I really want to know how long a fractured bone takes to heal while on IBrance, Faslodex & Xgeva (every 3mos)? In April 2019, after thinking I had a pulled quad muscle for 8 mos, learned I had stage 4 Bone Mets in my left pelvis bone at the mid-point of the hip socket.
There is no way to do bone cement or surgery to repair the weakened pelvic bone so I was told to stay off weight bearing on my left side. I had 5 rounds of SBRT to shrink the tumor. It did not alleviate my pain. I use a crutch & wheelchair. They said 8-12 weeks it should heal on its own. For pain I take 800mg ibuprofen 3x/day. Gaining weight due to inactivity. I was a tennis player & worked out with weights prior to the severe left quad pain. BTW, I had good marker readings every 6 months & my Oncologist never asked me any questions of other aches & pains so I did not even think tell them about a “pulled quad.” I recently asked my Oncologist why they don’t ask proactive questions about overall health, pain that does not go away, etc. since we know Breast Cancer most frequently metastasize in the bones. She didn’t have a response. I told her I wouldn’t be in a wheelchair today if they would have been more proactive in our 6 month appointments and if they told me to be on the lookout for certain symptoms which could be indicative of cancer metastasizing.
Given that IBrance stops cancer & good cells from reproducing, how long will it take a bone to heal, on average?
Thank you for any insight you can provide.
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Hi hope, that happened to me also! July of last year I woke up with pain in my neck, my doc treated me for severe osteoporosis, after lots of med, physical therapy and wasting 4 months with none stop pain, MRI showed that, it is met cancer to my neck bone(c4) ( I had bc on 2011). I started Radiation on November, following IBRANCE , faslodex and exgiva on December, also I was wearing neck brace from November to March. Finally March X-ray revealed that the fracture is starting to heal. So negligent of doctor caused me fractures(from PT) and excruciating pain for several months! Unbelievable why the want us to answer every nonsense questions and they don’t bother to read it. Because as you said history of bc on a patient should be an obvious suspicion. Good luck to all of us on this journey!
I hear you on the missed dx... mamo clear, dr exam clear, but what about this swelling under my armpit? We’ll watch it....for four months and several appointments using an ultrasound test of armpit revealed swelling going down but not going away. THEN they did a biopsy that revealed BC cells in lymph node that spread to hilar lymph node and spots on lung. Hello? Anybody home?? Went to another hospital and pet scan diagnosed me and began treatment Ibrance/letrozole a total of 9 months after fooling around with ultrasound technology that was useless for me. Total waste of precious time. There should be a set of protocols that doctors follow and that patients are aware of so we know what to do. I just love the way the med field says early detection Is key for successful treatment. Something is amiss ....and here we are all in the same boat. 😒
I am learning this behavior from oncologists is far more common and true for so many of us. I don’t want to become negative or jaded but it does make me angry & I do want to question their real motives.
My original cancer was 25 years ago and mbc discovered last year due to a fractured vertebrae..I have extensive bone mets..spine rib pelvis etc and I reckon I’ve had it for some time...I complained of back pain for years but no radiographs were suggested
I never had markers checked with the oncologist or scans as it was ‘assumed ‘ after all this time all was well
I feel as if I wasn’t monitored and I’m angry with myself for not suspecting mbc but working as a dentist bent over patients , riding horses and being 64 yrs old....you sort of think it’s just me getting older
Anyway to answer your question re healing...I did have a vertebraplasty done on the fracture but honestly I’m still in pain and it’s over a year now so I don’t know if pathological fractures heal the same
I hope yours heals fast and you can get out and about more...I have to take cocodamol 30mg and ibuprofen 800mg regularly and sometimes top up with ocycodone....no joke is it
Thank you @Barbteeth, I appreciate your story and healing wishes. I hope you too get relief and healing. I really miss being active & I hope I can walk normally soon. ❤️🙏❤️
Your story sounds like mine. I thought the pain in my back was due to old age. I do have lots of degenerative changes in most of my spine, but he main pain was from a collapsed and fractured T12 vertebra and compression of root nerve. Radiotherapy helped, but I have a fear of it crumbling away and crushing the spinal cord, especially after I read that radiotherepy can weaken bone. They have not suggested vertebraplasty. I don't think it is standard practice for where I am. I also have it in the ribs, pelvis, nodes, pleura and lungs. i complained for years about pain and breathing symptoms. Not one doctor suggested it could have been mBC.
Hello Laskia: Thank you for sharing your story! I’m sorry to hear of the late diagnosis of progression and complaints being unheard by your oncologist. Sadly, it happens more often than we realize. I have become my own avid advocate. I get a 2nd opinion on pain that doesn’t go away and any recommended change of treatment. I keep a running notebook on my symptoms & questions. I wish you the best in your treatment & quality of life.
I was told I had osteoarthritis and told to go away and exercise and lose weight (bmi was 25 so not dramatically overweight). After 7 months of increasing pain I paid privately to see orthopaedic consultant, and widespread bone mets were found.
My Oncologist had previously agreed with arthritis diagnosis without doing any tests, and was annoyed with me for seeing the orthopaedic consultant without consulting her first!
I had a fractured vertebrae. The pain went after a single radiotherapy session and starting on meds, so I presume it’s healed but when i’ve asked they’ve just said that they don’t know.
I am amazed by the similarities in all our stories. Do we not receive proper responses to our pain issues because they really don’t know or because they aren’t really listening?
I suffered rib pain for a year before finally being diagnosed with stage IV bone mets in ribs and pelvis.
I have been on Ibrance, Xgeva and Femara. My pain is mostly gone. However I still am trying to figure out effects of meds. When I have an ache I wonder is it age (I’m 68), the medicine? Cancer?
So far I have had one PET scan and it showed real improvement. I started meds in January of this year.
I am sad and a little angry that bone mets aren't discovered by docs when a surviving cancer patient presents with pain. My original oncologist, now deceased, told me to come to him if any pain kept me up at night. That was my cue to sound the bell for him. I was fortunate enough to be scanned every 6 months prior to my recurrence in 2017, which btw, found extensive bone mets as well. Cyberknife helped with that, but I did end up with more mets (liver) so am on IV chemotherapy for that. But, anyway -- if it keeps you up at night -- tell your doc you want a scan, not PT!
I have bone mets that are still giving me a lot of pain. I’m on a Fentanyl patch for the pain. I asked my pain nurse what I should expect. Will the pain slowly get better? She said if it hadn’t gotten better by this point(I was about 10 months into Ibrance with NED)it wasn’t going to get better. Her explanation was that the damage to the bones is like arthritis damage and once you get a certain amount of it, it doesn’t get better. I was glad she was honest because I would rather learn to deal with it than feel like I was being a sissy or a hypochondriac and be down on myself! Ask for an honest evaluation of your pain or a pain specialist and get the medication you need to make it easier for you to function.
I too dealt with pain without the MBC diagnosis from my primary care doc. He kept saying it was just a back muscle spasm and it would get better. It took my husband reminding him that I had had breast cancer to get him to do an MRI. I was in too much excruciating pain to take him on myself. Usually I’m pretty blunt and demanding if I don’t think they are listening, but it was all I could do to deal with the pain!
Good luck in getting some help with your pain. Elaine
Thank you Elaine. So sorry you are suffering with chronic pain. It’s sad that so many of us suffer from doctors not listening to us or not giving us the warning signs to look for so we wouldn’t have to deal with cancer that grows untreated for such a long time. ❤️🙏❤️
Although I do have chronic pain I have a great oncologist who thinks you should be able to live a great life so he gives me enough pain meds...a Fentanyl patch and Dilaudid for breakthrough pain so that I can do most of the things I want. He’s very understanding that some days it takes 4 extra Dilaudid to get through my day and other days only one or two. My husband and I went to the beach last weekend to visit our kids who were down there camping. Since my husband just had knee surgery, I did the driving (5 hours), the dog chores(90 pound black lab), and played with the grands. It was a 4 pill day. My oncologist only asked if it was worth it! Yes, of course! Cancer sucks but life is still worth living!
I don’t like being in pain so it helps about 80% to take Rx Ibuprofen 800mg 3x/day. I use a crutch or cane on my left side to not put too much weight on my fractured but not displaced pelvis fracture at the midpoint of the hip socket. I wonder if I took the narcotic pain killer if I would risk putting too much weight on my left side and damage the pelvic bone further and inhibit its ability to heal on its own?
The orthopedic oncologist says if I do minimal weight bearing on my left side, it should heal on its own. I can’t get anyone to tell me how long that should take. All I hear is, months or it may never heal. Hoping to hear from anyone with practical experience on this.
I don’t know the answer to your question of how long, but I do know that long term use of ibuprofen is apt to give you kidney problems and stomach problems. I was having good results from Aleve but my oncologist said he’d rather have me on long term opioids and deal with getting me off them if I didn’t need them any more than deal with the kidney and stomach problems caused by it. You might ask your pharmacist about it and then ask whoever is prescribing the Ibuprofen. Elaine
@TheGoodFight. I’m so sorry for your suffering. The inability to walk on our own is sometimes worse than the cancer itself to me. Do you live in the US? Are you seeing an orthopedic oncologist? If so, what have they told you? Keep up the good fight! ❤️🙏❤️
Yes I'm currently in a rehab facility non weight bearing right side. I had Ortho set up a surgery. They want to get progression stopped then surgery. The order is concerned about the surgery because lesions where they would place cage in pelvis. Could have fracture... Just a waiting came for now. So deconditioned from sitting in bed. I do rehab but just so fatigued. I am being seen SCCA Seattle WA USA. Where are you from. Prayers for you. ❤️
Thank you for sharing! I am in Tampa FL. My Orthopedic Oncologist is at Moffitt. My regular Oncologist is at Florida Cancer Specialists. I am at home but I use a crutch or cane on my left side. For long distances outside my home I use a wheelchair. I have a weakened left pelvic bone with a fracture at the mid point of the left hip socket. I had SBRT 5 rounds to shrink the tumor. That was 3.5 months ago and no scan so far shows any decrease because (I learned after the fact) that the radiation swells the bone so I probably won’t know anything until Sept at the earliest. I am getting my first head to toe bone scan in late Sept, that will show if I have any other bone Mets & hopefully, if my pelvic fracture show any signs of healing on its own. That is the Oncologist’s first choice.
I got so down from the weight gain from the drugs & inability to exercise easily. Now I sit in a chair with resistance bands to do upper body & some leg strength training. 20min every other day. That has given me more strength & a sense of control. I have fatigue from the IBrance. Taking Faslodex & Xgeva too. I also take Ibuprofen 800mg Rx 3x/day for pain.
I had right mastectomy February 4th 2019 my hip was hurting then local emergency room said I had bursitis and send me home with crutches well after I had my surgery I didn't feel much of anything because of the pain medicines but after I was done with the pain medicines my leg started affecting me and my hip so I started using a walker and I just wouldn't put up my weight on my right side well that went on for a couple of months and then finally as I kept getting worse and worse I was getting in the shower the suction bar slipped and it sent excruciating pain through my hip all the way down through my foot I was screaming things I shouldn't been saying for 2 hours emergency took me in and then they transferred me to UW medical center in Washington. They did a lot of scans saw the tumor I had five doses radiation on that side five doses on the left side because there was small disease on left side too and we wanted to stave it off. Then after that I went to rehab facility and have been in rehab facility since may 5 doing the arm band exercises and what I can do for exercise. I just started piqray the new medicine today. I hope this is an answer to prayer to stop the progression cuz in the last month I went up 200 points tumor marker numbers and scans also lesions measured double. I know the weight again trying to stay away from carbs and sugar plus with picray I heard that's a good idea it inhibits glucose reception I think. They did the test I have the pik3ca mutation I don't know what one.... Much ♥️ love good talking with you! Ty
When I read some of these stories I feel so bad. Some are horror stories.
I THINK EVERY ONCOLOGIST AND EVERY EMERGENCY ROOM and EVERY PRIMARY DOC SHOULD READ THESE STORIES AND IT SHOULD BE MANDATORY. THIS needs to stop.
They think women exaggerate their pain or think all we want are pain meds or that there must be some mental issue.
They don’t listen and they aren’t curious enough to consider all possibilities, especially when we return month after month.
I have one oncologist tell me that medicine hasn’t yet evolved to where they see the whole person. We are just parts, I guess, that have no relation to the rest of our bodies.
I have learned so much from each of you and I don’t feel so alone.
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Any experience with treatment shrinking liver mets but bone mets spreading?
Bone Mets
Good PET, bone mets symptoms
Brain mets in addition to lung, bone and liver
