Pinched nerve or bone mets?

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  • Als920
    Als920 Member Posts: 89
    edited March 2015

    PET/CT scan was all clear, we were told nothing lit up!

    Her oncologist wants to do a follow up MRI in 4 months to make sure nothing new pops up.

    She has been referred back to the neuro center so that they can do a more thorough consultation and we can move forward with finding out what is really wrong. But as of now there are no oncologist appts scheduled

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  • Mommato3
    Mommato3 Member Posts: 633
    edited March 2015

    I've also been following this thread. I'm praying that you'll get good results today!!

    **Looks like we were typing at the same time. I'm so happy for both of you!!


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  • slv58
    slv58 Member Posts: 1,216
    edited March 2015

    CELEBRATION DANCE!!!!! I'm so happy and relieved for you. Big sigh of relief! Hugs everyone!!!

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  • soriya123
    soriya123 Member Posts: 662
    edited March 2015

    i am so happy!!! The best news ever!!! Now you n your wife get some rest and make sure you eat n eat. 😀😀😀

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  • Luvmydobies
    Luvmydobies Member Posts: 766
    edited March 2015

    WooHoo!!!!! Now go and celebrate!!!!

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  • Denise-G
    Denise-G Member Posts: 1,777
    edited March 2015

    Fabulous and amazing news!  Celebrating with your wife, you and all of us here!

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  • tangandchris
    tangandchris Member Posts: 1,855
    edited March 2015

    Good to hear :):)

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  • shoppygirl
    shoppygirl Member Posts: 694
    edited March 2015

    wonderful news! After everything you have been through, this is cause for celebration!!!

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  • YramAL
    YramAL Member Posts: 1,651
    edited March 2015

    Wonderful news! I've been lurking and following this thread as well.

    Celebrate and enjoy your little family!

    Mary

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  • Professor50
    Professor50 Member Posts: 220
    edited March 2015

    TREMENDOUS! Such a relief. Now enjoy those kids and each other. So so happy!

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  • Lucy55
    Lucy55 Member Posts: 3,044
    edited March 2015

    so very, very happy for you all 😃

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  • Als920
    Als920 Member Posts: 89
    edited March 2015

    Thank you everyone, we are so relieved. I was just downstairs getting some laundry and completely broke down. I had so much bottled up and it finally had to let out.


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  • shelleym1
    shelleym1 Member Posts: 298
    edited March 2015

    I came back just to check on this thread and see what was going on. I AM DANCING IN MY SEATTTTTTT! Now take a deep breath and do something fun!!!

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  • GoldenGirls
    GoldenGirls Member Posts: 608
    edited March 2015

    So very happy to read this! The best news!!

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  • LittleMelons
    LittleMelons Member Posts: 273
    edited March 2015

    Yay! Great news. Have a wonderful celebration with your DW and the kiddies. Happy

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  • Tomboy
    Tomboy Member Posts: 3,945
    edited March 2015

    i just got home from my all day CT scan, seemed like it took up the whole day anyway, and i had been thinking about you, and came here first to tell you that I had just been having really strong feelings that there was nothing wrong with your wife, and YIPPEE YI YO---KIYAY, UH-HUH!!!!! De nada!!! Good to hear, and go grab her and do that exquisite gleeful tango!

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  • RainDew
    RainDew Member Posts: 305
    edited March 2015

    hooray!! From another lurker touched by your story - so happy for you guys!!!

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  • new_direction
    new_direction Member Posts: 449
    edited March 2015

    I've been following this thread and felt for you, almost felt like my own waiting at time of diagnosis. Congratulations on the clear PET and hopes it will never be needed again :)

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  • Als920
    Als920 Member Posts: 89
    edited March 2015

    thank you, we hope so too. We don't have a conclusive non cancer diagnosis but with the clear pet/ct we are in watch and wait mode I guess. Her onco feels good about things. Repeat MRI in 4 months and she is going to have a consultation with a neuro surgeon to see what's going on.

    I guess if they are able to alleviate the pain and make progress then it probablyisn't cancer right?


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  • Luvmydobies
    Luvmydobies Member Posts: 766
    edited March 2015

    Als, I think you can be assured it's not Cancer since the scans were clear! Other things cause pain. It started after she lifted your daughter. So it sounds like she just did some damage by lifting wrong. Hang in there and keep us posted

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  • Als920
    Als920 Member Posts: 89
    edited March 2015

    we hope so but there is definitely something wrong in her neck. The MRI picked up a disc bulge as well as stenosis so we are just hoping for something that is not cancer related. The bone scan picked it up as activity , not necessarily cancer, and then the pet/ct we were told was clear. The MRI is the report that said concerning for metastasis but the following two scans were not able to confirm that. And, we can't do a biopsy because of the location on the spine


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  • LRM216
    LRM216 Member Posts: 2,115
    edited March 2015

    I can almost guarantee you that if your wife did not have any history of breast cancer, her initial MRI of neck that said "concerning for metastasis" would have just been stamped "negative."  Once you have a diagnose of BC any little thing found on xray, mri, ct, etc. will never just be deemed "nothing" until they have availed themselves of any and all further testing.  I think they are totally oblivious to what this puts us through, when, in fact, many times they are just "further testing" to cover their own butts, since we are "cancer patients." 

    Having said that, I am betting it's just degenerative changes in her neck (as are mine) a/k/a/ arthritis, spondyolythesis, spondyolitis and/or  a host of other non-cancer maladies.

    I am thrilled for you both with your test outcome!

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  • Als920
    Als920 Member Posts: 89
    edited March 2015

    LRM216-Thank you. My biggest sense of concern that still lingers is that we have seen the MRI results and what the radiologist had written. When I copy the text of what was written and google it all I get is cancer references and not the other possibilities that I hope for, it's the diagnostic specifics that she listed that worry me. I also keep running into articles saying that an MRI is the most reliable scan for picking up bone mets and scenarios of PET's not picking up what the MRI did. I just pray that I am not right back in 4 months with news that the radiologist was right.

    It will help immensely when she is finally able to see the neuro surgeon and get his take on things. It's times like this that I wish we had not had access to the specifics of the results. We completely trust our RO and that should be enough but that small amount of "what if" is still there and DW still has the neck pain.

    I think I am going to step away from the board for a little while and try to live in the moment again with my family. I appreciate everyone that was kind enough to be there for us and I wish everyone the very best.

    Thank you again, this board helped me more than I can say through a very troubling and dark time.

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  • bonnets
    bonnets Member Posts: 769
    edited March 2015

    I was just reading this thread as I have been having pain in my upper arm on the side of my lumpectomy for a week or two. I cant decide if it is bone or muscle pain. I can reach in 1 direction nothing, reach straight out to my side and have pain. Am calling my onc tomorrow for an appt. , of course I also am thinking the worst. Had a small -1cm tumor , lumpectomy, neg nodes, and rads 2 and a half years ago. Had a lot of severe rib pain several moths ago, rib xrays and ct were neg and the pain is rarely seen now. It's sure scary, always looking over your shoulder. I lost a daughter to BC, she got it at 27 and passed at 33. No family history until her! Jean

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  • Tomboy
    Tomboy Member Posts: 3,945
    edited March 2015

    Bonnets, I hope yo can get in to see about it and put your mind at rest. I had something like that, and they sent me to physiotherapy, and it was pretty great and really helped. It was an intensely bad pain that I would only feel if i moved a certain way, especially when I did it too quickly.

    I am so sorry that you lost your daughter so young, that is just so wrong...

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  • Penzance
    Penzance Member Posts: 101
    edited March 2015


    Thank you so much for this thread. Have been suffering from neck and shoulder pain (along trajectory of brachial plexus) on right side, with paresthesia in right hand (numbness, dropping objects, having difficulties tapping pin when using payment card etc.). for most of March. Saw physio and although she recommended MRI because of the bc, she thinks it may well be a slipped cervical disc (already have a slipped lumbar one), and the pain + paresthesia responded to massage. I suffered a hairpin fracture of the neck when I was 8 (horse fall, refusal), played the violin intensively (up to 12 hours a day between the ages of 11 and 15) as a child and a teenager, with a bad posture up to the age of 12, and have suffered from neck pains and stiffness since I was 8, although it had become better since my late 20's.

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  • bonnets
    bonnets Member Posts: 769
    edited March 2015

    Pain was better today, after more than a week , so didn't see onc, waiting to see how it is tomorrow!

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  • Lucy55
    Lucy55 Member Posts: 3,044
    edited March 2015

    Sounds good.!!

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  • Katarina
    Katarina Member Posts: 386
    edited March 2015

    I wonder how many of us suffer from spinal stenosis, osteoporosis, disc bulges, facet arthropathy and other serious bone/muskulo.. issues and worry that it's bone mets? This is a great thread and I'm glad your wife is getting good test results. Whoohoo.

    The spine and back pain has been a chronic issue for me for the last 2 years and rather than get better it stays the same, comes and goes, and I live with constant tests. Today I had a bone scan. Next week I'm scheduled for a blocker on my lower spine.

    Before cancer, I never had an issue with my muskulo/spine or joints and muscles. It's not a coincidence that since BC these issues have been chronic. I think I will be a bit shocked when one day the doctors stop saying it's orthopedic and tell me it's cancer. I'm staying guarded, this is exactly what happened to me with my cancer diagnosis. It was a complete shock and all the breast issues I'd been treated for, for 6 years, were not benign but in fact cancer. I'm ready this time, no surprises for me, so while it's spinal problems now I'm grateful but I will always stay vigilant.


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  • heartnsoul76
    heartnsoul76 Member Posts: 1,648
    edited March 2015

    Katarina, that's a good question. Maybe some ladies will chime in about their years of back problems before a bone mets diagnosis - that would help clarify this eternal question. I never had back problems before cancer either, and I'm in the process of completing my insurance company's requirements to have a spinal MRI to check for spinal stenosis. It's expensive and time-consuming but hopefully I'll know something definitive one way or another.... nope, scratch that. I'll get answers like disc pressure or spine alignment probably - which will require more of my time and money for PT and doctor's appointments.

    But I'm thinking maybe these back problems we are having are a result of the "treatment" we've had to endure. They'll never, ever in a million years say "Yes, the chemo or anti-hormonals damaged your spinal column/nerve endings." That's what I really think. If it can do it to our hands and toes' nerve endings, why not other nerve endings? And that's why I'm through with these drugs and hoping I've done enough to stop the cancer but not so much that I've damaged my QOL.

    I told my MO I can either stay on Tamoxifen 14 more months to finish out the 5 years and hope it works, or hope that 46 months was enough and that I haven't done irreversible damage to my body and end up unable to do things I enjoy like hiking.

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