bottkota
chocolate fountain
Registered: 11/03/09
Posts: 34
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| | 11/03/09 at 08:53 PM | Reply with quote | #1 |
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hello all, was sent here by a friend from the breastcancer.org website. a little background for you. April '05 at the age of 30 I was diagnosed with stage 2 breast cancer. 2cm, no node involvement, bilateral mastectomy, AC and taxol treatments, triple neg (I really hate that word now). fast forward to this year. i have been having pain on my left side, that radiated down my arm which started in the summer of '08. nobody even me was concerned about it. well pain started to get a lot worse in September and the first part of october, i put in a call to my oncologist. He in turn ordered a bone scan. that showed something on my sternum. a week later we went in and had a PET scan done and the sternum and surrounding lymph nodes "lit" up. had a ct scan done to figure out if the spot could be biopsied. biospy was done last wednesday the 28th of october. got the call yesterday that the cancer has come back and it is in my bones. there are no other hot spots on my bones except my sternum area. but was no told about some liver abnormalities. until the day before my biopsy when they were deciding where to biopsy, my liver or my lung or if they would be able to do the sternum biopsy. well they were able to do the sternum. the radiologist said the lesion on my liver was small and he was not concerned about that. according to what my onc.'s nurse read from the report is that there are 4 hypo-plastiy (sp?) on my liver. small. sutle on the PET scan but showed up on the ct scan of my chest. should i be concerned about these abnormalities? i am meeting with my oncologist tomorrow afternoon to talk treatment options and what route would be best for me. i have read and heard that if your cancer is to come back it is best to come back in your bones, is that true? has anyone thought about altering their diet along with chemo to combat this nasty disease?????? any advice, thoughts, help, anything to ease my mind. thought after 4 1/2 years I would be free and clear. guess not. guess i need to fight this with all i got again. thanks for reading and letting me vent! |
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nosurrender
benevolent dictator
Registered: 09/07/07
Posts: 6,072
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| | 11/04/09 at 01:04 AM | Reply with quote | #2 |
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Hi Bott, I am so sorry you had this happen to you... but glad you found us! So WELCOME 
My first dx was TNBC, that was in 2001. My second was ER+ lobular in 2006.
I had always been told that if it is going to come back, it is best it comes back to the bone because bone mets are different... you can treat them very successfully. Many, many people with bone mets can become stable and even NED again.
Zometa is a drug that is really great, and works well. Your onc may just want you on that. If so, it is not bad. I do it once every six months as a preventative. The side effects are like the flu for a couple of days, but they lessen each time you get it. You don't lose your hair or anything like that. And your stomach is OK, too.
Your onc may want to add a drug to that, ask him about combos and if monotherapy (zometa alone) is enough to start and if you can be rescanned in three months to see how well it works before you add another.
With TNBC it is really important to keep your fat intake low. I keep mine under 30 grams a day. Whole foods- meaning whole wheat, grains, etc, are best. Avoid sugars, white flours and all processed foods. Alcohol is also a carcinogen. There are studies that show it can make your breast cancer progress. If you want to drink, don't do so on a regular basis. I also add flaxseeds to my diet since TN cancer cells have an abundance of epidermal growth factor receptors and flax can help reduce that.
There is a TON of research being done on TNBC right now and they really have some very promising treatments coming out.
Ask your onc if you should consider a platinum based drug, or something like Xeloda, which is a pill form of chemo. That works well on mets and you can take that with the Zometa.
As far as the liver, I am not certain of this completely, but I do remember reading something that said many women bone mets have some spots that are tiny show up on their liver, but they are not big enough to worry about - they are an outcropping of the bone met because the marrow is filtered by the liver. Once you get the bones under control, the liver usually follows. But note, I am not a doctor and you need to check on that with your onc.
You can fight this again- you will find that strength inside you that sustained you the first time you were diagnosed. It is just plain rotten that you have to fight again, but our motto is No Surrender and we mean it! We are here for you no matter what you need!
hugs,
g
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WE WILL PREVAIL
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