I am going for a bone scan next week as I have tender spot on forehead which radiates to the back of my ear when pressed. I am scared and not sure I want to know the results, but I have to go. Has anybody had similar symptoms?
Hi Yellow,
I do have skull mets but not with the symptom you describe. When my mets were first dx back in 2002, leading up to that I had experienced a very tender skull - when i rested on pillows - even the softest you could get my skull felt strange. On the first bone scans my head was covered in black circles - it was quite scary to see. But with bisphosphonates that area improved so quickly that now you cannot see the black holes on scans.
I hope yours proves to be nothing sinister and they can let you know very quickly. The waiting is so awful.
Dawn
xx
Hi dawn
Thanks for your response. Had bone scan on Thursday 11th June 09. Will have to wait until 21 June for results. Expecting the worst but cannot help feeling as I do. Can I ask if you received radio therapy for skull mets? My breast nurse said that they may offer radio and biphos… cannot spell it. I am very scared because my daughters wedding is on the 2nd August only weeks away, and I do not want to be rushed into treatment that will dabilitate me. Cheers
Hi yellow,
I didn’t have radiotherapy for the bone mets in my skull, although had it to a few of the other areas. This is not like the rads for breast tumours. They only give a max of 5 lots to any one area. A couple of years ago I was having a problem with pain in my skull and headaches and went thru the usual panic of ‘is it brain mets!’. It wasn’t but the consultants were puzzled to find something odd in the skull they couldnt identify because my skull mets stabilised right at the beginning of treatment and so dont show up any more in bone scans, but they did on MRI which had not been done on that area before. I was then told I could have some rads to the skull but I chose not to. With bone mets they can develop in 2 different ways: lytic lesions, which destroy bone material; and blastic lesions, which fill the bone with extra cells. So one kind make holes and the other lumps to put it simply. I have mainly lytic lesions, but a few blastic as well.
If you tell your consultant that ou have your daughter’s wedding coming up I am sure you will find them happy to work around this. My daughter got married last year and I was having a lot of trouble at the time with pain, but they sorted me out with pain meds and the day went of well as I am sure yours will.
I do not find myself that I have any side effects from bisphosphonates, and they do help so much with the pain control.
Dawn
xx
I was going to post a similar question.
At the top of my skull i have a realy tender spot,had it about a week now,i asked my other half to check to see if theres a spot forming there or something,nothng visible just feels a bit odd.Im scared to mention it to my oncologist tomorrow.I only got diagnosed in march,and have just had my 3rd epi which has blasted my breast lumps so this is highly unlikely isnt it to of spread ?? my husband thinks im being paranoid …isnt this horrible ,u feel bloomin soooooooo helpless !!! xx
Hi smallstar,
I don’t think paranoid is quite the word I would use. What else are we supposed to do when we have just had cancer diagnosed. We do have to be aware of changes in our bodies and as long as we put off asking a medic to take a look we are going to continue worrying. If you are going to be there tomorrow then I would just mention it. At least then you have made them aware.
My bone mets weren’t found until they were very widespread. If I had told someone about the odd sensations in my scalp when they first started 7 years ago maybe there would not have been so much damage. I had noticed my head was very tender and specially when I was in bed, but never thought for one minute it was to do with cancer, so I didnt say anything.
I hope it is nothing but I think you should take the opportunity tomorrow.
Dawn
xx
I have just discovered a small lump on the back of my skull,seems to move slightly when pressed,and is a bit sore I feel so embarrassed mentioning this to the doctor as it is so tiny but if it actually is to do with cancer then I should get it checked while it is still small,right? I just don’t want to be labelled a difficult patient ,always finding lumps here and there anyway I will get my courage up and mention it tomorrow when I go for my repeat prescription
Hi looking lovely,
I would say that as with most cancer related things, lumps, pain etc. that I would wait at least 2 weeks before going to the gp or onc with it otherwise I think we could find ourselves in danger of being labelled. If as you say you have only just discovered this lump then tomorrow might seem a bit soon.
Yellow how did you get on after your bonescan & results. Smallstar - what about you - did you find the courage to mention yours to the onc?
Dawn
Hi
I agree with Dawn. Rule of thumb is to leave most things two weeks if anything is still there, a lump and pain etc always go to the doctor just to get it checked out. It is your body and you know it better than anyone. Try not to worry most aches and pains lumps and bumps go after two weeks.
Hi everyone,don’t worry I am not going to see the onc,only my gp who I have an appointment with anyway,good advice about the two weeks,cause if it’s infection it will be gone by then thanks
hi ~Dawn
Yes I did pluck up the courage to mention it,she said that she didnt think it likely, and asked me in a kind of tongue in cheek way if i wanted a ct scan.I said do u think i need one and she said no,no i dont.So I left it at that and to be honest its gone,a lot of my problems have been caused by stress in my head,i lost my friend to bc three weeks ago and its knocked me back terribly phsycologically…Ive had some antidepressants off the doctor to get me through these mind blowing times and since then the headaches have gone.
I can cope with having cancer but as im havine neo adjuvant chemo what i cant cope very well with is the fact that I’m in constant pain under my armpit - apparantly its chemo flare and hormonal… Im going to ask for a full body scan on 5th august,my argument is why dont they scan u before ur chemo ?? as if its spread somewhere else theres nothing to compare another scan to ! therefore u dont actually know if the chemo is working or not, or if its stopped working.
Take care all
xxxx
Hi all
Smallstar, I have never had a full body scan, MRI or CT scan as at the beginning of my dx there was a c*** up, I had a liver scan, bone scan and lung xray which were all fine.
I wish I had been given a full body scan so hope you convince them you need one to reassure you. I also had neoadjuvent chemo.
Goodluck
P xx
hi dawnhc
sorry I did not get back to you sooner. wedding etc., loads of things to take my mind off my bc. anyway, i did have a cat scan and whole bone scan, all results came back all OK. i also had a consultation with a neurosurgen who examined me and said i did not present with symptoms of any brain disfunction but said that i could have an mri scan if i wanted but he did not think my symptoms were related to brain. As my daughters wedding was fast approaching, I decided against having the mri as I was scared of finding out something sinister so close to her wedding. However he did say i could go back to him anytime. It has been six months since I first mentioned these symptoms to my oncologist and I still have them i.e. tender spot in middle of forehead even when touched very slightly, pain radiates over the side of my head and down to the base of my skull. Since I have already had two scans in as many months, I don’t know what to do next.
lots of love xxx
Just had a bone scan and am terrified of getting results. Doctor found something in my head and asked if I had an injury recently. I was diagnosed with Stage 2 breast cancer in December that had spread to a lymph node. I have never been so scared and I don’ Know what it all means