Femur - Metastatic BC? Help...

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MOM2JNA
MOM2JNA Member Posts: 4
edited June 2019 in Not Diagnosed With a Recurrence or Metastases but Concerned

Hello all! I'm in the throws of another medical uncertainty related to my BC history. I don't talk much to my DH, don't want to worry him, or have him tell me not to think about it until we know. How can I not?? Every time my BC history rears its evil head...again..., I have to hold my breath and wait. Wait to find out if I get to move along with my life. Or do I have to go back to the cancer world. He doesn't really understand that, although he does try. I need some insight here. To chat with maybe others that get it? My current instance started in February this year. I had been training for a marathon (running for 20 years), but not overdoing it. I started having left thigh pain. Kept at my training, thought it was muscular. Got to a point I could not walk anymore. Deep pain in my thigh. Terrible at night. It wouldn't let up. Finally went to ortho for an x-ray. Thought for sure he'd say I pulled something, Tylenol, rest. But, he suspected hip fx. I thought he was crazy! I'm 47, bone density scan this year was good. No trauma or fall. Left hip MRI that day confirmed his dx was correct: I had a fracture at top of femur (hip ball neck), incomplete. Results showed "marrow edema" of area. Emergency surgery the next day for rod placement into femur and hip, steel plates and screws. Ortho biopsied some bone fragment. Negative for BC. Awesome news, right? I healed well. However, the original thigh pain, which I cannot duplicate by touch and is very deep, is still there. I cannot run. I cannot put my full weight on my left leg. I have to walk with a limp. Recent MRI of femur showed "muscle atrophy" close to where pain is. Although I requested it, there is no indication on the report that the radiologist was advised of my BC history. Again, the area does not hurt to the touch at all. They sent me for a lumbar MRI yesterday, and am doing a nuclear bone scan tomorrow. I am also waiting to get into a local orthopedic oncologist, b/c I just don't feel the original ortho is considering my BC history, or really solving my problem, and I'm scared. I was diagnosed w/ my original BC at 37. Am I reading too much into this? Am I wrong in my thought that this is how some metastatic BC starts? So worried. Hate this. Has anyone gone through this? Any insight as to what could be happening?

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  • Hannah1962
    Hannah1962 Member Posts: 35
    edited June 2019

    Hi, I'm sorry you are going through this, and I understand well the stress!

    How about if YOU call the radiologist who read the MRI? I've called radiologists with questions about my reports. I've never encountered one who seemed bothered and I've always been able to get the answers I was seeking. You could even call the place where you had the scan, leave a message for the radiologist (whose name should be on the report), and in the message ask if there's any chance it's bone mets, given your breast cancer history. Then leave your phone number for the return call. That will solve the problem of the ordering doctor possibly not sharing your BC history. It will also give the radiologist time to look at the images again before returning the call.

    Good luck, and please keep us posted.

    Hannah

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  • MOM2JNA
    MOM2JNA Member Posts: 4
    edited June 2019

    Hannah, thank you! What a great idea. I've never considered calling the radiologists. Just glanced at the reports and yep, their direct numbers are listed. I'm definitely going to do that.

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  • KBeee
    KBeee Member Posts: 5,109
    edited June 2019

    Our treatments do leave us with increased risk for fractures, so hopefully that is the cause. The bone scan should tell you for sure. Do keep us posted. These scares are horrible, and waiting with uncertainty is so hard.

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  • MOM2JNA
    MOM2JNA Member Posts: 4
    edited June 2019

    Well.  Tests are done.  Hot spots left femur, left hip, and right rib.  Probably explains why my left hip spontaneously fractured.  That's just what the tech showed me.  Will have to wait to hear from doc and get full report.  I feel sick.  Maybe its from the radiation they injected before the bone scan?  Wish I didn't have to wait through the weekend to further understand what this could mean.

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  • ElaineTherese
    ElaineTherese Member Posts: 3,328
    edited June 2019

    It does suck to have to wait through the weekend to get some more news about your scans. I'm surprised that your oncologist's office hasn't called or anything. All sorts of things light up on scans. Hope you can find a way to stay busy this weekend!

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  • KBeee
    KBeee Member Posts: 5,109
    edited June 2019

    Hoping you hear from your doctors soon. Waiting is so hard. I'm sorry you had spots light up on the scan. I hope you get answers and a plan of action.

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  • voraciousreader
    voraciousreader Member Posts: 7,496
    edited June 2019

    i, too, hope you have some clarity soon, so you have direction on how to move forward....


    That said, I have had some whirlwind experience when it came to imaging.


    First off, mammography missed my tumor...but that’s a whole other story....


    My right hip....awful pain for years. Was told it was coming from my back. Finally had an x-ray of my hip. Told i had the hips of a 40 year old. I was 60. Finally had an MRI of my right hip. Found SOME bone on bone. Told I needed hip replacement. BUT, Incidentally, the MRI found a tumor in my left thigh. Right hip replacement put on hold while I had a second and THIRD MRI of my left thigh’s 5 cm tumor. Sent, ASAP to an orthopedic surgeon. He looked at all of my MRIs and said, “You need surgery on both of your legs, but I will only do the tumor surgery.”


    After the left leg’s BENIGN, myxoma surgery healed, I got a new right hip. That surgeon was shocked when he went in. Afterwards, he told me that the imaging of my right hip did NOT indicate the severity of my arthritis. What was thought to be a contained small arthritic area of the hip bone, was in fact, diseased completely around the ball and into the shaft. A mess.


    Bottom line...in my situation...while the imaging was great at finding my tumor, it was AWFUL at finding the extent of my arthritic hip.


    It has been exactly one year from my hip surgery and I am pain free.


    I am wishing you well.



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  • MOM2JNA
    MOM2JNA Member Posts: 4
    edited June 2019

    Thanks all for the replies!

    My ortho texted me yesterday. Lumbar MRI nothing of note. Bone scan showed uptake on 10th right rib, either trauma fracture or metastasis (don't recall any trauma), as well as "increased uptake" throughout proximal left femur. He said possibly related to metal rod and plates they put in there from alleged hip fracture in February. I say alleged, because when I went in with left femur pain and couldn't walk (February), they only did a hip MRI. I assumed it was hip and thigh. Stupid me. There is no imaging before the surgery to compare this one too. My pain is femur, mid length and closer to knee. Hip MRI prior to surgery showed marrow edema, not a fracture. Ortho surgeon said never saw an actual fracture, but believed it to be, resulting in the ORIF surgery.

    The good thing, he scheduled me with the orthopedic oncologist specialist at Vanderbilt this coming Monday (I live in Nashville, TN). He cancelled my f/u appt. with him.

    I continue to wait. No idea what will happen next. Any ideas? This terrible femur pain pre-dated the surgery. I am not content to hear it is part of the surgery recovery. It simply is not. It was there before and still is. The 10th rib area, doesn't even hurt. Will they biopsy that?

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  • KBeee
    KBeee Member Posts: 5,109
    edited June 2019

    I would contact your MO to ask about if they plan to biopsy the rib, or if he/she wants you to ask the onco/ortho about it. I definitely would want definitive answers...not "we think it's.....". Come up with a plan to find out exactly what you're dealing with so you can move forward. Sorry you're dealing with all of this.

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