I am currently being treated for metastatic breast cancer. I was first diagnosed in 2006, treated, and thought myself clear of cancer in 2012, when I stopped taking hormone drugs. ( this was I believe a mistake) .
Fitter than I'd ever been in 2017, i found myself breathless. I had a plueral effusion on my right side, tests showed presence of breast cancer cells in the fluid but no tumours. I was treated with lazerole for two years. A Scan then showed liver lesions, evidence of bone cancer and enlarged lymph nodes in my chest. Treatment changed temporarily to tamoxifen. Then to palbociclib, fluvestrant and denosumab. This seemed to work well initially, but a year on, further scans have shown a spread of lesions on my liver. Throughout this treatment I have had a persistent cough, bouts of which can make me vomit, and has broken two of my ribs. I have also developed stress incontinence, which has become progressively worse and extremely embarrassing and expensive to deal with. This month my treatment plan has been changed to Capecitabine continuing with denosumab for my bones. I feel as if I am tolerating this well but have noticed increased fatigue.
Can I expect that my cough and consequential incontinence will improve? I have felt well and try to keep active. I still feel I have a lot to live for. I am 62.
Hi
It sounds like you've had a lot to deal with since you discovered that your breast cancer had spread.
Although I don't have any experience with this type of cancer, I noticed that your post hadn't had any replies and I thought you might like to join the secondary breast cancer group where you'll connect with others who have had a spread from their original breast cancer.
If you'd like to do this then just click on the link I've created and then join and post in the same way as you did here. To save you typing this all out again you could copy and paste it into a new post.
It would be great if you could pop something about your journey so far into your profile as it really helps others when answering or looking for someone with a similar diagnosis. It also means that you don't have to keep repeating yourself. To do this click on your username and then select 'Profile'. You can amend it at any time and if you're not sure what to write you can take a look at mine by clicking on my username.
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"Never regret a day in your life, good days give you happiness, bad days give you experience"
