Covid with mestastatic BC?

Living with secondary breast cancer Treatments and medical issues
1

Hello everyone. I would like to get some tips from you - my mom has metastatic BC with metastases mainly to the bones, last year in September her makers went up and recieved treatment a hasn’t been the same since. The doctor took her off denosumab and instantly the calcium in blood shoot up, she was hospitalized few times because of it (till then my mom haven’t had any other problem than markers, she wasn’t in any pain,  no other sites of metastases so the doctor thought that the metastases in the bonec could be artifacts from denosumab, that’s why he took her off). Now that she is back on denosumab, her calcium level is stable but her hemoglobin levels are low - she recieved 13 blood transfusions since November. Inicially we thought that the calcium had something to do with that, so after her calcium level stabilized we were full of hope. But the she got covid (she got it in hospital, we were very careful otherwise and nobody but her was positive) - and it seems to us, that the blood has not yet recoved - her hemoglobin is still falling, transfusion doesn’t help for long and the doctor refuses to continue with treatment in such case. He really doesn’t talk to us or to her about any option, or what can be next etc which makes us all very hopeless and it seems like we are at the end. Her bones started to hurt, some days she can’t even get out of bed - for the pain she has tramadol + paracetamol, she doesn’t want to hear about morphine because that feels to her like the end. 

To complete the image - she was diagnosed in 2014 with stage 4 mestatic breast cancer and the treatment in September was her 6th line of treatment. Her imaging showed possible spread to the lungs and liver, which haven’t been biopsied yet. I feel lucky to be able to say, that until 2020 she was painless and funtional, but we refuse to give up - although some days she seems like she would like to stop trying. 

So finally my question - do you have any tips on the mentioned anemia and do you think it could be due to covid along with the treatment toxicity recieved back in September? Or is it more likely that the cancer invaded bone marrow? Her other blood components are OK and stable. The doctor’s plan is to wait it out, till it sorts itself out and until then she has to recieve transfutions. We have tried every home remedy we could think of and that’s why I’m here. 

Thank you for your replies and stay strong.  xx

2

Hi I am sorry you mum is going through so much.  I can’t suggest anything re her bloods but just wanted to say that if she is resisting morphine because she feels it means the end, it really doesn’t.   I have been taking oramorph for spinal mets for nearly two years and just take a couple of small spoons a day.   I have spine mets and had surgery to my spine for a fracture and have had pain ever since.  I take paracetamol and just top that up with oramorph when the pain is bad.   It is simply the next step up for pain relief.  I hope you mum starts to feel better.  I had covid a year ago, not badly but felt exhausted for quite a while afterwards.   Sending hugs xx

3

I had COVID in March last year and then had long COVID, my cancer already affected my bloods and I was having 3 weekly blood transfusions and sometimes had emergency ones in between as cancer or long COVID affected my bloods, treatment was stopped between March to June due to COVID and all of my bloods counts were low, bruised very easily, and extreme fatigue slept most of the time, and lost a lot of weight, was given steroids, now back on treatment and have gained some weight, last scan cancer was stable.  Your mum will hopefully feel better with time, and just needs to do what her body allows.  Hope that things improve for you all.