Waiting for possible secondary cancer in spine bone

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Hi there, I’ve been to an oncology appointment to discuss my treatment for breast cancer and was told that my CT scan has shown possible secondary bone cancer on my spine. I have to wait until Friday for a PET scan to confirm and then until the following Monday for the results. I’m so scared and waiting 2 weeks seems such a long time. After the horrible process of telling kids and family about the breast cancer the thought of having to tell them the latest development is awful. I am in a horrible limbo state, going from scared to denial and wanting to do something to give me the best chance. 

  • Yeah. I've been there, and I know what it's like, although I also realise we are not necessarily experiencing it in the same way. Mine is a fairly long story, most of it irrelevant to you, but I will share two episodes:

    One, they thought they were seeing something on my liver. Sent for another scan, still inconclusive. This one only resolved three months later when the suspicious whatever-it-was no longer showed up on scans.

    Two, they thought they were seeing something in my bladder. Got sent for a scan in another hospital, so again, a wait. On the day of that scan I got told right there in the room that all was ok and my bladder was absolutely fine.

    In the end, I never had any secondaries anywhere, but I was glad they were thorough and looked as hard as they could at anything that made them suspicious even in the slightest.

    The waiting can be excrutiating. I hope you get good news at the end of it.

  • Thank you for the reply really appreciated. Have the scan tomorrow and keeping fingers crossed. Luckily I have a great family who are all super supportive. 

  • Hello.  I have mets on my spine.  I had a bone scan after they diagnosed the BC and it showed one vertebrae and my pelvis.  After I reported tingling in one of my legs I was given an MRI on my spine and it showed the one met was much bigger than they thought and there were tiny ones on 4 other vertebrae.  I've never had a PET scan so don't know what detail that shows but try asking for and MRI would be my advice.   

    Cancer on your spine is scary but if they know it's there they can give you therapy to make your bones stronger and more resistant to it

    xx

  • The PET scan apparently shows for certain if the anomalies are cancerous and if so what stage.  It should be a lot more accurate than the others scans but I will be mildly radioactive after for a bit.

    Open mouth Thank you for the information, I didn’t know they could help with making the bones stronger, that’s good to know.  I have no symptoms which I guess is not a bad thing. 

    Very much thankful for your reply, I don’t feel so alone x

  • Hi, I saw your post when it first appeared and thought I had something to offer here, by the evening you'd had no replies so I spent some time preparing a reply to you. Realised I hadn't logged on but when I tried the system refused to log me on. When I tried to return to my reply, so I could copy it and then send it when I could log on, it had gone. 

    Things have moved on for you now and I don't want to turn this into a rant about the functionality of this site. By now you will probably have had your PET scan and I hope that the results will not be as bad as you have feared. Remember it is only "possible" secondaries on your spine at the moment, not "probable" or "definite" so no need to panic just yet !!!!!! They are being thorough though and checking anything out that might be suspicious.

    One thing though - I think you are talking about secondary breast cancer that has spread to your spine, not bone cancer. It is still breast cancer with all the characteristics of BC and if the PET scan shows that you do have mets in your spine then it will still be treated as breast cancer. If it's any consolation I have mets in my spine diagnosed in 2019.  I am not in pain with it even though I am not taking painkillers at the moment, and I have injections once a month to strengthen my bones. I also take a prescribed calcium/Vitamin D3 tablet twice a day to help. If your results show you do have mets then ask your oncologist about these.

    I really do hope you get the result you want. I've had 2 PET scans and found the period in between the injection and the actual scan (3 hours in my case) to be be really boring and not long enough to go home in between. I hope you took plenty to occupy you.

    Good luck

  • Thank you so much for this. You have no idea how much it helped. The delay in posting was perfect as it came up whilst I was waiting for the PET scan injection to do it’s thing. I have been so worried and this post really helped me feel better and uplifted. Luckily I only had to wait an hour and the scan took about 10 minutes. When the dr told me what they suspected his face was so apologetic and sad I really thought he was  telling me the worst news and your response had given me hope and put it into perspective. It lifted me out of a dark slippery slope. Thank you

    The sun is out and life feels good xx. I’m sending you very best wishes for your treatment and hope things go well for you Two hearts

  • How are you now starsha? Were the scans positive?