All,
I do not have secondary breast cancer currently. I was diagnosed in 2007 when I was 28 years old with HER+++ hormone neg cancer in right boob. had mastectomy, chemo, rads, herceptin and have been clear since then. I went to the GP with some upper right side pain, was concerned about liver mets and asked for a scan. She suggested bloods first. I was called to have an ultrasound booked for next Thursday and when I checked for my blood results was told my bilirubin was elevated (this is fairly standard for me as I have gilbert’s syndrome) but that one of my inflammatory markers had come back marginally elevated hence why they want to scan.
I haven’t been able to discuss with the doctor, they just handed me a letter and I have no real idea what it means - could inflammatory makers mean something other than mets? Anyone else had something similar? I am sorry to gatecrash your forum, but over the years I have found the ladies on here incredibly helpful through the many scans, fears and ups and downs of living with the shadow of this bloody thing.
Thanks so much
L
Hiya . Welcome …but I’m so sorry but I don’t know the answer .
But I’m sure one of the other ladies here will be able to help.
Xx
Hi
I understand a bit about Gilbert’s Syndrome as one of my oncologists was convinced I had it as my bilirubin was always raised at that time. However I also have mets in my liver and now that treatment has been working well the bilirubin levels have been back in the normal range. At the time when its level was raised I almost always had another liver function also high or out of range which indicates the liver is inflamed so maybe you also have this? It’s the ALT reading but this can indicate things other than liver mets - it can just be you’ve had too much to drink, say, and the liver is struggling to cope or for other reasons which put the liver under stress. I hope this information helps but also that it doesn’t over worry you if another reading it high. It sounds like your worries are being dealt with by your GP as you have an ultrasound next week and hopefully this will shed light on the matter - in a good way. No doubt your mind will go into overdrive, as happens with all of us I think, so my advice would be not to do any online research - there’s some very scary, and out of date, facts and figures on there and until you have a definitive answer you can convince yourself you have everything! I know only too well from experience. Do come back on here for any support or advice though we do all understand and someone can usually help as almost always one of us has experienced the same.
Good luck and take care
Nicky x