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| Forum | Questions | Ask a Question | |
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Metastatic Breast Cancer Questions about advanced metastatic breast cancer. |
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| Asked | Publicly Submitted Question | ||
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| 4/2/2012 | If a person is 8 yrs out - had ER+PR+HER-, stage 1, Grade 3, 0/16 nodes, 36 rads + boosts, Arimidex 5 years - and has a very good bone density report are they as likely to get bone mets? Chronic back pain for years, PT several times, even use a tens unit for it. Have stage 2 LE and truncal LE (under control as much as possible) and have pain in that side of the ribs, is not constant, comes and goes, it gets better on mild pain meds, and massage. Does this seem worrisome or likely for bone mets to the ribs? Thank you. PS -- Do we ever get over this fear with every pain and ache? | ||
| Replied | JHU's Breast Center Reply | ||
| 4/2/2012 | Fear of recurrence is a life long side effect of diagnosis and treatment unfortunately. usually the most time that passes however the more confidence is restored. Being 8 years oud with very favorable prognostic factors (ER/PR+; HER2 -, node negative, stage 1) the risk of recurrence now should be less than 5% and probably even smaller than that. If scans have verified that the problem causing the pain isn't metastatic related, then lymphedema may be the underlying culprit or at least a contributor. to answer your question however, ribs, spine, hip are common locations for bone mets. | ||
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