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Metastatic Breast Cancer treatment options

Posted by junec @junec, Oct 13, 2020

Hello all, Firstly thank you for creating this forum. Late August I was diagnosed with stage 4 MBC that has gone to @3 bones and through the skeletal system. Bone biopsy confirms BC in bones but PET shows the bones are not hypermetabolic where the breast & lymph are hypermetabolic. I'm in Raleigh NC. My surgical & medical oncologist have ruled out surgery, chemo & rad leaving me with one option, Ibrance with an inhibitor. I've read the trials ( 2016-17) on Ibrance and it seems like 79% of participants have lower immune responses. Firstly, Like to know if anyone has feedback on a newer protocol/drug regime as this seems to have been developed 3-4yrs ago. And anyone have personal experience with Ibrance if they could let me know what their day is like, quality of life. I understand everyone's different... I'm 68yrs, living alone and this decision weighs heavy on my shoulders. Thank you for your responses.

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windyshores | @windyshores | Jul 22, 2023
In reply to @tucsonmike "Thank you so much. Everything has been grimmer and grimmer. Since they stopped chemo and just..." + (show)
@tucsonmike

Thank you so much. Everything has been grimmer and grimmer. Since they stopped chemo and just went to antibodies her new scan shows more lesions in the thoracic spine and nodules in the lungs. So new info may help us find the resources we need.

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Does that report show slight improvements in some areas? I am just a lay person but I thought I saw that. Lymph nodes resolved except one that is smaller than it was. Is that good?

Are the sclerotic lesions and nodules malignant? Do the MD's know for sure? It they are ill-defined is that significant?

What do you mean by they "just went to antibodies"?

So sorry you are going through this, both of you, and hope that palliative approaches are helping. Sorry for the questions. You are busy so don't answer!

(I am a cancer survivor and about to check on nodules in my lungs....)

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tucsonmike | @tucsonmike | Jul 22, 2023

The oncologist cut the chemo by 50% but it was still making her so sick that she lost 38lbs after 3 chemo infusions. So the chemo helped in the soft tissue but she wasn’t hardly eating or drinking anything. Hence they stopped the chemo and are just using antibody infusion. The team leader told us though it is bad , very bad since it’s in her bones, especially the spine. As you see the lesions in the bones are bigger than the last scan.

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windyshores | @windyshores | Jul 22, 2023
In reply to @tucsonmike "The oncologist cut the chemo by 50% but it was still making her so sick that..." + (show)
@tucsonmike

The oncologist cut the chemo by 50% but it was still making her so sick that she lost 38lbs after 3 chemo infusions. So the chemo helped in the soft tissue but she wasn’t hardly eating or drinking anything. Hence they stopped the chemo and are just using antibody infusion. The team leader told us though it is bad , very bad since it’s in her bones, especially the spine. As you see the lesions in the bones are bigger than the last scan.

Jump to this post

This is so hard. Is she in a lot of pain?

I didn't realize chemo worked better in soft tissue and didn't work in bone lesions.

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