Metastatic breast cancer: Anyone else?

Hi! I have the same problem as you. I had mastectomy in 2014. No radiation or chemo, took tamoxifen about 3 years. It caused too many side affects at work. I started having problems 3 years ago. The doctor checked for heart problems, no checking for cancer even when I told him it didn’t feel like a heart problem. He knew I had breast cancer but never checked for that. Symptoms kept getting worse, went to a different doctor 4 months later & she ran a whole bunch of tests and found Mets to lungs , ribs, spine, hips. I was on Ibrance & Letrozole for over a year & a half until it quit working. They tested me & found out the cancer had a Pik3CA mutation. I am now in a stage 1 clinical trial of a drug that targets it. I have been on it about a month, no side effects yet. Hopefully it works. Only my close family members know about my diagnosis no one to really discuss things with. I don’t want my family to worry about it. Doing ok otherwise.

I would talk to my doctor about this, compression fractures are painful if they happen. This kept me out of the saddle for a year, now I must be very careful (walking only) but I can occasionally ride if I can make the time. Since I refuse to take opioids except in extreme situations, I have been given lidocaine patches and those help a lot. Sadly this is a common product of MBC, my doctor says walking or swimming are the best things to keep my spine as healthy as possible. Swimming is out so walking it is. I also remember to be careful walking down stairs or hills as that is more impact. Thankfully we have a fabulous orthopedic clinic 60 miles away.
Are you having spine pain? Do you have lesions or loss of bone density?

Hello @tessspike ,
could you update us after your visit, please? I am also having increased hip pain and my last scans said, something along the lines of, to expect a pathological fracture in the spine. I don't know what specialty to go to to talk about these. E.g. how to manage pain, what kind of exercises I can do to strengthen the relevant areas, or what kind of exercises/activities to avoid to prevent a fracture,... Kiddo was asking about going to bowling the other day and I had to tell him I probably cannot do it 🙁

I am stage 4 with hip and femur mets, found 2 years ago. Pain developed in November and became so severe I was hospitalized. I simply had to go for opioids, but have gotten much relief for now. The docs think much of it stems from back spinal stenosis and spurs, so I am headed to an ortho/onco specialist today for a treatment plan. My onco believes the Kisqali and fulvestrant are still working. Life is going on and God is in in control. I’m living each day vs projecting a future that I don’t know!

I was originally diagnosed with Stage 2 invasive ductal carcinoma in 2018. Had a masectomy with 28 lymph nodes removed, chemo and radiation. My chemo was not completed because I was allergic and my Oncologist said he was fine with it because I had enough treatments. I also did 35 days of radiation and was on tamoxifen for 4 years. During those 4 years I started having pain my my right thigh and hip. I was referred to PMR by my primary and then to several different PT's. I was also given steroid injections in my hip and groin and did pool therapy. The pain was just getting worse and nothing was helping. I was given gabapentin and muscle relaxers and no relief. I didn't want to take any opioids or narcotic pain relievers because I wanted them to figure out what was causing this pain. I went from walking 4 miles per day to having a cane and then having to crawl up my stairs. My primary sent me for a 2nd opinion and that Dr knew my Dr and did absolutely nothing but send me back to him. I kept asking for images or MRI or anything to look and see what it was and kept being told it was from my hip, there was a tiny spur. He actually told me he can't order an MRI on my thigh! Finally my PT sent a note and told him I should be sent to Orthopedics because there didn't seem to be any soft tissue problems. He VERY reluctantly sent me and they did an X-ray of my hip which went low enough to show the 4.9 cm lesion in my femur. I was sent for an MRI of my femur (the test I was told they couldn't do) I Saw my results on the portal and ended up waiting a week to talk to someone in Orthopedics because the Dr was on vacation and got tired of waiting so called my Oncologist. He looked at the MRI and asked me if I could get to Rochester the next morning for a PET scan. I was told to stay off my leg as much as possible because there was a pathological fracture in my femur. The results of the PET scan showed it was in my hips, sacrum, iliac crests, liver and cervical spine. I had surgery a week later to have a rod put in my femur and I'm on Kisqali, Letrozole and Xgeva now for the rest of what life I have.

I was originally diagnosed with Stage 2 invasive ductal carcinoma in 2018. Had a masectomy with 28 lymph nodes removed, chemo and radiation. My chemo was not completed because I was allergic and my Oncologist said he was fine with it because I had enough treatments. I also did 35 days of radiation and was on tamoxifen for 4 years. During those 4 years I started having pain my my right thigh and hip. I was referred to PMR by my primary and then to several different PT's. I was also given steroid injections in my hip and groin and did pool therapy. The pain was just getting worse and nothing was helping. I was given gabapentin and muscle relaxers and no relief. I didn't want to take any opioids or narcotic pain relievers because I wanted them to figure out what was causing this pain. I went from walking 4 miles per day to having a cane and then having to crawl up my stairs. My primary sent me for a 2nd opinion and that Dr knew my Dr and did absolutely nothing but send me back to him. I kept asking for images or MRI or anything to look and see what it was and kept being told it was from my hip, there was a tiny spur. He actually told me he can't order an MRI on my thigh! Finally my PT sent a note and told him I should be sent to Orthopedics because there didn't seem to be any soft tissue problems. He VERY reluctantly sent me and they did an X-ray of my hip which went low enough to show the 4.9 cm lesion in my femur. I was sent for an MRI of my femur (the test I was told they couldn't do) I Saw my results on the portal and ended up waiting a week to talk to someone in Orthopedics because the Dr was on vacation and got tired of waiting so called my Oncologist. He looked at the MRI and asked me if I could get to Rochester the next morning for a PET scan. I was told to stay off my leg as much as possible because there was a pathological fracture in my femur. The results of the PET scan showed it was in my hips, sacrum, iliac crests, liver and cervical spine. I had surgery a week later to have a rod put in my femur and I'm on Kisqali, Letrozole and Xgeva now for the rest of what life I have.

I was originally diagnosed with Stage 2 invasive ductal carcinoma in 2018. Had a masectomy with 28 lymph nodes removed, chemo and radiation. My chemo was not completed because I was allergic and my Oncologist said he was fine with it because I had enough treatments. I also did 35 days of radiation and was on tamoxifen for 4 years. During those 4 years I started having pain my my right thigh and hip. I was referred to PMR by my primary and then to several different PT's. I was also given steroid injections in my hip and groin and did pool therapy. The pain was just getting worse and nothing was helping. I was given gabapentin and muscle relaxers and no relief. I didn't want to take any opioids or narcotic pain relievers because I wanted them to figure out what was causing this pain. I went from walking 4 miles per day to having a cane and then having to crawl up my stairs. My primary sent me for a 2nd opinion and that Dr knew my Dr and did absolutely nothing but send me back to him. I kept asking for images or MRI or anything to look and see what it was and kept being told it was from my hip, there was a tiny spur. He actually told me he can't order an MRI on my thigh! Finally my PT sent a note and told him I should be sent to Orthopedics because there didn't seem to be any soft tissue problems. He VERY reluctantly sent me and they did an X-ray of my hip which went low enough to show the 4.9 cm lesion in my femur. I was sent for an MRI of my femur (the test I was told they couldn't do) I Saw my results on the portal and ended up waiting a week to talk to someone in Orthopedics because the Dr was on vacation and got tired of waiting so called my Oncologist. He looked at the MRI and asked me if I could get to Rochester the next morning for a PET scan. I was told to stay off my leg as much as possible because there was a pathological fracture in my femur. The results of the PET scan showed it was in my hips, sacrum, iliac crests, liver and cervical spine. I had surgery a week later to have a rod put in my femur and I'm on Kisqali, Letrozole and Xgeva now for the rest of what life I have.