Scared

Hi, I had a bone scan before starting letrozole. It was not connected to a risk of spread, but to give a baseline of bone density as letrozole can damage the bones, so they basically know what state my bones were in before starting. Do you think this might be why you're having the scan?  Maybe it's worth asking your consultant or BCN to explain the reason, sometimes I got confused as to why there were so many tests going on I must admit. Best wishes 

Do you mean a Dexa scan or a nuclear bone scan? The latter is done at my hospital for all women with cancer in at least one node. 

Thankyou I will ask them. X

I think it's because it is in the lymph node under the area the tumour is 3cm I believe x

I wonder if it is because you might be going on Hormone Therapy. Some HT affects bone density so a lot of breast cancer patients have a DXA scan to check what their bone density is before starting treatment. Hope it is this. A DXA is quite a simple procedure and you keep your clothes on during the scan. I had one in December.

Hi I had a bone scan with radioactive injection before I began treatment for BC. It is to see if your bones can tolerate treatment and meds afterwards. I am 66 and I think they worry about osteoporosis if you are of a certain age. It also gives them a bench mark . I had a heart scan , a bone scan, a CT scan with contrast and a MRI so feel I was well checked out. Waiting for results not nice but outcome was thankfully all good  and no evidence of spread️

I also had lymph node involvement and I think the radio active injection shows if got into bones. I take Ibandronic acid meds to protect against cancer getting into bones x Try not to worry and ask if unsure I didn't ask enough found out a lot afterwards.   

I had one, and waiting for the results in… 10 days. It’s scary but I try not to think about it. Bit of an ostrich attitude. As for the scan itself it was nothing to worry about. Not painful and if you just close your eyes and dream away while the thing zips about you’ll be good. Hugs and best of luck!

Yes - I had a needle biopsy taken from near a suspect lymph node so they knew it was cancerous so I had a nuclear bone scan. It was clear even though my tumour turned out to be 20cm and I had 21 cancerous lymph nodes out of 27.  Try not to worry until there is something to worry about - I know it’s hard but I hate the way cancer robs us of peace of mind at every stage ….  The scan itself was ok but I had to go and wander around for a few hours while the radioactive dye went through my system.  It’s worth asking what kind of bone scan and why..,

Thankyou.. I will ask. You're right about the peace of mind. I am waiting for the her2 receptor results, if negative the op can go ahead on March 23rd if positive then its 6 months of chemo first. Every stage there's a worry, all sorts of things are going through my mind x