Hi Jayrand56
No offence taken, in fact that's the way we normally 'welcome' ladies to our exclusive club - saying that it's somewhere we're sure they never wanted to join.
We all understand the fear and dread of the diagnosis of secondary BC (or mets as we call them). Some of us, lkie myself, have been living with SBC for many years and therefore are a bit more removed from that initial feeling however we all still remember what it was like (well, I do!) I was sure I was going to die pretty much straight away even though I was having chemo - that did make me feel like I was dying. However 10 and a bit years later here I am. I've had lots of differnt treatments over the years which sounds so awful but to be perfectly honest I have not suffered from the side effects too much and have breaks in between the harsher treatments with some kinder ones.
I am hormone positive like you are so will have have experience of the types of treatments that you will have. Generally hormone treatments do run out of steam but the fact that Anastozole kept everything at bay for 5 years is a positive. In fact it did the same for me, after I'd had my chemo, and kept my bone mets stable for nearly 5 years (my secondary diagnosis came nearly 5 years after my primary). There are plenty of treatments out there and pretty much all of them have been used at some point by one or more of the women on this SBC part of the forum so there's plenty of experience, support and knowledge about what they are all like. I think all of us have felt it easier to cope with this diagnosis once we have a trearment plan in place. Don't panic if it takes a while for your oncologist to start you on something, it often takes a few weeks. My advice for that time is get on and enjoy some treats, if you feel you can, beciuse after that it does tend to turn into a bit of a pain with extra hospital visits etc but this does calm down dpending on what treatment you go onto.
A lot of us, whether we have bone mets or not, or have other mets 'meet' on the Bone Mets please join in thread althouygh other threads can become very popular as well, particularly those for specific treatments. To join a thread you just need to be logged in and go to the latest post for that thread and hit 'reply' and it will add your post onto it, it doesnt mean you're just replying to the last person. Be aware the forum is open and therefore anyone can read it whether they are logged in or a member so be careful what you write about personal details.
Good luck and keep us informaed of what your treatment plan is when you know or ask us any questions you might have before your next appointment. Someone is bound to be able to help.
Nicky x
