A little scared

Living with secondary breast cancer Supporting each other and sharing experiences
1

I’m sorry if I’m posting this in the wrong place…I’m new to this.

i’m looking for advice re: the symptoms of rib/bone mets.

i was diagnosed Dec 2008 and have been out of treatment since Aug 2009. I was 32 and pregnant when diagnosed and so far so good. However, the past 3 weeks I’ve had rib pain, just below the affected left breast (I had lumpectomy, chemo and rads and I’m still taking tamoxifen). It feels bruised to the touch and sore when I stretch the area. Obviously I’ve googled to death and I’m now convinced I’ve got mets in my ribs. I’ve made an appointment with my doc for next week, but in the interim any advice would be appreciated. Is this similar to anything experienced by anyone else before a secondary bone diagnosis. I can’t remember hurting myself or doing anything to cause the pain.

Thanks for any advice anyone can offer, I’m making myself ill with worry x

2

Hi there, 

I can’t answer your question, but wanted to respond to say that I had no idea I have mets in my sternum as for me it was not painful, and I did not know about it until I had a CT scan of my chest because of breathlessness, which is caused by pulmonary embolism.

You are doing the right thing getting checked out, but in the meantime do you still have a breast care nurse from your primary that you can get in touch with? Or you could try the helpline on this website, as they have nurses who might be able to answer you.

All the best

Kinden (also diagnosed with primary in 2008, when I was 38) xx

3

Hi there. I don’t have any answers for you but I too have rib pain. I was diagnosed Sep 2017 (lumpectomy, radiotherapy, tamoxifen plus monthly zoladex). For the last 8 months I have had rib pain. Saw my consultant who ordered a nuclear bone scan & on the back of that was ordered to have a CT scan of the thorax. I was verbally told that the scans showed trauma to my ribs (maybe radiotherapy?) and I am to be re scanned in the New Year. However, I saw my consultant last month as I wanted my results to be put in writing & he said my scans are clear! I still have the rib pain (the severity comes & goes). I have just written to the hospital asking for clarification. I hope you manage to get to the bottom of your pain. I am still unclear 8 months in & it’s worrying x

4

Hi 

I was recently diagnosed with secondaries to my bones and liver. Along with a few other areas of my skeleton,  I have it in my second posterior rib on the left side, incidentally opposite side to the primary. The pain I get is when resting against my arm, such as levering myself up from a chair or out the bath.  I have had ‘soreness’ in my ribs on the right side where I had my lumpectomy 3 years ago. it sounds like what you describe and that is due to surgery, scar tissue and rads etc. I am guessing and hoping yours is the same. However You should always have these things checked out but unfortunately the not knowing/waiting is very difficult. I had a lot of Node involvement, which put me at high risk of secondaries/reoccurrence. As we all know, cancer doesn’t follow any set plan and there is no guarantees. We need to remain vigilant and enjoy everyday. 

Try and live in the moment, difficult I know, but it is far too easy to let this disease run our lives. sending positive vibes your way. Keep us informed and the best of luck. X

5

Thank you all so much for replying. I guess I’ll just have to ride out the fear until I see my gp next week and take it from there.

sending love and strength to you all on this crap journey x

6

Hi 091984,

 

I totally sympathise with your feelings and the position you find yourself in. You are doing totally the right thing getting it checked out.

 

I thought you might find my experience helpful, it might put things in balance a tad while you are getting your rib checked.

 

Just over 3 years after my diagnosis with BC I developed quite severe pain in my lower rear ribs. I thought/assumed it was just muscular and mentioned it to the onc during my checkup, primarily since I was aware they’d see me going ouch ouch ouch as I lowered myself down onto the check-up couch! They referred me for a precautionary nuclear bone scan. Had that, waited for the results, still thinking it was most likely muscular.

 

Went to get the results. Just in case I asked my partner to come with me. The results had come back showing 3 areas on my ribs, 2 rather large, the report saying highly suspicious of bone met’s. My onc referred me for a CT scan saying they’d need to check bones and organs, and warned me to prepare myself. She’s normally quite cool and calm, but did take my hand and say she hated giving bad news…so I knew what she was thinking. 

 

Needless to say, it span me off into another place. Because it was during the summer holidays it took 2 weeks to get the results of the CT scan, during which time I tried to be as calm as possible, but inwardly was trying to adjust to the thought of secondaries. I was racking my mind about anything I may have done to my ribs, however my GP thought it’d need to be something fairly recent to show up like that. I was aware my ribs had hurt about 10 years previously after getting slightly thrown forward and back on a boat or train.

 

CT results come back - 2 old fractured ribs (presumably from the period 10 years or so ago) and one small patch of ageing, something they call a false positive. Apparently it happens quite often. Needless to say I’ve never been so pleased to hear I’d previously fractured my ribs! However the stress I felt for the 2 weeks between the high suspicious report and the results of the CT - it physically manifested in my developing my first ever eczema. 

 

So while you are getting yourself checked, try not to jump to conclusions. I appreciate the location of the rib in question may be causing you extra angst, but false negatives do happen and sound fairly common. 

I never suspected I had fractured or broken my ribs and am normally quite body aware. 

 

Do feel free to message me if you think I can help in any way.

 

Sending hugs to you

 

Plus best to Kindersurprise 

 

Seabreeze  (5 years on) 

          

7

Hi, just wanted to say i uderstand how scared you feel, i think once you have had cancer, the fear is always there , im always thinking when will it return, like you im having rib pain, i put up with it for a while, then decided to see my gp, they referred me to hospital, and consultant has booked a bone scan, it seems for ever i been waiting for it , i just want it over, i got so close and it was cancelled the day before, its now rebooked for next week, it feels along wait when your waiting, definatley get yourself checked out , im worried mine has spread, but at the same time im telling myself its tamoxofin starting to cause me pain i have had 3 years on it with no issues, not even a hot flush, and i thought how lucky am i lol, maybe tamoxofin is being abit harsher to me now, fingers crossed, all the best too you .

 

Debbie

8

Hello ? You are doing the right thing to get checked out. I’m on Palbociclib for several months. I got tender sore ribs a few months ago and it lasted a few weeks, two or three. I told the doctor about it and we decided to wait and see. It went away and is ok. I was very worried but it hasn’t happened again. We all look out for symptoms like this and most of the time it will be ok but it’s so important to tell your doctor. Odds on it will be fine. I hope that you get peace of mind about it.