Hi, I think this may be a silly question, I will blame chemo brain, but I had a lumpectomy this year and then chemo and rads. its now a year since i found the lump and I am worried about it coming back. I have had tests for aches and pains which my onc says is prob se from taxotere but we have to rule out anything nasty, so i even had blood test to rule out inflammed joints etc and now my onc sent me for scintigraphy full body and xray on my arm where it bends at elbow, plus another blood test, I would therefore like to know, can they tell from a blood test if its back if they are not actually testing for cancer… like I asked whether i may have gone into early menopause and the onc said she could order that to be tested with the blood aswell, so i am gathering not everthing shows up so i think what if my cancer came back somewhere else they wouldnt pick it up in a blood test unless they were testing for it… sorry to ramble, I had these tests last week so bit poked and prodded and had consultant check up today and examination and a mammogram tomorrow~! xxxx
Repeat after me the first rule of BC:
THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A SILLY QUESTION.
Now you’ve had your telling off, let’s look at where you are. One year on so thoughts are going bananas? Check. Anniversary syndrome. (We need to get in phone contact.) Imagining that every ache and pain is a recurrence or secondaries rather than just a normal headache, backache or menopausal symptom? Yup, that’s another delight of anniversary syndrome. Fellow sufferer speaking.
Re blood tests, if they know what they’re looking for, they’ll know what to look for. So maybe you can ask your onc to test you for hormone levels, which might indicate early menopause. That might result in some change of medication which could then bring further physical symptoms and side-effects, so perhaps a gentle chat with the helpline might be in order.
Give me a ring, sorry to have missed your calls. Currently panicking at anniveraryphobia myself, waiting for a bone scan appointment due to month-long backache, so I understand the terror we’re always trying to reason ourselves out of.
CM
x
silvershar, Taxotere can cause some severe joint pains. When I was on it 4 1/2 years ago I had difficulty walking and also getting up and downstairs. It also made me very breathless and it was about 3 or 4 months after I had the last cycle before the pains subsided. I still have the aches and pains in my knees. My next door neighbour had Taxol for ovarian cancer last year and she is the same. They are a family of drugs than can cause a lot of side effects (it’s also common to have pins and needles in the hands and feet on it).
I had the blood tests done for menopause about 8 months after I finished chemo, when I was on Herceptin. In my case I was post menopausal as I wasn’t far off starting the menopause when I was diagnosed in Oct 2006.
As chocciemuffin says, there are NO silly questions to ask with this. I used to turn up at my oncology appointments with everything I felt I needed to ask on a sheet of A4 - if I had forgotten anything my OH used to ask as he was at all my appointments. The oncologists are used to is and are usually only too pleased to answer anything you throw at them, so don’t worry about it.
This is not really “my area” but Lulu may pitch in if she is feeling up to it…
What I do know is sometimes GPs (and so maybe in oncology too) they order a raft of general blood tests that give them a general picture of how your body is doing - particulary Liver, Kidneys, red and white blood cells. From that they may get clues if something else needs a more thorough look.
Keep asking the questions but DON’T PANIC
It may just be one of those delayed/long lasting drug side effects (I don’t mean little when I say “just” I mean not more of the really doom & gloom stuff)
Hold on in there
Sue
Choccie, Cherub and Alice Cliche, thank you for replying, I am so glad to read your replies - I have been quiet on here for a while, am i back cos its the anniversary, i dont know, i seem to dip in and out lately and i feel for those new people joining us but know in my heart of hearts that if they have to have this journey they are def in right place. Thanks for putting me right re silly question, when i read the post back and say how i began it, i thought…nooooo no such thing as a silly question, but i will ask the GP/oncologist though - I had my first annual mammogram yesterday, and Mon I saw my consultant cos breast very painful but not like pain from after the op, plus last Thurs had blood test bone scan and xray and am waiting for results, and the mammogram results i have to wait a week - 10 days oh one thing does not change, the waiting is by far the worst part. but the aches and pains, i could cope if they were still with me, but the fact they started 3 months after the chemo that is why i am so worried. Choccie we will catch up it will be so good to talk to you again. Shar xxxxxxxxxxx
Hi Silvershar,
I am also at my first anniversary (23 nov) and a year since WLE/SNB (15 dec 2010) and my breast has been rather sore for 4 weeks now, and mildly swollen too— my surgeon has repeated my mammo/scan last week and i get the results on tuesday 13th.
I seem to have aches and pains all over (age 39), I had quite intrusive back ache from august 2011 to november, and for this, i had a bone scan which is clear, thank goodness. Also im told that my blood tests are fine.
These tests are reassuring, but i seem to be always waiting for the next pain or problem to come along, the next test, the next set of results…
My motto is, if the pain eases nicely with paracetamol and ibuprofen, then im not going to panic about it just yet !!
xx
Thank you truddles, I am still on my “happy pills” that i had after the op, which was Jan this year. I stopped taking them in chemo as was fine re pain, but i cant undersand why the pain came 3 months after tax finished, and now i wake up every night in total agony with my left forearm and my hands and fingers so painful, i feel like i am living on drugs. happy pills and Naproxefen, spelt wrong but something like that, and i also take something beginning with G which can be brought over the counter in health food stores to help with aching joints. Good news is had dentist yest and got clean bill of health for teeth and gums survived chemo very well, its just the rest of me that hurts so much. had the scintigraphy bone scan, xray and blood test 1 Dec and had first yearly mammo a week ago and now back to waitng, results are this Fri 16th Dec.xxxxxxxxxxxx
Hi Silvershar,
Im not sure if the taxotere is still causing some residual problems , causing you ‘nerve pain’ in your arm and hand,; ive heard so many of my friends complaining of generalised joint pains, especially in knees and hips after Tax
The most important thing is that you’re getting checked out, and good luck for your results on 16th.
I had my results today, and the scan shows a possibilty of fat necrosis where i had the lumpectomy, so they goes and sticks a needle in me to aspirate some cells-- i was not expecting this at all so i am now a little sore. Its all fun and games, eh?
Oh by the way, I give my 16 yr old son that stuff you mention beginning with G (long long name!) as he used to get really bad leg pains and he hasnt complained at all since being on them, and my Nan takes it too aged 93!
Keep posting,
Truddles