Hello,
Yesterday my Mum went into to A&E with me, she was generally feeling very unwell. The night before she had trouble breathing and could not catch her breath.
She has been taken to the Cancer ward, she is being treated with IV anti-biotics & with air.
We have noticed her breathing has got far worse since an increase in dose with Vinorelbine, this is her ‘week off’.
Her oxygen saturation is around 88->90 that i’ve seen, is this a feature of the chemotherapy? She’s had breathing problems since she started chemo in October, prior she had none but a cough - the cough has subsided alot.
X-Ray shows that she has not had massive amount of growth in her lung (stage IV BC mets, lung, liver & bone) - nothing we didn’t know about. Is this an infection or the chemo, or something worse?
It’s very difficult to advise on this but, as a respiratory nurse and I must stress, only going on what you have said, I doubt this is due to chemo. Oxygen saturations dropping are usually due to a problem in the lungs, or sometimes with the heart.
Julia xx
Hello,
She is currently on oxygen and the saturation has risen when off of the face mask, the heart doctor thinks it’s an infection based on the x-ray, bloods & his knowledge of the heart, he did hint that it looks as though cancer is on both lungs… although, minimal he wasn’t sure what he could see… but that’s for the Onc to decide hopefully tomorrow/Monday.
Thanks 
Oncologist said it could be either… I hate how cancer treatment isn’t a precise science, it’s nothing more than guess work, or at least it comes across that way to me…
It’s really tough waiting to know. Until the antibiotics have had time to kick in you won’t know for sure and if the infection is severe then it will take a few days to start clearing. I wish your mum well.
take care
Elinda x