I’m sure there’s lots of questions/discussions similar to this but my doctor has refered me for a bone scan (my last bone scan was clear in November) as yesterday my hip suddenly became very painful, irritated by movement and worsened to the point that I can hardly walk. There is a spot that is very tender and painful, like its badly bruised but I don’t have any bruise nor have I banged it. I have been diagnosed with secondary to my liver but my scans since chemo have shown NED. I have been taking tamoxifen for nearly 12 months.
As you have already been dx with secondaries this is something I would definitely speak to your onc about, and get checked out. I know the bruised feeling is very painful and could just be bursitis.
Thanks Dawn - I like the idea of Bursitis! Its so much better than the other option. I’m awaiting a date for the scan and will see my onc in a couple of weeks - I’ll let you know how I go on.
Hi Lea - sorry to hear you’re in pain - please don’t take this as gospel by any means, but the fact that it’s come on suddenly I would think is a good sign that it could also be something like a trapped nerve, maybe turning awkwardly in bed or something like that??
My bone mets were discovered at the same time as my bc and I’d had months of gradually worsening back pain prior to dx.
I will keep my fingers crossed that there’s a simple explanation for you.
Pain in the hip joint can be a SE of chemo - although I think it is quite rare. I remember Jenny Murray (radio 4 Woman’s Hour presenter) had an unusually bad case, as the chemo damaged the lining of the joints, and she finished up having a hip replacement. It was a while before it was properly diagnosed as the drs she first saw didn’t know anything about it. Worth mentioning perhaps to your onc? It was very unpleasant - but again, better than the alternative. Good luck - hope it is not what you fear. xx
Hi Lea
So sorry to hear you’ve been having some new pains, but good that your (our?) onc has referred you for a bone scan. Hope that comes soon for you, and that you get results very quickly as well. It’s difficult to compare pain, as it’s so like a “leaky roof” – the cause might be somewhere quite different to the leak. Same with pain, I’ve found. Do please see your GP for some suitable pain-killers now, if you feel you need them, prior to your bone scan. And of course hope it goes away, and is not bone mets.
Love, Marilyn x
New pains are always a worry aren’t they? I know what you mean Marilyn about the pain not necessarily being the site of the problem and I was having lots of problems with my back hence my scan last October. I’m still suffering though I do think its getting better. Scan this Thursday so we will see.
Finty, its interesting re the the Chemo SE issue because for a few days before my hip pain started I had pains in my legs and pelvis like when I used to get from my chemo. I will definately remember to mention this to my Onc.
My BC nurse tends to agree with you too Lesley. She thinks its unlikely that its a secondry as it seemed to happen suddenly with no build up. My GP is the one that reffered me due to the tender spot that thank fully as gone (I think). He was of the view we need to discount the risk of a bone secondry. I see my onc tomorrow so I’ll see if she agrees I need the scan - I think she will as its been two weeks now.
I’m not too worried at the min but it is getting more concerning the longer it goes on. Instinctively I think it’s some other problem but I am bracing myself. I was thinking earlier how I have spells were I try to live as if it had never happened and enjoy life without cancer…but heck, I reckon its a master seeker and no matter how hard I run I just can’t hide! It might not be a new reoccurance that finds me, the fears and frets are bad enough…
Thanks for your kind responses and I’ll let you know how I go on.
I have bone mets in my hip and in my spine. The kind of problems you are having could be anything - arthritis or side effects of treatment. I can only tell you my experience and I know everyone is different. the pain in my hip came on quickly and was only rtelated to movement. I didnt have any feeling of bruising and there was no pain to the touch. I started to limp very badly very quickly and there was no relief from the pain or the limp until I had radiotherapy treatment. My experience is that the pain and problems caused by bone mets are caused by the damage done to the bones and not from the cancer being in the bones. Havent explained that very well - I have mets in my spine which have caused nerve pain in my shoulders neck and arm, I dont have a painful back. I get a painful leg if I walk on it too much because the bones supporting my hip have crumbled not because there is any cancer in my leg.
Anyway sorry for rambling on just to say I think you should insist on your scan to check exactly what is going on so if you do need treatment for bone mets you get it sooner rather than later.
Fingers crossed its nothing more than normal aches and pains.
Well, my onc was on the ball today - then again, she always is! She sent me for an xray straight away and ran through the results with me about 5 minutes later. A round shadow has shown up on my pelvis, where I am most tender. She’s refered me for an MRI scan to get a conclusive picture - no other leisions have shown and she said there was a chance, that its an air pocket in my bowel and it could be a weird co-incidence…
Julie, my experience does sound a bit like yours - it came on suddenly, moving agrivates it, I can’t walk without limping and it throbs for ages once I sit down but I do think it is better than it was. Saying that though I haven’t tested by walking very far or for very long since the day it started and am tending to try to rest. And I think you explained it very well, like Marylin says, the leaky roof!
Hopefully my MRI won’t take too long and then I shall know for sure. Heck, it makes me feel so sad if I think for too long. I just put my babies to bed and I sat and held them in the dark and we chatted about things the eldest wants to do (she’s 4) and it breaks my heart. I don’t want to be a poorly mummy. I love them so much.
Hi again Lea
So glad your onc is following all of this up so quickly, and hope you get some answers soon. Fingers crossed it’s “something else” . . Marilyn x
Hope you get good news. I’m having a lot of pain with bone mets in my pelvis and have to say I’ve never had any throbbing sensation and even though my pelvis looks like someone has taken a bite out of the top left-hand wing (illiac I think they call it), it doesn’t feel bruised to the touch, so I very much hope that what you are feeling is due to something other than the dreaded bone mets.
Just wanted to say that I’m crossing my fingers that it is indeed “something else” and that you don’t have to wait too long for the MRI or the results.
Hi, I’ve got BC with liver and bone mets.
I had a similar thing happen last summer, but the pain came in my shoulder. Anyway, it got worse and worse so I went for an X ray and it showed mets in the humerus bone. My Onc also sent me for a bone scan and the tumour was almost non existent on the scan, but was very evident on the X ray. I just find this really difficult to understand, you would think bone mets would show up well on a bone scan, but for some reason mine dont. I have a lot of area’s of bone mets, but for some reason they hardly show up on bone scans, but show up on x rays, CT’s and MRI’s.
I hope you dont have to wait too long for you’re result. I always find the waiting the hardest and I get really short tempered and irritable at this time. Good Luck
Jane x
I too hope that you get your scan and results nice and quickly - I cope better when I know what I am dealing with whatever the news, it’s the limbo land of not knowing that can wear you down.
I have mets in my middle and lower spine and, even with my history, I thought I had just done too much/tweaked my back. I am still surprised that I am in this situation and how quickly the discomfort came on just like a muscle spasm or disc problem. It could just easily be that but at least with the scan you will know.
Good luck, I sincerely hope it is good news.
My ‘little’ ones (16 and 14) have just gone off with their Dad on ‘our’ skiing holiday - I am staying for chemo - rats!!! But I really feel for you with your little ones, they are so young and I know how much energy you need for them when they are that age. I wish with all my heart that I could make things all better for you - Mum’s are about the most valuable thing in the world…my job is to fill the cake tins again ready for them coming back next weekend!!!
Thanks all for taking time to share your experience and advice. I’ve been in hiding for a couple of weeks. I pretty much knew when I had my xray that it was a regional reoccurance and guess what my MRI said. No prizes for this one. it appears just one ‘hole’ about 2cm round in my illiac(?). Still hurts a bit. started Zometra in tablet form and changing from tamaxofen to Femera. Radiotherapy next week. My CT scan shows something on my liver too but as it hadn’t been reported my onc was reluctant to commit one way or another - she didn’t think it was clear enough for her to do so.
I’m really naffed off about it. Hey, I didn’t think I was going to get away with it for ever after my secondary diagnosis in ‘08 but I genuinely hoped it would stay away for longer. Then again an unwelcome guest rarely knows when it’s time to getlost. I just want to curl in a ball, in the middle of a lonely field, everything feels rally hard work and, me - the coper - feels unable to cope. So, I’m going to push back against this. I will bleedin’ well cope, or no pun, die tryin’! Suppose, coming on here does make me feel a bit better, you know like I can be in charge and I don’t need to hide. I’ll be back next week, to tell you all about my liver. Cross your bits n pieces for me - if thats still clear, I’ll be a whole lot happier!
And the kids - well, thinking of they and my thinking of my mum (but weirdly not my husbands and he loves me very much - I think…) is what really gets me in this. And I think, if I can just get them to their teens, but I don’t think that will help because I want to be there for all of it. I want to be their mum forever here, to help guide and advise and care for and love and hug, not just for bruised knees but for heartaches and all that life chucks up. And I just have to say, as a mum, I don’t think it matters how small or big your kids are they are still our ‘little’ ones and they are always our babies. And for so long as our mum’s are around, so are we. And I think that is why its the thought of how this affects my kids and my mum that gets me. Mmmmm, me thinks me on a tangent!
Ladies and gentlemen, goood night and thank you for listening!
I now feel better able to go to my old works reunion and put on my coping face. Sod it.
Dear Lea – so sorry to hear all that, but fingers and other appendages crossed for your liver scan. Good that you’ve started a different treatment regime, and hope it’s treating you kindly, and that it kicks those little 'uggers where it hurts. Let me know if you think cupcakes might help.
Love, Marilyn x