I am wriring this on behalf of my mom, she had breast cancer on left side back in 2007 (chemo, radiaton and tamoxifen for 5 years). everything seemed to be going well until she had surgery to remove her gull bladder 2017, she then started to experience pain near surgery area. Months later july 2018 she developed a pleural effusion on right side, she had to have drainage for about 2 months. her effusion never cleared up completely though with Ibrance and letrozole fell down to 100 ml. I am never sure why they didn't stop the effusion, just 2 months of ibrance and letrozole and her effusion had sunk from 700ml to 100. I say this in case someone ever reads this with same condition, please ask them to continue draining until no more build up, i think i went along with it and i think it was a big mistake.
for the last 25 months she had been mostly stable on letrozole and ibrance, just a few weeks ago she did a ct scan and it showed quite a lot of progression on bone mets and that the pleural effusion ha slightly increased. In a span of 4 weeks my mom has lost 20 pounds i believe as a combination from the stress and pain she is feeling around her back and shoulders area.
I am wondering if anyone felt this sudden bout of pain all of the sudden, from what i have read it doesnt appear to get bad this quick. Her doctor suggested simply pain med and tamoxifen? when i pushed for something stronger he said we can try pill chemo. Can any of you ladies suggest experience with something else. my mom was doing so well in terms of be able to clean, cook and take her of herself as early december, and now she cant put on her socks or cook, which has been devastating to her, since she loved to take care of our family
any suggestions info would be helpful. thank you all and stay strong, don't give up hope
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vincekit
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I'm sorry your mom has to go through this. I had a similar experience. In November, I was diagnosed with bone mets from breast cancer thatbhad spread. The pain was mostly in my neck. They immediately started me on hormone therapy...tamoxifen and the a month later, an oral chemo called Verzenio. I still felt terrible and some areas of the bones hurt more. An MRI showed that I still had a lot of activity.. A month later, I am doing 12 rounds of taxol and feel much better. In my situation, the chemo worked faster to get to my cancer. Hormone treatment is more effective if the cancer is already controlled. Perhaps get a second opinion. It sounds like mom needs something that will address the cancer quickly.
Hello, Vince. I was on Ibrance/Letrozole for 33 months before progression. Now on Faslodex shots (one in each hip area) once monthly. Has your mom been given Xgeva injections to stabilize bones?
You may want to ask oncologist about both of these meds. God bless you for watching out for your mom. Prayers for both of you!
thank you for your response, we haven't done any bone strenghtening for fear of a side effect, she has some issues with her teeth and they are saying it is higher chance side effect, i was thinking perhaps someone did oral chemo they belive that might work better and quicker as Lks70 mentioned
We all have MBC, but each of us is different. Biology of cancer can vary greatly from one person to another. It might be best if your Mom gets a second opinion if the first opinion is not helping. But your Mom needs to make the decisions, not her loved ones. She needs to discuss any issues she has with her oncologist. It would drive me bananas if my daughter tried to be my oncologist. And it would worry me that she was getting too involved in my illness rather than living her life. If you want to help your Mom, do things for her that might be difficult for her - like cleaning kitchen cabinets (just be sure you put everything back exactly like it was). Please don't try to take charge of her life. That is her job. I do like the fact that you love your Mom so much, but let her make her own decisions and do her own research. Blessings, Hannah
Hannah,I'm sure that this lovely daughter is sharing her opinions with her mom and they are making decisions together. With Mom unable to put socks on in the morning and in a great deal of pain, I'd imagine she'd be having difficulty finding the strength or wherewithall to be conducting her own research. She is so lucky to have a family member able to accompany her to oncology appointments and to do a bit of research, even on a website like ours. If you reread your own response, it's a bit unwarranted, given the situation at hand. JMO.
Hi Linda, thank you for your response, yea sadly she can't do her own cooking and cleaning since she cant even lift 5 pounds let alone research anyways don't want to create any negative energy between any of you ladies as i know you are going all through difficult moments urselfs, i wish you lots of health linda and thank you for your response
yes i agree, i also wanted to say if you haven't read how to starve cancer, give it a read it really opened me eyes my mom hasn't tried any of it but i think it can only help
Hi Hannah, my mom is able to speak english but when it comes to reading and writing not well she came to Canada when 15 years ago, so her doing research is not something able to do. i appreciate that you want her to do her own research which therefore allows her to make her own decisions, but she's in a postion where i;ll have to do it and hopefully it allows her to make a more informed decision. anyways take care and thanks for your response
I would suggest having a deeper discussion with the oncologist about other possibilities besides the pain killer option. Xgeva was a good suggestion except when you said there is concern about her teeth. Perhaps you could question the doc more about the chemo option, and what side effects, etc to expect with that. If it is a particular spot on the spine that is causing the pain sometimes radiation helps take the pain away BUT that needs to be reserved for last measure usually, as you can't radiate every spot. ( In other words radiation for pain is a last call measure). If it's a while since she had her last scan can they do another scan?
I hope you feel the oncologist is giving your mother enough information along with the options. A second opinion might be something else to consider if you're not getting much help with her current doctor.
The book you mentioned I'm sure is interesting, and I am open to alternative ways of helping heal, but to be honest I would not be experimenting with something like that at this stage. In fact that's something else that should be brought to her doctor's attention. Are they aware of her fast weight loss? It is important that she can keep her strength. They might want to refer her to a registered dietician/nutritionist to ensure she is getting adequate nutritional needs.
Hi, Sandra,I guess I haven't noticed the change in dynamics. It could be that I don't read every post; just those that I might be able to provide some form of recommendation or insight to help someone, or those that have input that applies to my own situation.
Let me just say that I've never seen a post like Hannah's--that was so dismissive and blunt toward a daughter who was seeking help for a mother who was unable to do so. I don't have any problems with family members reaching out on behalf of a loved one with breast cancer. Particularly when the loved one is experiencing extreme difficulty with their disease. That's what love and family are about.
And there was never a better quote than "we can just agree to disagree." I respect your input, too, Sandra!
I'm the same as you Linda I just read some posts not all. All the posts I've read are very supportive. So I haven't noticed a dynamic change either. Maybe Hannah didn't mean it as harsh as it was read by you and I . I said that in one of my posts that sometimes I am afraid to post because I'm afraid that how I write something can be taken totally different then I meant it. I'm not very good at putting my thoughts and feelings into words on paper. Sandra is definitely able to say things just the way she means them and that is why she is so good at explaining things on here. I just wanted you to know that you where not the only one who felt Hannah's response sounded harsh. I'm glad Sandara was able to give us a different perspective on it. As I truly believe this is a very supportive site!!!!
Totally agree with you, Justme153. This is indeed a great site for sharing and caring. My belief is, knowing that all of us are (relatively speaking) in the same boat, it is best to treat every member and their families with the same kindness and compassion you yourself would expect to receive.Call me overly sensitive; I would still post my same response that I did originally.
Hi there, I had a similar experience (sudden arthritis like pain that was quite debilitating) and was put on cymbaltra which has helped quite a bit.Best wishes to you both.
My mom had breast cancer about 13 yrs ago., and then took tamoxifen for 5 yrs. then about 3 yrs ago she was diagnosed with bone cancer. She was doing really good on ibrance and letrozol, till the past 3 weeks. She was on the go, living a pretty good life. Now all of a sudden she is weak in bed and having pain. I am having such a hard time with this, she is having her scan tomorrow so I am praying there is a alternative medication that she can go on. I am crying as I write this. Don’t want to loose my mom. It’s so hard watching the people we love go through this.
Hi there, I am not sure where you are located, but I am glad they are having a scan on your mom very quick, i am in toronto and the doctor was very slow to react to do anything, it is imperative that your oncologist takes quick steps to stop any spread, and one thing i had found earlier was Jane's book, it is an alternative treatment using supplements and as such to treat cancers, get the book and read it a few times, if you want private message me and i can tell you a little about it, my mom never got the chance to try it as they took 3 months just to do radiation, I hope you are luckier than me
We are living here in Newfoundland. The healthcare system is not the best here now, we can’t get any doctors to stay,it’s a shortage. But in saying that they are excellent with my mom and she as a wonderful team. Her uncologist is wonderful. It’s so sad that your mom had to wait so long. So can u buy this book.
the book is called Jane's Book to starve cancer and you can find it pretty much anywhere, and it talks about the different supplements that could help along with medical treatment, like i said my mom never tried because we just didn't have the time, perhaps you will be luckeir, also please take this with a grain of salt as in my recommendations, i am just giving you the best advice i can, i have no idea if it helps or not, but there is even a facebook group so maybe that will help you as well, it's a lot of info so read it over a few times
Well my mom had her scan and nothing has changed. Which is great news. They had to up her morphine alittle, which I understand because she has been on the same dosage the last 3 years. She is still taking ibrance and letrozol. Her energy is not totally back but she is getting there. They are trying to figure out why she was so weak and now slowing regaining her energy. But hey I still got my beautiful mom.
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Ibrance stop working 
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Aches, pains on Ibrance + Letrozole
