below the knees or elbows without being somewhere else first.  Basically, she said, "These results make me say, 'Shit, why did we do these tests?' because this just going to cause a lot of anxiety for nothing."    She asked me if I had injured myself and I told her about kicking the bag in kickboxing.  It's hard to believe something like that would cause increased uptake, but maybe.  I also walk into stuff all the time, so who knows.  She said that the scan said that it didn't look like cancer, but it couldn't be completely excluded, either.  Aargh.

*sigh*  Even though I'm not that worried - my back is feeling much better (the reason I posted in the first place!), I was really hoping for the "ALL CLEAR!"  

Thanks for the support.  Any insight or wisdom would be amazing!