Hi, i had idc grade 2 breast cancer in 2017, mammoplasty surgery, 3 sentinel lymph nodes removed, 15 radiotheryopy, and tamoxifen. All has been fine, but ive had oppiste side armpit pain for 2 months which i kind of ignored hoping it would go away, i decided to go to the doctors, and they referred me to breast clinic, they found one lymph node thats slightley larger than it should be, they didnt seem to be too worried about right boob, but they have booked me in for a scan on it and my lymph node, they said that my pain was deep and they think its my ribs, they have also booked a bone scan, i came away thinking wow , i actually never even thought it could be bones, and now im remembering the back ache i wake up with in the night and every morning thinking, gosh i need a new mattress, now im worried my cancer spread through my blood as my lymph nodes were clear. I quess what im asking is, has this ever happened to anyone else.
Hi Debbie I understand your anxiety as I have been diagnosed this week with bone and liver mets. It is 3 years since I was first diagnosed with bc. 14/29 of my lymph nodes were infected, so I always knew I was at a high risk of secondaries. I had a very small lump to the right breast and had full node clearance. amazing how such a small lump (less than 2cm) has managed to do so much damage! I had chemo, rads and was on tamoxifen then letrozole. I have also been on palbociclib (18months) as part of a trial. however here I am ‘living with secondaries’ .
My my current issue started mid July with severe pain in my shoulder blade, which I put down to muscular because I had been on a very long hike and carrying a bag. However after diagnosis of a second bout of pleurisy in September my GP referred me to ambulatory care and thank goodness she did so. After various scans etc I was found to have mets to bone and also the liver. I did have quite severe pain between my shoulder blades, it is my second rib on the left that is infected. That has settled a lot but I think it was aggravated from the hike as the pain started the next day. I also think wearing a racing back bra, when running has caused pain. I noticed it was digging into me and read some articles about how these bras can cause inflammation in that area. I mentioned this to my consultant and he said it was entirely feasible as the area is obviously a lot more sensitive. The last week or so I have not had any pain in my shoulder blades but yesterday it started up a bit again.
Debbie, like you this is all new to me and a scary place to be. I find trying to live in the now is helpful. I know it is very difficult, but it does help. I don’t sleep well and my sleep is worse at the moment, but when my mind wanders I do my best to bring it back to now.