If you are not Stage IV but have questions, you may post here

Stephanie, I am with dlb. Sometimes we have to keep bugging due to limitations of our free health care. Hopefully it is benign, but you should NOT have to wait for months. Keep pushing for a test until they give you one. Good luck. I hope it will be benign.

Stephaniegee. I would push too. Pea size is big in my book. Why wait months when it can be check out ASAP.

Even though you did not have chemo or radiation, that does not mean with the cancer and surgeries you have had and will have that your body has not been through a lot. Fatigue can also be part of being dx with cancer, early stage does not mean much less stress than a more advanced age you would have been, and still are dealing with it. You probably still are dealing with tissue expanders being filled, that is also taxing too. These things alone can account for fatigue.

I cannot say I have never heard of an early stage cancer being found later to be advanced. It can happen. In no way am I stating that is the case with you, but it is a very good idea to mention the fatigue and your concerns to your doctor looking after you. If you don't have an oncologist, go through whoever is taking care of your breasts or even a family doc. Keep an open line of communication and if you feel you need it, keep up on scans.

Mom2four, in addition to just needing more time to heal physically, as Chrissy and Mara suggested, don't overlook what an emotional shock just having a bc dx and tx can be -- to the point that PTSD is quite common amongst survivors. If you don't rally with some extra time and self-TLC, be sure to get a total work up for things like thyroid function. Low thyroid is also very common amongst those dx'd with bc.

PTSD can manifest in several ways, including having low energy and just feeling "flat," with no enthusiam for life. Here's a link to a recent thread on the topic. Not suggesting this is the total cause of your exhaustion, but even a touch of it can greatly magnify physical fatigue. (((Hugs))) Deanna

https://community.breastcancer.org/forum/102/topic...

scared, I don't believe that bone mets can be discovered from a bone density scan, they are usually found with either a bone scan (totally different scan) or CT/Pet scan.

Scared, I'm not 100% sure. Like GG, my first instinct was no; but a quick peek at some on-line info' leads me to believe that it's possible. HOWEVER (and this is very important) -- I think the radiologist would need to be trained to look for mets, and that's not what they're looking for with a DexaScan. And I'm not even sure radiologists read DexaScans (???), since they're rather inexpensive tests. I have a feeling they're read by techs who probably aren't trained to look for anything beyond mineral density.

I'm curious why your MO ordered a bone density test. Have you been on an A/I for an extended time? My personal experience has been that tests that come back with concerns usually get the first calls, and those that show nothing out of the ordinary tend to get shuffled to the bottom of the stack. There would be no reason to withhold info' from you, especially if they had results that require follow up. So try not to worry about it. How soon did they indicate you should expect to get results? I'd maybe call the office tomorrow morning if you haven't heard from them, just so you don't have to stress about it over the weekend. And let us know what you find out!

Thanks Deanna - the tech did say they would be read by the radiologist...

And, I had it done - as a baseline - as I just recently started an AI...

Will keep you posted!!

Deanna, thanks for the input and thanks everyone for the encouraging words. I have thought about PTSD and there is probably a little truth to that. I mean let's face it. Cancer comes out of nowhere and you are sent on a wild ride for months. One appointment after the next. One procedure after the next. I went into mission mode in the beginning. I was just on a mission to do everything and get it done fast. Then the dust settles and I was a little lost. I felt shell shocked. So can I see PTSD as a culprit possibly. But honestly I don't believe that's the main issue. I just feel drained. My brain won't work and my muscles ache. I get out of breath if I'm up too long and if I am standing for more then 15 min I feel like I ran a marathon. This feels a lot like I did when I was severally anemic. I did go to the Dr and he thinks the tamoxifen has done this and even though I've been off of it for 3 weeks that this is just what I'm left with and that this may be my new norm. That just seems crazy to me. I was fine 4 weeks after the BMX and now 5 months later I've tanked. But all my bloodwork is fine so it must just be how this goes for m

Mara, thanks I didn't think about protein. I will have to try to see it that can help. And I am going to start to do my usual walks again and see if that helps. Thanks for the advice. It's nice to know I'm not crazy and other people have the issue too. Wish no one was in this position. Hope you feel better soon.

Great news Scared!

Hi everyone, My Mom has had 4 cycles of chemo for stage 4 her2+ breast cancer. She has mets to the bones and liver. All labs so far have been normal and her tumor marker has decreased by 50%. She had a pet scan to see how the chemo is working, overall improvement of all spine /liver lesions, however one new lesion was seen in the liver. Her onco is changing or adding a new chemo drug. Not sure if he is adding it or changing one of her meds. We were all so happy with the improvement but then when he mentioned the new liver lesion we were scared again. Has this happened to anyone else? She starts cycle 5 tomorrow. Thanks for any information you can give us.

trmccoll8696, Sorry to hear of your mom's stage 4 and progression. It is unfortunate, but if a chemo is not working, then her onc would want to try a different chemo, even if it was OK for her to handle side effect wise. The reason is that if it is not working, they want to make sure they can get something to keep new mets away or shrink them down.

This is the way it can be with stage 4. The goal is that we want to be on a particular treatment as long as possible. Scans tell us if treatments are working, if not, we are put on a different treatment. This can happen a bunch of times. Sometimes the cancer outsmarts the treatment or even changes hormone/HER status. This is very hard to do for sure. I wish you the best.

Make sure you also ask the onc about changes in treatment to get all the information you and your Mom need as well so you are fully briefed. Good luck to you both.

Scared67, Though I can't answer your question about your MO specifically, I can say that I had a bone scan and CT scan when I finished chemo/Herceptin in 2015. I was found to be cancer free from the neck down. I was not scanned because I had symptoms. This is something my cancer clinic does routinely. I would not specifically worry about your situation being ominous because your MO wants to give a bone scan.

Regarding risk of leukemia and bone scans, ask your MO about any specific concerns, what the chances are etc. I would not presume to try to unravel that information.

Now, I know you see that I am stage 4 BUT this was because I had a brain met that was too small to see on initial dx. All the chemo I got would not pass the Blood-Brain barrier. My systemic treatment in 2015 was successful due to no mets from the neck down.

I had the whole digestive system checked out right after I visited the urologist, thinking I had another kidney stone. My birth Mom had colon cancer, so I have had my colonoscopies done, as well as upper GED.. EGD?  upper scope.   

  Sorry so late in responding. 

I saw a new OB/GYN on Monday.  I hate seeing new ones, and thought I wouldn't like the guy, but, in all honesty.. I will continue to see him.  He did a biopsy from inside my uterus... now waiting on results.  They also did an endoscopic ultrasound of my uterus.  They did it before he saw me.  My oncologist had sent them a note.... He didn't mention the ultrasound, and I was so tired of waiting around the office all day, I didn't even bother to ask.  It kind of came back to me after I left, what he had said.  That he would call me as soon as the results came back, and to set up an appointment on the 19th... I'm thinking, if the biopsy was ok, there would be no need to go back on the 19th.  So they probably did see something, but I am glad he didn't go into the "could be" scenarios.  Of course, he will call  on Friday... my birthday....  sigh.     I bled a lot on Monday after the biopsy.  It slowed down for a bit, but it is back, and it feels like it did back in my earlier days, like a water balloon just waiting to pop.   If the holidays aren't stressful enough... let's add on waiting to hear about possible cancer. 

My emotions have been all over the map today... angry, wanting to cry, wishing I could talk to my Mom (who passed away 31 years ago), wishing my youngest daughter didn't live across the country.  I texted her pictures of her horse and got no response.  I posted video of him on FB, and got no reply from her... I miss her so much.  I was dancing around the kitchen this morning...  If I had the energy to hit something... I might.  I'm scared, my husband is scared, my best friend is sick, and hasn't called... 

ending the pity party... sorry.

Thanks Mara and Barbe!!