Having rib pain

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Luvmydobies
Luvmydobies Member Posts: 766
edited June 2014 in Not Diagnosed With a Recurrence or Metastases but Concerned
Having rib pain
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  • Luvmydobies
    Luvmydobies Member Posts: 766
    edited May 2014

    Hi ladies, I have been having some rib pain. It's not a constant pain or excruciating, but that doesn't seem to matter when it comes to mets. It all started about five weeks ago when I caught a head and chest cold. I started coughing and the pain started about a week after the cough started. So I went to my PCP and she thought the pain was from the cough. She listened to my lungs for a long time and said they were clear and she didn't hear anything that sounded like pleurisy or pneumonia. She said there's cartilage that can tear from coughing which can cause inflammation. I also mentioned it to my Onc on May 5th when I went for my three month checkup and he didn't suspect bone or lung mets. He did a thorough exam and said I had no evidence of cancer. He said I could've possibly fractured a rib from coughing but wasn't concerned. Well I'm still coughing off and on. The pollen has been bad and so my asthma and stuff has been bugging me. Both my PCP and Onc think this is nothing to worry about but as some of you know they don't like doing scans, and the worry is always there! I want to trust and believe them but fear is overtaking. Also my husband is getting really agitated because I keep crying. He's like you don't have cancer, and you need to trust your doctors! Well it's been well over two weeks since the pain started and the two week rule scares me!!! He said just because you've had this for over two weeks doesn't automatically mean it's cancer. Hopefully he's right?Anyway, my question is should I push for any scans? Does anybody know if a simple X Ray would show anything suspicious? I see my PCP on Tuesday and I'll mention the pain to her again but in the mean time can any of you help ease my mind? I'm not asking for a diagnosis. I'm just trying not to panic. Thanks for reading!

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  • dlb823
    dlb823 Member Posts: 9,430
    edited May 2014

    Luvmydobies, have you had a CA27-29 (tumor markers) blood test since the rib pain started?  Unfortunately, I was dx'd with bone mets a few months ago, and some of my initial symptoms were somewhat like yours -- mostly the rib pain, but also a horrible sickness that other docs dx'd as bronchitis and/or a bad viral infection and/or rib inflammation that I just couldn't shake, which was totally unlike me.   I finally went to my onc, and even he initially said that nothing was going on except a bad viral infection.  But a significantly elevated CA27-29 and liver function tests showed otherwise and justified a CT scan. 

    To reassure you, I've seen many women here report similar symptoms and everything turned out to be absolutely normal, so please do not let my outcome worry you unnecessarily.  I'm just sharing it because, like you, I had more than one doc -- including my onc -- assure me that nothing was wrong, but it took a CA27-29 to divulge bone mets, that we've hopefully caught very early, which is another reason, I feel, to push for more testing if your instinct is telling you to do so.   And your husband is right -- pain lasting more than 2 weeks doesn't automatically mean something bad.  It just merits maybe some specific blood work your onc can do, to see if anything jumps out as being out of whack there, in which case some type of scan might be justified.

    Hope this helps without adding to your worry, but I thought what I've learned -- in spite of my personal outcome -- was worth passing along.   (((Hugs)))  Deanna

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  • proudtospin
    proudtospin Member Posts: 5,972
    edited May 2014

    I get a pain in my ribs, on the side that I had rads and surgery.  It comes and goes, I was checked for a broken bone but not.  Last onco visit, all clear.  I do have asthma and breathing issues and used to get pain on the side that my PCD (who is a pulmonary specialist) told me was common with asthma.

    Think it is a side effect of all the messing around that they did, not metastses

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  • Luvmydobies
    Luvmydobies Member Posts: 766
    edited May 2014

    OK now I'm really worried, but I appreciate your post Deanna. My husband did have the same cold I did a week before I got sick so I don't think the bronchitis is due to mets but it's the pain and still the occasional coughing that has me nervous. My cough is a productive and sometimes the stuff is a light yellow color and both docs said a lot of people have that when pollen is high. My asthma has been worse hopefully due to the pollen also. My husband just stopped coughing last week so I'm praying my lingering effects are due to asthma and allergies and hopefully it is just inflammation due to aggravation from coughing and not really resting. I'm not good at sitting still. I have an appointment with my PCP Tuesday and I'll ask her about the tumor marker test although my Onc said those aren't reliable but apparently it was in your case. Please pray for me. Thanks again.

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  • Luvmydobies
    Luvmydobies Member Posts: 766
    edited May 2014

    Thanks Proudtospin. I was posting at the same time as you. My cancer was also Triple Negative which scares me to death too. UGH! I didn't have rads, just chemo. It's crazy that my asthma never bothered me much until this year but we have been in NC for four years and my doctor told me that sometimes it takes three to four years for allergies to develop. We were in Texas before where it's much drier and there's not much pollen but a lot of dust. I hope it's just the pollen and higher humidity that's bugging the asthma and not lung mets or something. I read last night that rib pain can even be a sign of lung mets so of course that's weighing on me too! I need to stay off Google but I can't help myself. I just always think the worst after having cancer. Damn you cancer!!!

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  • dlb823
    dlb823 Member Posts: 9,430
    edited May 2014

    Luvmydobies, your onc is correct -- the CA27-29 is not always reliable, and many oncs don't use tumor markers routinely b'cuz they can cause unnecessary anxiety if there's just a slight rise, which usually means nothing.  In my case, it was always in the 10-12 range.  When I had that gut instinct that something else was going on beyond what the docs could see, it came back at 137 -- clearly something needing investigating.  So I'm just sayin' that sometimes it (or the ALT liver function test, which was also very elevated for me) can be an early indicator if anything serious is going on.  But you could easily have a very tiny rib fracture due to so much coughing (I had two sets of x-rays that didn't show one, but the CT Scan did), and the cough is probably due to something totally B9, like allergies. So please don't let my outcome worry you unnecessarily.  I just wanted to give you another way to go about asking for more testing -- the blood work in lieu of asking for scans when there's no indication for them.    Deanna

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