Newbie with a 7mth old

hi warrior mom-I'm so sorry that you've had to join this exclusive club that no one wants to belong to but you have definitely come to the right place. I too was diagnosed at stage 4 with bone mets-3 years ago. I am still on my first treatment and doing great. I have 5 children and spend every day trying to live the best life that I can-don't get me wrong I have down days but I try to limit my time feeling sorry for myself and focus on being in the moment and enjoying the time I do have. Are you by chance a large animal vet? We have several horses and our vet is a big part of our lives! If you want to pm me please do and I will send lots of positive energy your way.

P.s.-my husband said the same thing to me about being an overachiever-if you are going to do it do it right!

Kristi

Welcome, Warrior_Mom!

Welcome Warrior... Man am I sorry that you have joined us, but I hope you find your "place" here; a place that gives you the support that you need. All the best,

*susan*

In Dec 2015 I was diagnosed stage 4 out of the gate with bone mets and have a six year old son. I had already started chemo before we confirmed the bone mets (Onc first thought they might be signs of aging) so my plan looks a little different. I'm doing surgery next week and we've also been radiating my bone mets to kill then off. Then I'll start Xgeva and Tamoxifan. I second the suggestion to check out the bone mets thread when you're ready

Warrior Mom: Welcome! I found this site over five years ago and it continues to give me great information and awesome support. Just knowing that I am not alone makes a big difference. Good luck to you with your treatments!

Welcome. We hope to be helpful!

Warrior Mom -

Regardless of stage, the new thing is adjuvant therapy. This means you try to reduce the size of the tumor(s) with hormone therapy or chemo before you do surgery and/or radiation. Then, if you are stage I, II or III ,it seems that many people get what remains of the tumor(s) removed in order to try to prevent metastasis. In these stages the goal is to cure the cancer.

For us, the horse is out of the barn. Generally, they are trying to manage stage IV cancer for the long haul like a chronic disease. They will remove or radiate tumors that are causing pain or interfering with organ function. But these treatments are hard on the body and can interfere with the long term treatment strategy. It seems like they don't remove metastatic cancer tumors unless they present with symptoms.

If you have a small amount of metastasis to just one organ, it is called oligometastasis. There is a school of thought that such patients are curable like stage I, II and II and the tumors should be aggressively removed.

As i understand it, if my liver mets and lymph node mets are eliminated or reduced by the treatment, then I too might be considered oligometastatic. My onc and I have vaguely discussed removal of the primary tumor in my breast comes should the drugs make my liver mets go away. They are all under 2cm and getting smaller, so it is possible.

I've seen arguments in favor and against removing the primary tumor. There is soft evidence that removing the primary tumor reduces metastasis, but I've also seen evidence that it promotes the growth of the mets. Almost like they react to an assault on the mothership. I don't know what I will do if I have to choose. I am hoping that my protocol of traditional and complementary medicines will get me to NED so I don't have to choose.

I believe in a functional medical approach where you strengthen the body's ability to fight the cancer. The effects of radiation and chemo and even surgery endure and undermine the body's own ability to fight. We have hormone therapy and targeted therapy which allow the body to remain whole enough to fight alongside the drugs.

Options are changing and stage IV folks are living longer. My traditional oncologists are very concerned about beating up my body and what the effects of a treatment might be 4 or 5 years out. I find this heartening. I was relieved when I found out that chemo, radiation and surgery where not on the table any time soon. I'll certainly consider them, but the longer I can avoid them the better. I think I am in a better position to stay in this marathon without them.

>Z<

welcome Warrior1 Sory you have to be here but as everyone else said , this is a great place for support and information. Z, that was a great summary of current thinking on Stage IV. Very clearly stated. As far as help[ing your body fight, just good common sense about what helps any body fight disease. Lots of leafy greens, fruits, low meat consumption. I hear sugar is one of the biggest enemies as far as tumor growth so really have to fight off the urge to indulge in that. It seems to be everywhere! It takes a lot of effort to keep on top of a good nutrition plan but it does seem to help my energy level a lot.

Welcome, warrior mom,

As you can see, there are different schools of thought and different POV's on the path of tx. With stage IV patients living longer, and lots of tx possibilities in the pipeline, balancing tx vs. long term side effects is certainly a consideration, whereas in the not too distant past it wasn't.

Some of us have had very aggressive tx, others not, and yet our progression free survival times are all over the place, regardless. I wish there was a clearer, more definitive path, but I am glad that we are treated as individuals in many instances.

I had a single, low grade bone met. I was already menopausal so went straight to an AI, had 15 rads sessions to kill the bone met (I had no pain or symptoms and the rads killed the little bugger). I was also on a bone strengthener for two years. I did have a bmx, but only because it was thought I was stage II. My bone met was an accidental discovery while I was recovering from surgery.

Regarding nutrition, we seem to be all over the map on this one. Some have adopted very strict diets, others, not so much and everywhere in between. I am also of the school of thought that a healthy balanced diet, without compulsion or worry is a good thing. My dietary habits were good prior to dx, lots of fruits and veggies, little red meat, low dairy etc. However, if I want meat, I eat it, if I want a glass of wine or a fun cocktail or sweets I have them, but not everyday! I enjoy life thoroughly and can't be bogged down by worrying about everything that crosses my lips. I am almost 5 years out from dx and have great hopes for continuing advancements in MBC treatments. Here is a link to a thread on oligometastasis :

https://community.breastcancer.org/forum/8/topics/...

Take care.

Dear Warrior Mom,

We have things in common except AGE. OMG this is so unfair that you should be slammed with such a diagnosis. I am sure you are still reeling from shock. I am 69 and was stunned almost three years ago because I had had mammograms that totally missed everything. Even 8 weeks before I found a stage 4 lump, the mammogram report was cheerful. So we all have to adjust. Keep haunting this lifeline website. The ladies have seen and heard it all. You will learn more here than you ever will from oncologists. I have had to be very proactive for myself. I too got a second opinion from MD Anderson. Certainly did not feel that place was for me. Prayers and blessings to you and your young family. Stay strong because we all hope to see a cure in our lifetime. Carolyn from Music City.

Warrior-Mom -

Anti-Cancer A New Way of Life is my favorite summary of how to fight cancer holistically. Written by a medical doctor who held of an aggressive form of brain cancer for 20 years. Basically, eat well, exercise, partake a few supplements/herbs and find strength in your faith.

Choose from the buffet of things you can do those things that speak to you AND those things you can manage and afford. I quite confident that stress does more to kill you than any supplement or treatment can do to cure you.

The joy you get from little 7month old will do more for your cure than anything else.

>Z<

Warrior Mom -

I am not sure what treatment you are on - are you on letrozole and ibrance or faslodex and ibrance? If you would update your profile with your diagnosis and treatment AND make it public (two steps) it will help people respond.

However, ibrance is usually given with hormone therapy and tumor markers go up with hormone therapy very often. It is a sign it is working. It's well understood and it is called a flare reaction. google hormone therapy flare reaction.

They don't have the same data on ibrance as they do hormone therapy, which has been around for decades. They don't know if Ibrance causes a flare when it is working. But my tumor markers doubled while my tumors shrunk during the first two months of ibrance/letrozol.

Ibrance, on average takes 4 months to do anything. It would be pretty quick to pull you off of it. If changing meds is on the table, get a second or third opinion. It's a pretty serious decision to walk away from any treatment protocol. We don't have that many good options.

The headaches can easily be explained by hormone therapy alone, if you are on it. As much as I hate the hormone therapy, I am told there is no way around it for a long time by both my standard oncologists and my integrative practitioners. Be careful about blaming ibrance for side effects from another drug that you must be on.

>Z<