Just back from the hospital, and my mum was told that after her CT Scan and bone scan, that she does have secondaries in 2 of her backbones, and a bone at the base of her spine (can’t remember the name of it!) Although we were both quite upset, the oncologist was really positive and explained that altough it is not curable, it can be contained and treated for many years to come. In a sense, it was fate, as my mum only had the scans at her breast reconstruction 5 weeks ago, and if she had not had those scans then we would never know, as my mum is not in any pain at all.
I was just lloking for advice regarding the treatment for this? The oncologist has prescribed Bondorat (Ibandronic acid), and Femara (letrozole), as he said the treatments are just as effective, if not better than chemo, on bone mets She is currently on Arimadex, but apparently Letrozole is a stronger hormone treatment?. He is not giving her any radiotherapy, as she has no pain.
I was just wondering if it is common not to have chemo, and what treatments others are on who have bone mets.
Hi there…hope this helps, I was diagnosed with bone mets right from the start in 2003 when I was in my early 40’s.
I’m really well, I feel much better than I did in 2003 (my hip fractured and I had to have a hip replacement but it’s as good as new, no problems) and I’ve yet to have chemo.
I take Bondronat, (some friendly advice, it really helps to take it exactly as it advises on the leaflet) I have had no side effects from it at all. Good Luck with Femara I had Tamoxifen at first then Arimidex which worked well for me for over 2 and a half years. I’m now on Aromasin, another hormonal and it seems (fingers crossed) to be working well.
4 years on and I have no pain. Good Luck and Love to you both…Belinda…xx
PS …Nicola I’ve just remembered I posted a reply to you a while ago on the Secondaries forum…sorry I’ve probably repeated stuff here I’d already said in my other posting! x
My mum was diagnosed with bone mets in September (so its all still quite new to us). She was originally taking tamoxifen after her primary diagnosis but she is now taking Ferma. She also had bisonophosphate (zoledronic acid) infusions once a month. She too has been told that she won’t be having chemo. I think its something to do with the type of breast cancer. I think her type of cancer grows more when progesterone is present so the hormone treatment (Ferma) attempts to block progesterone being produced. Or something along those lines. (If anyone here can actually explain it to me better that would be fab!!) So therefore its just as effective as chemo. How is your mum doing with Ferma?? It does seem to be a very strong drug and unfortunately my mum had some nasty side effects (bad bone/joint pain, nausea, constipation) but these did wear off a lot after 2 weeks, although she still feels sick a lot of the time. Not sure if any of this info helps you but you and your mum seem to be in a similar position to me and my mum!! Let me know how your mum is doing!!!
Hi Belinda and Nipper- thanks so much for your comments.
Belinda- thanks for your reply again- I had posted before, but thanks for your information. Makes more sense now that my mum was diagnosed , and its so encouraging to hear that your well.
Nipper-thanks for your reply and info. My mum is due to start taking her tablets tomorrow, so will keep you up to date on how she is with Femara. I take it is a stronger hormone treatment? My mum was on Arimadex previously, which apparently is not as strong. She was on tamoxifen previous to that. Its just a bit of a blow that this horrible disease has returned, but my mum refuses to be downbeat, and is postitive about it all. She is in no pain, and plans to return to work in January (she was off work gor her reconstruction). How is your mum keeping nipper?
I’m not too sure how my mum is actually. I only see her every couple of weeks but speak to her on the phone a lot. At the moment she sounds quite chirpy but I can never tell if its a brave front. Its been a tough battle for her as Ferma started off making her hip pain worst, and because of that she had to use her arms/shoulders a lot more to get out of bed/chair. This lead to her ‘crunching’ all her shoulder muscles so she was in a lot of pain and could hardly move! Fingers crossed though her shoulders are slowly getting better and she has been out and about quite a bit in the past few days. I get the impression that the worst thing now is a constant feeling of tiredness. I hope your mum does ok with Ferma. As I said, the side effects seem to have mostly gone now for my mum (I think if she had asked for more help at the time she probably wouldn’t of had the shoulder issue!) and I do hear that its quite a strong and effective drug so hopefully it’ll be worth it in the long run!
I think the hardest thing is all the waiting for results. I’m hoping her bone scan in a few weeks wil show that Ferma is having a good effect. Sorry, I’ve gone on a bit!
Do you live with your mum?? Its great that she’s being positive and is still getting on with going back to work! How’s the rest of your family feeling about all this??