How many "scares" have you had since tx ended

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tangandchris
tangandchris Member Posts: 1,855
edited February 2016 in Stage III Breast Cancer

I don't know if this is the norm, but it seems like I've had a bunch. I've had a bone scan, shoulder MRI, lumbar MRI, a biopsy on a lump, and now I'm waiting for another CT and and an evaluation of a lump on my non cancer side. This gets quite stressful!!!

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  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Member Posts: 1,376
    edited December 2015

    I've had one major one and Several minor ones. The major one was when I had to have a chest wall lump bx'ed....B9.

    The minor ones have been weird bumps on my trunk (scared it was skin mets), when I had random spasms in my groin and aching in my femur (eventually went away on its own) and I've also had a few tender rib spots on my non cancer side that I was scared to get checked out, but they never got worse so...

    I'm asking for a brain MRI after the holidays. I can't deal with it before the holidays. I ruined Christmas for my family two years, I don't want to do it again.

    This shit never seems to end doesn't it? ((((Hugs))))

  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Member Posts: 1,376
    edited December 2015

    For what it's worth, your ALT is only very slightly elevated and the lump is on the non cancer side and you had a bilateral. I think you're fine

  • SpunkyGirl
    SpunkyGirl Member Posts: 1,568
    edited December 2015

    I've had more than a few....lets see....I had a brain MRI because of numbness in the face (I knew it was the tamoxifen!), two uterine biopsies and several times of at least thinking for a period of time that I had something going on. It does get exhausting, but it's important to be vigilant, and celebrating when it's not cancer-related is a big relief! Hang in there! We all feel your angst

  • Spookiesmom
    Spookiesmom Member Posts: 9,568
    edited December 2015

    I've had 2. The first was my lower lumbar. Even though I knew I had a herniated disc, this pain was different. Put up with it for 2 weeks. I was scared spitless it was bone mets. PCP sent me out promptly for MRI. Came back everything that could be wrong, is, but no ca.

    Then constant pain upper right quad. Liver mets? US showed no, will see GI after New Years.

  • janincanada
    janincanada Member Posts: 258
    edited December 2015

    having one right now. Persistent pain in thigh that is not muscular and not related to exercise or injury. Spooked. Eight years out and about to retire. Have had other scares re bowels and gallbladder. This is the scariest.

  • peacestrength
    peacestrength Member Posts: 690
    edited December 2015

    tang--I've had several scares and it's difficult to deal with. I get it. Hugs to you!

    Jan--hugs to you as well.

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

    Well my latest scare was deemed okay. The liver CT came back with a cyst that shows high amounts of protein. MO's nurse said she didn't know what that meant, but that we could either do an MRI that was more detailed of the liver or just repeat CT in 3 months. I asked what MO suggested and she said it was up to me. WTH?? I'm going to just wait on the CT, and I take that to mean hes not overly worried. Surely if it was a concern he would tell me for sure which to do, right?

    I don't know that I will ever be used to any of this crap.

  • sbelizabeth
    sbelizabeth Member Posts: 2,889
    edited December 2015

    Several scares here too, which have led to a few MRIs that all came back with age-related degenerative changes but nothing more worrisome.

    But I've learned something very interesting in the emotional ups and downs of the last few years. My fasting blood glucose came back a bit high a couple of years ago (99) and because of my age, family history, and genetic tendency toward "plumpness" I bought a glucometer and track my morning blood glucose almost every day. I have found that stress of any sort, even more than what I had to eat the day before, causes my blood glucose to rise significantly. A bad cold, insomnia, a day of grief or worry, and I just know the number will be abnormal. This tells me a LOT about my own body, and how important it is for me to try to keep on an even keel.

    Worrying about potential recurrence or mets isn't just a wretched way to spend our time, it's bad for our health!

  • YATCOMW
    YATCOMW Member Posts: 664
    edited December 2015

    11 years........so many scares.....have lost count.....

    but they all ended up being nothing....

    It's tough......I now wait four weeks before I look for a scan, etc.


    Jacqueline


  • sugarplum
    sugarplum Member Posts: 318
    edited February 2016

    Well I lived my entire life as a hypochondriac, but since BC I've reached new levels of anxious vigilance. When I finished treatment in 2007, my first scare was dizziness/spaciness which I was sure I could attribute to brain mets. The following year I had aching in my tailbone, so persistent that they ordered a nuclear bone scan (which revealed nothing - I ended up just buying a pillow to sit on). Hip pain in 2011 prompted another bone scan - turned out to be arthritis, got a new hip out of the deal. Dry coughing on & off for a couple of years - lung mets? Nope. Now I have an ache in my left groin (on & off since last October) for which I'm having an ultrasound tomorrow - I'm suspecting an inguinal hernia, but who knows?

    Just another one of the gifts BC gives - always waiting for the other shoe to drop...

    Best to all - Julie


  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Member Posts: 1,376
    edited February 2016

    So reporting back that my brain MRI did turn up brain mets...still working on recovering from my crainontomy. But, the happy news was that my follow up body scans were clear. So for well over a year, I had been worried about three specific sites - my R hip, my R ribs and my liver. All three were clean as a whistle. So morale of the story...most of these aches and pains are NOTHING! (But please do be careful with your brains. Brain surgery is not fun)

  • Elizabeth1959
    Elizabeth1959 Member Posts: 346
    edited February 2016

    Dear Bad-At-User-Names

    I am so sorry to learn that you now have brain mets! Somehow I missed that you were having issues. It is ironic that the other sites were negative for mets. I understand that worry doesn't change the outcome, but this is definitely a cruel, unpredictable disease. I hope you recover from your surgery quickly and treatment gives you a good quality of life for a long time.

  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Member Posts: 1,376
    edited February 2016

    Elizabeth, it's the damn her2 nastiness. Those cells have learned to be all like, "well your Herceptin and Perjeta have slayed us in the rest of the body...lets go invade your brain!" Truly the irony of the price of progress.

    My symptoms were mild sensory and visual ones and easy to chalk up to things like neuropathy and migraines. In fact, I did for several months, but got more and more nervous as time went on, so I waited out the holidays and then demanded an MRI, which revealed multiple lesions, including two of 3cm. And oncs are still so stubborn on ordering brain scans...maddening! The big ones were removed in my crainontomy and the little ones will hopefully be zapped by chemo. SRS rads have come a long way and I have Tykerb, Xeloda, Nertibab and other meds in my back pocket. Dying is not an option - I have a husband of less than two years, parents who would be devastated to outlive me and a family I still want to have.

  • sbelizabeth
    sbelizabeth Member Posts: 2,889
    edited February 2016

    Bad@UserNames...your post heartened me considerably. Go get 'em, girl. We are all cheering you on.

  • kim40
    kim40 Member Posts: 904
    edited February 2016

    I have had a few scares in the past 7 years since treatment has ended....I always feel like I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop. I just had surgery back in December to have masses removed from my abdomen. wasn't sure if it was a complication from reconstruction 3 years ago or something else. I was never so happy when I heard it was a mass full of absess....gross I know and I could have went septic, but I didn't and it is not cancer.

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