COVID

[Jenniferp2122]

hi everyone. My parent was diagnosed with covid on Wednesday. On Friday it was going to be the first pet scan since the MBC diagnosis in May of 2022 after starting Ibrance and letrozole. The symptoms of covid were very mild and I think getting better each day. I am so nervous for the new rescheduled pet scan on 9/16 instead of 9/2. Is the pet scan now going to be affected by covid? Also, is the Ibrance going to be impacted as well? Coincidentally she didn’t need to stop taking the Ibrance since it coincided with the week off anyways. I read some scary things that Ibrance stopped working- but my parent literally just began the Ibrance in June. Positive comments here please I want to remain calm

[Glas0824]

I was successfully on Ibrance for 3 1/2 years before it stopped working - in that time needed a couple of breaks for different things and oncologist was very calm about it and so was I. And as for the scan again, I don’t think a few days extra will make a difference. I currently have have covid and was supposed to start new treatment last week but delayed a fortnight now. Not ideal but two weeks isn’t going to make a huge difference. Good luck xx

[Jenniferp2122 in reply to Glas0824]

Thank you tons! Did you ever have covid while on Ibrance?

[Glas0824 in reply to Jenniferp2122]

No oddly never ! First time, I woke in a school as well so been around it lots so surprised only got it now

[Tantalon7211 in reply to Glas0824]

Was happy to read your reply about Ibrance- just wondered how long it took to work for you and if you still continued to have pain while on it- my Mets is in my upper Pelvis area and I’ve been on Ibrance for one cycle starting 2nd, along with hormone - had radiation while back- and have constant pain where Mets is- did Ibrance help your pain- and did it shrink - getting bone scan next week- and always a worry - glad you had 3 1/2 years of help and hope you’re on a new program that’s working for you now

[Glas0824 in reply to Tantalon7211]

I was very lucky in some ways as never had pain on Ibrance- only started to have pain toward the end and this was because it wasn’t working .

[Andersl]

Hi, I understand how you may be anxious and it's natural to think about the worst case scenario. Though the most likely outcome is that neither the covid nor the reduced treatment have had an affect on the results of the scan cancer wise. That said, if I've had a PET scan soon after an illness it can show inflammation in a node or two. Then they've disappeared by the next scan.

I'm sure you'll be fine.

[SabaAK]

Hi Jennifer. I know exactly how you feel!I was in the same exact situation last year when my mom was diagnosed and I started antidepressants to be able to control my emotions and overall mental health. It was only me no other family member around to be able to support,they all live outside of US. For the first 3 months I was like out of this world, I was not able to work to take care of my son to concentrate on anything until I found this site. I was reading every post I was asking so many questions and I learned a lot from every single member of this site. I was admired by strength of every single MBC women on this site and I told myself stop being negative and sending negative energy. I got so much knowledge about breast cancer and MBC on this site. My mom doesn’t speak English so I was and still handling all appointments by myself. All her medical group knows my name by heart,that’s how much I was bugging them about everything)). My mom is very strong women. She was trying to keep herself busy all the time and didn’t want any of us to talk about her diagnose,only before and after doctor appointments. Since I remember myself I was very hypochondriac and doctor visits every 6 months,so even before mom’s diagnose I was very sensitive to every check ups and blood works and was trying to get medical knowledge as much as possible Before and after every scan,every blood work I was panicking so extremely much. I’m still and I’m glad actually because it made me to check every petscan ,ctscans,mri and blood works in details. I was having her internal doctor to check for everything through her blood. I do always check mom’s scan results and blood work results before her doctor and look up for every little detail and I was making a list of questions to ask her doctor and I did actually figure it out that my mom’s lungs nodules most probably was not cancerous and I had radiologist,surgeon and oncologist to go over all the images again after 16 months and guess what even I’m not a doctor they called me after 3 hours and said that you are right Saba there is a possibility that your mom was not metastatic at all! 2 weeks ago she had surgery on her breast and they removed the tumor. So now most probably all the treatment will be changed. We will have the oncologist first appointment on Tuesday after surgery to discuss what to do next. I’m so angry and happy at the same time. Angry that none of them paid attention to her very first Petscan and SUV uptake numbers. They just were told that her petscan did light up and that’s it. No one bothered themselves to check petscan In details. Not like they don’t know what they are doing they just don’t care. I remember asking her oncologist for lung nodules biopsy and was told that there is no need, nodules did light up on petscan and that’s itAnyways.She was diagnosed 16 months ago and was on Ibrance all this time. Her breast tumor got smaller and rest of body remained clear. She got Covid right before her surgery which was 4 weeks ago and everything was fine on scans and blood work. She also was off Ibrance for 2 weeks and everything was fine. If you go through this site and check posts you will see how Ibrance worked for a lot of women here. Some of them are 5,7 years on Ibrance. Some has been living with MBC for 18,15,10 years and still active. Please try to send positive energy to the universe as much as you can and you will see how it works,it did at least for me as a daughter of MBC patient:). Please feel free to message me if you have any questions or fears or anxiety,anytime!

[SabaAK]

And it’s actually good that they rescheduled for later time,that way your parent will be able to recover after Covid more and the results will be more accurate,cause sometimes inflammation after viruses may cause some changes in scans and need time to disappear. Saba

[Beryl71]

Well I've recently had COVID, no tests or scans since but I'm feeling well and that's what I'm going by. I've read that results can be affected but imagine that will settle with time. I've also heard results can be affected by vaccination, but a trusted medical person mentioned that any of these events can cause inflammation in cells and therefore affect results. I'm going to take a long term view and trust that if I'm feeling well I'm not going to worry. And all will be resolved in time. Good luck! X

[Gingerann1]

Hi Jennifer! I had Covid in July and my meds were stopped for a few days, extending my week off. I am on Ibrance as well. At my 8/1 appt my Onc said if I happen to get it again he wouldn’t advise stopping my meds. He is finding with his patients that staying the course is not showing any changes in their bloodwork having had Covid that would suggest it is necessary. If Ibrance was going to stop working and a change of meds necessary it would not have to do with Covid. Please try to remain calm for yourself snd your parent. Try to think of this as a marathon with many choices of different med combinations that will keep them going. This is how the rest of us deal with this scary diagnosis, sharing information, venting when necessary, sharing the news when scans are good or not so good. There always seems to be someone on the board who shares what we need to hear at the time to get us through. Try to think in terms of “okay, what do we do next” to keep moving forward. I have a neighbor who is in her 23rd year of living with MBC! I hang on to that with every fiber of my being! Many, many of us are living so much longer and that will continue as there are more treatment options and we move closer to a cure. In March after 15 months on Ibrance and Fulvestrant I am in remission! No evidence of metastatic disease! There is hope!. Big virtual hug…Lin

[Jenniferp2122 in reply to Gingerann1]

I want to hug you! Thank you so much. You’re a sweetheart! Wishing you the very best of luck.

[Lakincaid]

I can’t speak to Covid but I can tell you that I would not worry about it effecting Ibrance. I have been on and off it since April in the hopes we could find a balance of dose and schedule to keep my ANC in check. I have made it through two of five cycles without disruption. Even with the irregular schedule I saw improvements on my first set of scans. Not exactly your case but wanted to try and reassure that the Ibrance can work even under less than optimum conditions.

[LadyKatarina]

Please remember that Ibrance is a complementary drug to the estrogen blocker. The estrogen blockers do the heavy work. I stopped Ibrance nuberous times for surgery, for SRS, for radiation, etc. Before I took Ibrance I studied the clinical trail results--if you do you will see that it only extends Progression Free Survival by a few months. I even wondered why they give it to us!! Best to you!

[8576]

Sorry you are going through this. It is difficult to manage a loved one with this disease. More so than if it was yourself. It doesn't matter how much you worry. The results are going to be the same. Try to think of it in this way. Wishing you all the best in the results.

Cheers, June S.