Liver mets question 🙋‍♀️

[Glas0824]

Question over liver mets…. Having been bone only since 2018, on leterzol and palbociclib, my last Ct came back with subtle changes to the texture of the liver. I’m now awaiting a MRI and in a panic. oncologist has said it isn’t certain it’s a spread yet, but as you can imagine I’m in a spin. My biochemistry is fine and liver not showing anything abnormal. Just wondering if any advice to calm my crazy brain!

[queeneee]

Take a deep breath.. if it is nothing, you will have having wasted time worrying, if it is something - you will address it with your oncologist. There is nothing to be done until you get the results. And please say this back to me when I am worrying!

[Glas0824 in reply to queeneee]

Thank you - it is hard to pull your brain into calm mode from survival…. But your words are so true ❤️

[Hazelgreen]

Judging from other posts on this site, oncologists seem to vary as to whether or not liver mets are directly treated. Perhaps, it depends on one's age and the location of other mets.

When I was diagnosed in 2019, I had extensive mets in skeleton, lungs, spleen, lymph, etc. My liver mets did not show up until the spring of 2021, but they've grown since, and now are up to 2.6 cm. in length. However, the liver is a large organ, and mine continues to function well, judging from my bloodwork where the liver enzymes remain in the average range.

My oncologist has not suggested any specific treatment for my liver mets, and I remain on letrozole and ribociclib. I think your liver enzymes remaining normal is a positive sign so I hope you are able to tell yourself not to worry whether or not your MRI indicates that you have liver mets.

Best of luck! Do let us know your results.

Cindy

[Glas0824]

Thank you - for pulling me back from the brink of panic!

[PJBinMI]

I agree that having good liver function is a great sign! My own onc started looking at all scans herself before jumping to conclusions based on radiologists' reports. We'd gone on several wild goose chases, finding no signs of progression and I think some radiologists are so concerned about missing something when they know we have MBC that they report things that an onc would not see as problematic. If we worry about every thing we'll drive ourselfs over the edge with unneeded anxiety! Have an onc and other docs you trust and don't get worked up about most....easier said than done. I went to a bc weekend retreat that my cancer center had every fall, about six months into mbc, and heard a wonderful audio on cancer by a psychologist named Belleruth Naperstek, who specializes in the mind body connection. She has an amazingly relaxing voice and does relaxation exercises. I found that available on healthjourneys.com maybe .net and after listening to her several times, just thinking about it helped me relax! I think her work can be downloaded now. (I'm not a techie!)

[diamags]

Be calm. It's normal to have little spots on the liver. I've been through this one, and it turned out that it is only important enough to watch. And it's been behaving since. So, deep breaths and calm. If you can. I really could be nothing.