Bone scan questions

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Debbiemarler
Debbiemarler Member Posts: 10

I had a bone scan they checked my bone health. In the past few months I have pain on my right outer femor and it feels like I am laying on a walnut, it hurts. When I palpate the place it is very sore and painful but I cannot feel a lump? Just pain. Is there a different scan that looks specifically for cancer in the bones. My PET was all clear in January. I go back in July. Sorry I dont post much, I still work full time and sleep when not working mostly. The swelling on the right chest was benign, just seroma sludge. Still there but stopped growing. My Onco score was above 30 so they said I was high recurrence risk, couldn't take hormone blockers because it messes up my psych meds. I chose no chemo. They still write metastatic breast cancer on all my stuff even tho he says it is not, he wont remove that word because the 3cm lymph node was how they found it. It doesn't makes sense if its not metastatic to leave that as my official dx.

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  • Falconer
    Falconer Member Posts: 1,192
    edited May 2018
    Hi Debbie, I had a bone scan last fall, and my understanding was that it would show areas of uptake if there are suspicious areas of bone mets. So the bone scan reads the skeleton. I never had a PET scan but I think that Pet checks soft Tissue. Hope that your results are favorable and the pain in your hip is from normal wear and tear that we all live through! Good luck.
  • Debbiemarler
    Debbiemarler Member Posts: 10
    edited August 2020

    I have a pet scan, check up Monday. I am just a little anxious. I have such an odd way of thinking I have a hard time relating or being understood. I had a very disfunctional childhood so I am not normal like most people. Think Temple Grandin only with much less energy. I still havent had bones scanned for mets. I feel I need one. I did have bone scan at the outset for bone density which was normal. I am getting pet scans. I probably don't have mets. Every headache, every time I have vertigo, recently fell with vertigo. Leg bone pain, back pain, tender clavicles. I am overthinking things. Obviously I have more anxiety than cancer. I keep worrying if they could. not see it on the. mammography or ultrasound, but only through MRI with contrst, why is pet a good check up? They found 2 large lymph nodes from my 3d mamography with plate scans of the axillary. The only cancer shown on the mammography was the axillary nodes. I was sent for removal of 3cm nodes while they assumed it was Hodgkins. It was not, ck56 was found? The node was responive to estrogen, barely responsive to progestrin and negative on the last catagory. I work 40 hour weeks as RN. I am 56. I didnt do chemo, just bil mastectomy. My oncologist was VERY insistent on chemo before mastectomay. I refused. After surgery also insistent on chemo, I refused. My BMI is 37. My oncoscore was barely in the high range. I forget, 30 maybe. I was scared to death of chemo, my limited knowledge only working 9 years in hospice.

  • MinusTwo
    MinusTwo Member Posts: 16,634
    edited August 2020

    Hi Debbie - I see you're back two years later. And still NED - or at least cancer free right now.

    It's my understanding that the PET/CT will show uptake of fast growing cells. That's one reason why you have to lie w/o moving for 30-45 minutes while nuclear contrast diffuses throughout your body. They didn't even allow me to read because turning pages was movement. So in order to lie that still, it's one of the few times I have to take a Xanax. Cancer is usually fast growing. The rapid cell division shows up in a PET. On the other hand, apparently they have a reputation for showing false negative results so many docs don't like them.

    You didn't mention how old you are, but took an alternate path and threw everything I could at the disease after my second surgery when I needed ALND. I did both chemo & rads. The plan was to get on with my life w/o worrying. Most of the time it works. Hope your PET shows that everything is as normal as could be.

  • Debbiemarler
    Debbiemarler Member Posts: 10
    edited August 2020

    Thanks for your kind words. Are cancer blood test numbers only done in stage IV? I am stage 3 I think. The side they did the radical on hade invasive ductal. The other side was done as precaution. It had one ILC in situ and one ductal insitu. You could see a good blood supply to the one in situ on the MRI. The invasives ductal on the radical side was running its own major blood supply. Ive studied the MRI and wonder how it is on the MRI but not on the 3D mammography? My birads 2 mammography result came in the mail before the doctors call about needing a lymph node biopsy. In my mind, I keep wondering if the large lump was really lobular and not ductal. I guess it doesnt matter. My concern is I would like brain and bone mets ruled out.

  • MinusTwo
    MinusTwo Member Posts: 16,634
    edited August 2020

    Debbie - I too was stage 3. Some docs order cancer antigen numbers and some don't. They are not an accurate predictor on their own & docs have found that patients freak out with a 'one shot' number. They are useful only as an indicator and only if the numbers continue to rise over time & several tests.

    Good luck with your PET/CT. It's unlikely w/o much more evidence that docs would do a brain MRI, although you might convince them to do a nuclear bone scan. That is not however the DEXA that we get every 2 years for density, so even if you can convince the docs, be sure to check with your insurance.

  • Debbiemarler
    Debbiemarler Member Posts: 10
    edited August 2020

    You said you were stage 3? Are you cancer free now? Thanks for your reply. I did get an MRI of my brain due to headaches which are new for me. They found a spot above my eye. Don't kmow what it is, my MO ordered Multiple myeloma markers to rule that out. She said likely a hematoma that could have been there for years.

  • MinusTwo
    MinusTwo Member Posts: 16,634
    edited August 2020

    Debbie - my recurrence was Stage 3B. It went into the lymph nodes, but was called a local recurrence. No way to ever know if we're cancer free. But I am NED - No Evidence of Disease - ahd have been since the last batch of treatments ended 2014.

    I've been following your posts on some other threads and wish you the best.

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