rib pain

Have you had a PET or CT or MRI of your ribs? I would think a 2nd fracture (if I'm following your story correctly) would merit looking a bit further -- not that I think it's mbc, but just for your peace of mind. A bone building med such as Xgeva (Prolia) might also be appropriate, although I'm not a doc.

If it's any reassurance, many women with bone mets report their pain as more aching or burning than stabbing. Of course, if nerves are involved, it can be stabbing, and there is no formula for how mbc presents. But many of us first experienced deep aching, burning pain, exacerbated by activity, vs. shooting or stabbing pain.

Good luck, and do lay out your and concerns to your BS. You know your body better than he/she does, and you need a specific dx (which may necessitate a referral to another type of specialist, such as an ortho doc) for any ongoing pain and multiple rib fractures, even if it turns out to be osteoporosis or something entirely unrelated to your bc.

Good luck, and please keep us posted! Deanna

Leger, I think it's good to bring this up with your BS and if she doesn't listen well enough if it was me I would go either to my PCP or Rheumatologist. I agree it might be prudent to do a scan at this point as the previous poster suggested.

But chiming in as a fellow RA sufferer I know I have rib/chest pain from the RA--confirmed through scans. Can you tell if the pain is directly on the bone or in the tissue/cartilage connecting the bones? It's sometimes hard for me to tell but my doctor has explained to me that the RA is causing inflammation in the area connecting/surrounding the ribs and sternum and this it what causes my pain. It's a non-cancer cause for you to ask about!

I have similar pain. Mainly on the left side towards the back, but sometimes other areas of my rib cage. This has been going on for a least a year, and while it gets better and worse, it never totally goes away. I have mixed connective tissue disease, and I'm convinced that is the cause. If it were mets it would have progressed by now.

leger,

At the risk of sounding funny you found a twit of a surgeon.

I am confused - let's piece this together - you had BC Mid 2014 followed by radiation.

Radiation when it breaks ribs ( and it's rare especially as it was breast and not chest wall) it does not do that almost three years later. Then the healing part - broken ribs take about 6 weeks to heal and may show up radiologically months on but years on ? Still healing??

Something does not add up - you are right to be concerned.

I would ask for a Bone scan ( I know it's hard to keep advocating while trying to deal with anxiety/fear and pain) - if it RA it will show inflammatory changes but they can be differentiated from something more sinister.

Don't give up - keep knocking until you find the doctor for you.

I agree with the others. You need a bone scan. Find a doctor who will take you seriously.

My former MO told me, when I had concern about a lump, to ignore it unless "it goes from a grape to a golf ball" because I was not at risk of recurrence. As you can see from my stats, he was 100% wrong. I left there in tears because he was so dismissive and rude. I have never seen him again