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

hello siddhivinayak, I think you should make an appointment to see your doctor and get an xray or other chest imaging. Surely some hospitals or clinics are open somewhere? You should probably get a covid test too as dry cough can be a covid symptom . I would not wait on this.

Sidd, chiming in to agree with the others. Please see a doctor as soon as possible. Your symptoms do sound like they might be related to COVID or some other virus, particularly with the body aches. The weight loss is concerning but perhaps not a huge amount over a month depending on if you are eating normally. Hard to know from your post.

If it helps to know my symptoms, I was originally diagnosed as stage IV with a pleural effusion in my right lung. I did have a dry, non productive cough but it was almost continuous, worsening over time. The cough was worse when I lay down (likely due to the fluid in my lung shifting) - I got to the point that I had to sleep propped up. I also became increasingly short of breath over about a month to the point that I would be gasping if I walked to the end of the driveway. My weight loss was dramatic, about 4 kg in a month, despite eating, as my body was working very hard to breathe.

It seems your cough is different so I am sincerely hoping that you will get clean x-rays and scans but please have it checked out.

Hugs. Pat

I'm not sure where to post this, so will post on multiple threads. I am so discouraged, depressed, angry as I explore getting different treatment options, including clinical trials. This is the third BC for me. Is each one "new" or did the original beat the treatment? I'm not sure if any of the treatments worked. Just talked to MD Anderson and they indicated they would not do anything different unless it was shown that the new treatment I just started fails. They would not consider me for clinical trials either. Is this generally the way it is with getting 2^nd opinions on treatment options? Dec 2019 showed metastasis through skin, but nothing found in organs. Do I have to wait for it to show up in organs before other treatment is considered? That is so wrong.

2009 ER+ left breast. 52 yrs. Lumpectomy, Sentinel node removal, negative. Radiation 6 weeks, tamoxifen 5 years. Dense lumpy left breast, normal right.

2016 ER+ left breast. Probably a new cancer, but unknown. 4 rounds TC Aug-Oct 2016, Bi-lateral (my choice) Nov 2016, no reconstruction. 2 sentinel nodes remove, negative. ). Anastrozole 1 mg starting May 2017. Joint issues noticed immediately. Stopped Anastrozole after 3-4 months due to joint stiffness in. After several months of no AIs, fingers were feeling better. Started tamoxifen March 2018.

6/2019 Swelling in opposite arm, urgent care, no clot, lots of fluid. Scans, biopies etc, new tumor R-axilla Dxed 8/2019, ER + 85%. Start Ibrance/Arimidex 9/2019. CTs suggest Ibrance working. With LE and compression pumps starting to get control over lymphedema.

12/2020 - noticed "rash" and thickening, had been noticing loss in range of motion which I attributed to an old injury and getting older. DR says Ibrance/Arimidex not working anymore. Cancer has spread all over chest area in skin, PET did not find anything in organs. Lymphedema getting very bad.

siddhivinaya, I am sending you a big hug and I hope you can schedule the appointment with the oncologist soon.

I have a cough for several months now but I didn't bring it up to my appointment with MO in February. I read somewhere that nighttime cough that wakes you up maybe mets. I am curious too and I hope someone will write to let us know. I have a feeling that the immune system goes down when we kill the estrogen and the cough may linger for a very long time - this is my theory and I am not a doctor

Good luck with CT scan. When do you get the results?

fwiw, my cough which turned out to bea huge met was not bad enough to keep me up at night or wake me up. It was just annoying during the day - & even then, not bad enough that I couldn't function. I was in nursing school & doing a clinical rotation at a hospital with it - they would have freaked if I were constantly coughing, kwim? I wasn't - it was just that it was always a bit there.

I would not rely on that criteria alone. And really, a lingering cough should be checked out because it could be other things - asthma, allergies, other respiratory problems. Don't ignore symptoms, my friends

CandM, I think you should join the liver & bone mets threads as your mom is definitely StageIV now. Your mom might need a genomic/next generation sequencing test and if she's switched markers once already, I think you should at least consider a new biopsy. Also pls post what treatments have been tried so we can make better suggestions about options.

back pain does not automatically mean spine mets, but certainly you should bring it to your doctors attention

Not sure how common disc problems are, the usual problem is fracture

yes, I have spine mets but I am one who never had pain with them (yet). They were found on a PET scan in 2017.

In the general population, herniated discs are common. Most people have no pain. But when there is, it's often very painful.

Hello,

I am not stage IV (hopefully) as I am waiting on the results of my CT to see if my cancer has metastasized to my lungs.

Here is my question: Why are there no regular preventative screenings for Breast Cancer patients? Why does it take waiting until you have symptoms to see if it has spread? This means it is usually too late to treat effectively.

Pap smears, mammograms, colonoscopy, all designed to detect early development of cancer. But now that you have had it, and are more at a risk of it spreading elsewhere in your body, there are no regular scans available.

It just doesn't make sense. If I were in charge, there would be scans (CT, PET or MRI) available every 2-3 years for breast cancer patients. This would provide peace of mind in many and maybe allow early treatment for others.

Just my two cents......

ALovingDaughter - in my instance the disk didn't cause leg weakness (it did cause "foot drop" where I couldn't lift my left foot),but the mets did. I would suggest you definitely bring it up with the oncologist because anything causing weakness usually means something is pressing on the spinal cord or nerves somewhere and needs to be dealt with (even if it is just a herniated disk - that would be a neurosurgeon) as it can impact other more critical areas like bladder control.

If there is any ANY loss of sensation or numbness in the "saddle" area (between the legs, genitals area) or incontinence,that is a medical emergency and is absolutely an ER trip (signs of cauda equina).

thank you, SondraF. i'm not actually the patient but my mom. My mom is struggling from back pain and she experiences the "foot drop" that you said.

Hi, my calcium has been elevated (10.3 - 20.4) since last year but my PTH in on a normal low (29), it’s very unlikely it’s parathyroid. I’m concerned it’s hypercalcemia of malignancy, that some kind of cancer is causing it. I’m having issue with my throat, I’m feeling weird sensation and dry throat but no pain, my ENT thinks it’s allergy but it’s been bothering me for a while. Now with this elevated calcium again it’s worrying me. I will appreciate any info about hypercalcemia before cancer diagnosis or met

I guess I am looking for someone in a similar situation as myself. My journey started with the discovery of enlarged supraclavicular lymph nodes on a head CT for another issue. Biopsy showed metastatic adenocarcinoma, no obvious primary. PET/CT showed involved left internal mammary node, multiple mediastinal nodes, the supraclavicular nodes (5.7 cm or about 2inches), and some level 5 neck nodes. No evidence of disease in organs, brain, or bones. Recent mammo was clear. Breast MRI clear. Thyroid scan clear. Genomic testing on node tissue finally showed 81percent chance of breast cancer. Primary never identified . I was given diagnosis of Metastatic breast cancer, Tx, N3, M0, HR neg, Her neg, considered unstaged. So, I am triple negative, PDL-1 neg, and a genetic mutation of PALB2, which is almost as bad as the BRCAs. I started chemo with Carboplatin and Gemcitabine 2/17/21. Currently on cycle 5 of 6.

So I have breast cancer that is not in my breasts. Lymph nodes only. Surgery not an option, no lesion in breasts to remove. I have metastatic disease, but not considered Stage IV. I am triple negative so treatment options are limited. No immunotherapy since the PDL-1 is negative. I do qualify for PARP therapy because of the PALB2 mutation.

So when I try to find information about metastatic triple negative breast cancer treatment, prognosis, chance of recurrence, etc it always presumes surgery is involved, there is a primary site that can be measured, there is a stage to start with, there are organs involved. My round peg does not fit in these square holes. Even filling out the form to join this site I had to answer I don't know to a lot of questions since " none of the above " was not an option.

Anybody else out there not fitting in these standard categories?