metastatic spinal cord collapse

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bluepearl
bluepearl Member Posts: 961
edited December 2016 in Stage IV/Metastatic Breast Cancer ONLY

My sister has spinal cord collapse from novo breast cancer, grade 2. She temporarily lost her walking and breathing abilities, stayed in hospital 4 months and can now walk with a cane and do gardening. Has anyone experienced this or know how long she would have left? Doctor gave her 2.5-3 years. She seems to be doing so well and is there anyone who has lived longer than this? Thank you.

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  • sandilee
    sandilee Member Posts: 1,843
    edited December 2016

    Hi Bluepearl.

    Sorry I didn't see your post earlier. I want to give you hope about your sister. I had a very similar experience, where there was a tumor that ate through my T3 vertebra, collapsing it on to my spinal cord. I also could barely walk without some kind of hiking polls or canes.

    My treatment was 15 radiation treatments that killed the tumor. Also, Faslodex and Xgeva. Within a couple of months I was walking again, and in a few months you would never know I had the problem. That was in 2011, five years ago.

    MY cancer did move into my liver last year, but it is being treated with Doxil, which is my first IV chemo treatment since I first had cancer back in 2007. My spine is still pretty good, and my liver is responding. I have no intention of dying any time soon. :-)

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  • JFL
    JFL Member Posts: 1,947
    edited December 2016

    I am sorry about your sister. Glad she is over the major hump with the collapse. 4 months in hospital must have been difficult. As for expectancies, the 2.5 - 3 years is the widely agreed upon median in the profession, which is probably why your doctor gave her that figure. (I think this quite old stat has improved over the last 10 years but the data doesn't yet show that; there are challenges in tracking people over the long-term.) There is really no way for doctors to know what will happen with any individual. Unfortunately, cancer is so unpredictable. She could end up living 5, 10 years or more. I hope so!

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  • pajim
    pajim Member Posts: 2,785
    edited December 2016

    Bluepearl, my spinal collapse wasn't quite as bad but L4 was crushed and they had to fuse four vertebrae. The difference is I was walking the whole time.

    I'm still taking hormonals (including the first one I started on) and it's been almost four years. Don't write off your sister and don't let the docs either.

    The best of luck to her and to you.

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