I was dx with breast cancer 9 yrs ago, had WLE, Chemo., ( FEC ), Rads, and 5 years of Tamoxifen.
I have suffered with painful knees for about 3 years ( my job probably doesn’t help I’m a nursery nurse working with 0 - 2’s ).
Also last year I fell and sustained a fracture of the 9th rib on left side ( side effected by BC )…this took quite a few months to heal properly.
About 8 weeks ago I fell from a chair, I again sustained fracturesd ribs but this time 2, one being the 9th again!!.. three weeks after the original injury I bent to put a dish in cupboard and felt and h eard rib crak, but no pain, then five weeks after the original injury I went to sit down and they cracked again…this time had severe pain again.
Saw a GP 2 weeks ago (not my usual one ), she straight away wanted another X-ray as noticed my BC history on file and said as long as next X-ray showed clean break it would be ok otherwise she would be referring for bone scan, X-ray aptly., was ‘normal’.
When I saw my usual GP this week, I mentioned to him that the triage nurse I spoke to expressed concern regarding possible Osteoporosis /Osteopenia…he said…‘’ its ok nothing like that or cancer sec’s showed up on x-ray ‘’…
Could someone tell me if a normal x-ray would even show up these things?.
Hi Karen,
Sorry you haven’t had any replies as yet. If it would help to talk to someone in confidence please do give the BCC Helpline a call Tel. 0808 800 6000 (Mon-Fri 9am-5pm and Sat 10-2pm)
With best wishes,
Anna, BCC Moderator
Hi Karen
x ray can sometimes show bone mets, I had a problemish with my knee and my breast cancer consultant did an X-ray of my hip straight away. The X-ray showed nothing, he said bone mets sometimes show up as speckled on X-ray.
2 months later and after I’d been stuck in a traffic for 2 hrs my hip was much worse and I couldn’t pick my leg up. I went to my GP and she ordered a bone scan (bone scans show activity and would show healing bone as well as cancer)
I had hot spots on spine and hip and so a MRI scan was done to investigate, i was then diagnosed with bone mets from that scan. That was all 5 years ago, after treatment I’ve had very little problems with the bone mets- long may it continue.
Best wishes
Sue
Re. bone mets, usually you have MRI and bone scan as well as x-rays to confirm it.
I was d/g with bone mets straight off - but there was no change in 3 years - in October the medics told me ‘it is less likely to be bone mets’ due to no spread. They think it’s a benign bone condition! Apparently, what they saw on x-rays, MRI’s and bone scan ‘hasn’t behaved as they’d expect cancer to behave’.
Thank you for your replies, I am seeing a GP in June and will be asking for a bone scan i think.
Hi Ladies,
Just wanted to check with you, as i seem to only read about good treatments for Secondary Breast Cancer for people who are hormone receptive? I’ve been diagnosed with a Grade 3 TNBC and am waiting for scans to see if it’s spread, obviously i’m a nervous wreck as i’m convinced it has, but all i read for TNBC and Secondaries is not good 
I know you may think i’m being silly as i’ve not been diagnosed with secondaries as yet but i just want to cover everything so i’m prepared (not that i think i would be anyway:( thanks and i hope you are all okay , Caroline xx