MRI of liver??? Question

Hello Kim,

My mom had an ultrasound on her liver before she was dx with mets. In 2004 my mom was initially stage 1 DCIS with .5mm IDC, no nodes involved, mastectomy, clear margins, chemo as she was Her2+++.  She was consider cancer free until 2007.  In late 2006 she had liver ultrasound as her liver enzymes were high, the US showed fatty liver, so nothing was thought of it....change in diet etc....to help the fatty liver.  My mom never had any pain in her upper right rib cage.  One year later she went for a PET/CT scan for something other and they found the extensive mets to the bones and liver.  I am not sure if the doctor mistook the fatty liver or not, no one knows.  But it is good they are doing an MRI to follow up...I know you must be very nervous, I went through this with my mom.  It was a shock however cancer was the last thing we were expecting, being she was only stage 1 in the beginning.  Rib pain could also mean gallbladder issue, pancreatitis etc.  So try not to think the worst off the bat....I know that is easier said than done.  Have you had any blood work done, such as a liver panel etc?

When is your MRI scheduled?

You will be in my thoughts and prayers for good MRI.

Take Care,

Michelle

Wow, Sherri--good for you for pushing until you got the test you needed! Good luck with the surgery.

Kim--you asked how cancer can spread w/o lymph node involvement. BC can "jump" the nodes through the blood stream and spread that way. Dr. Susan Love's book states that something like 30% of Stage IV bc is found in node negative patients. So, statistically, negative nodes are a good thing, but they're unfortunately no guarantee.