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

so post, GP (internist) visit for CT results.

Chest all clear.

Detected in liver a small spot.

Dr just rang and said they'd like me to get an ultrasound so they can see more clearly

But it is very small aparently. Not there 4 years ago. (Last CT).

Likely a cyst? I'm not too worried.

Bone scan in 3 weeks.

yeah. Thanks shetland pony!

BlueGirl, my CA 27-27 has always been within normal limits - even with mets. My first oncologist (now retired) did not put much weight on the numbers. My new oncologist feels the same. Some do, some don't.

Hopefully your next scans will give you some answers.

Thanks, Astrid. I had seen different 'tag' lines and I like how they tell us a little bit about the person. My husband and I have a strong (most of the time) faith and there is a song we really like by a group called Bethel. It's called "It is Well". I'm determined that "all shall be well with my soul", no matter the outcome of this vile disease.

You've certainly had more than your share of recurrences! I was part of the TailoRx study and was randomized to get chemo. My Oncotype score was somewhere around 18, I think. I was glad to get the chemo because I wanted to throw everything at this beast. Research now shows that chemo doesn't necessarily benefit those with my range of scores. So, I got the chemo and still had the mets. I think I'd be more upset if I HADN'T had the chemo and got the mets. It's not our fault that we have a recurrence or mets, but at least we don't have to second guess our treatment choices.

I hope you have a peaceful Christmas, if you celebrate it. Here's to an uneventful 2021!

Carol

update:

Hd liver u/sound this morning to check tiny lesion (2mm) guy was nuce enough to say it looks fluid filled.

Very happy about that.

Looking good. 99% for another cancer free year.

Bone Scan next week.

Starting a G:LAD program for the osteoarthritis in hips.

Hey 7of9...

I know right?

hi ladies.

Freaking out. My mom is almost 2 years out from diagnosis and the other day she found what looks like a bug bite on her breast tissue

No lump and not hard but I'm still freaking out to the point where i can't eat or sleep. She just saw her breast surgeon for a clinical breast exam that she gets done every 4 months.

I'm making an appt for her to see her breast surgeon but i can't stop thinking it might be stage iv

ucfknights, I am sorry no one is responding and I guess it may be good news since no one had a similar case. I do have a bruise where the cancer was found but that's it. Maybe it is a bug bite.

Had my bone scan today.

I feel really fortunate to have amazing free care available at a very beautiful cancer hospital here in Melbourne. It was a bit weird as I also work in pastoral care here. My role was as a patient today😁 I think I did good job.

Anyway the nurse came out from room and said my hips look inflamed so they did extra close up scans and then a ct scan of the area as well. I didn't know the bone scan machine could do that!

I felt like they took great care not ro miss anything and give me a super accurate dx.

I don't feel in my gut that this is anything but

Non cancer stuff.

Still will be great when report is in.

Astrid, how nice that they were so thorough with your scan. I had one at the beginning of my Stage IV diagnosis where I had an X-ray of my hips/femur and then had gone upstairs to see my MO. While I was checking out, they called my mobile phone to say they wanted me back downstairs for some more views. It was kind of funny to be sitting in Scripps Clinic and get a call on my phone from Scripps Clinic. It was nice to walk right back downstairs and not be halfway home or all of the way home and get the "come back right now" call.

Will look forward to your update.

Carol

hi happy2beme,

Of course you are worried.

A very anxious time for you!

I admit I was surprised...no chemo even with 5 pos nodes? I don't understand this oncotype/mamma print stuff.

They didn't have it when I was 1st dx'd 2002.

Then it seems they also knew of some lesions from your 1st pet and still only rads?

I mean why wouldn't they hit it with everything in the 1st instance?

Can anyone explain this? I fee it is reckless.

If you have spread to the nodes, do chemo...surely? I am going to ask my onco about this and her opinion when I see her. I think it is outrageous and wrong.

I looked up sclerotic which means rigid.

Anyway.here you are now HTBM, and we are here waiting with you. I am sending love and best wishes for you.

Astrid.💖🙏

Hi Ladies, I have couple of questions:

1. Does x-ray show metastasis that is spread to the bone?

2. Once someone has BMX, how can cancer come back to the breast as recurance? There is no breast, what are the signs?

happy2beme, sorry you're having this scare. Let us know what your oncologist says when the PET results are in. Hang in there. Hoping for a benign diagnosis for you. Imaging of mets is a complicated issue. We hardly ever use PET here and my MO ordered nuclear bone scans to rule out bone mets when I was first dx with metastatic disease...but oncologists have their own preferences. I hope your scans provide some clarity soon!

LillyisHere, I can say from personal experience that a local recurrence after a mastectomy can present in a few different ways. The cancer can come back in the skin, on the chest wall, or in the lymph nodes around the area where the breast used to be. I had all three of those things happen.

Also, as Moth correctly pointed out, during a mastectomy some breast tissue is left behind. It is not possible for the surgeon to remove every last cell of breast tissue, even in non-nipple or skin sparing mastectomy procedures. Think of it more as a spectrum: a lumpectomy leaves most the breast tissue, a mastectomy takes most the breast tissue.