Hi there
please forgive me for posting in this section if it is not appropriate, but it seemed more apprpriate than the friends and family section for the query I have…
My mum 78, was a late diagnosis, and already had secondaries when dx. Initially Lung lymph and bone mets, now with added Liver mets.
She has had hormone treatment, which despite a good initial response became ineffective in summer last year, despite a change of hormone treatment, the spread continued.
Late last year she was offered a short course of FEC of which she managed 4/6 before a PE and Heartfailure interrupted it. She has also had rad for ulcerating tumour.
She has just had CT scan to see the current state of play, results due wednesday.
Is anyone in a similar position and receiving some sort of treatment, if so what are you being offered? I know no 2 cases are the same, but it would be useful to know what might be on offer if other paths are now closed.
Hi
Sorry to hear about your Mum and how her current treatment has stopped working for her. Although she had a problem with FEC there are other chemo’s out there that are not so hard on the body - and more importantly the heart. I can’t offer any precise suggestions but when she sees her oncologist I would imagine they will have a clear picture of what her spread is and what can be done. Once she has that information you can always come back to ask some more questions - and don’t worry you have come to the right part of the forum for secondary BC questions. Hopefully someone else will be along on here who has a bit more knowledge than me, as I have bone mets rather than lung or liver.
Good Luck
Nicky
Thanks for taking the time and trouble to ansewr Nicky.
I guess you are right, we do have to “wait and see” to some extent, I just like to be as prepared as possible, and I guess I get impatient She has her onc appointment tomorrow, so I should know more then.
I think I’m just dreading him telling her that there is no more that can be done… I can deal with and accept that, but I think it will devastate my mum as she refuses to talk about her situation.
Thank you for your kind words.
If anyone else can add anything, please do xx
It is understandable that you are impatient. I just want to wish you good luck with your Mum’s appointment Tomorrow. There are many treatment options available and hopefully something will be found that is aggressive on the cancer and gentle on the heart.
I too have liver mets and am currently at the point where 2 hormones have failed, (well 3 if you count the Tamoxifen I had prior to secondary diagnosis) and I am on my last chance hormone, faslodex injections. It is quite common unfortunately for hormones to fail, or stop working after a short time, but fortunately more treatments are becoming available all of the time. Never lose hope!
Mum had results of the CT scan yesterday, and we had better news than I expected; the chemo had some effect in reducing the liver, lung and superclavicular lymph.
The main tumour and main secondary lung have also reduced slightly.
So good news
Mum is not having any further hormone treatments, so the next 3 months are treatment free (bar her heart and blood thinning meds).
If she manages now to have 3 months of “life” then I will be delighted, no matter what the next check up may bring.
Here we go again
Mum has had 1 litre of fluid drained from the lung without the secondary cancer, but with the PE… She is poorly, breathless and not eating well.
The nurses said it was “disease progression” not really the 3 months of getting back to health that I had hoped for.
Not sure if she will make it to the summer at this rate, she doesn’t seem able to recover from one knock before the next one hits her.
She has her onc appointment tomorrow, so I should know more then.