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Lower back pain - when to worry?
Hi HER-2ers,
I had a wonderful Thanksgiving with my friends, but may have overdone it a bit. The Friday after my cooking marathon I started having some lower back pain. The pain seems to be on and off and worse in the morning or before I go to bed. It doesn't wake me up.
I thought I was getting better after I did a massage at work last Tuesday. I was also able to keep up with my spinning class last week. Yesterday I went on a somewhat strenuous hike (about 3.5 miles with lots of hills) during which I jogged a bit at the flat/downhill parts. I felt fine the rest of the day but at night I could feel the pain again.
It's been bothering me all day today. I emailed my oncologist last week and she said to wait a couple of weeks. She's currently at the San Antonio Symposium and won't get back till next Monday.
How concerned should I be? Should I go to my primary care physician this week to get it checked? What's the likelihood of it being mets given I had a clear bone scan and a clear CT a couple of months ago? I'm also feeling some discomfort on my right hip joint. The discomfort started before Thanksgiving but I figured it was just a sprained muscle/tendon or something. Now that I have this lower back pain, I'm getting a little concerned about it.
By now you probably know that I freak out over every little thing. I have to say that this time the pain/duration has been the worse of all my freaking out moments.
Can anyone tell me anything that may calm me down?
Thanks!
Marcia
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ER+ (30%)/PR-/HER-2+, stage 3
Diagnosed on 02/18/09 at 38 with a huge 12x10 cm tumor, after a 6 month delay. Told I was too young and had no risk factors. Found swollen node during breastfeeding.
March-August 09: neo-adjuvant chemo, part of a trial at Stanford (4 DD A/C, 4 Taxotere with daily Tykerb), loading dose of Herceptin
08/12/09 - bye bye boobies (bilateral mastectomy)
08/24/09 - path report shows 100 % success in breast tissue (no cancer there, yay!), 98 % success in lymphatic invasion, and even though 11/13 nodes were still positive, > 95 % of the tumor in them was killed. Hoping for the best!
September-October 09: rads with daily Xeloda
02/25/10 - Cholecystectomy
05/27/10 - Bone scan clear
06/14/10 - CT scan clear, ovarian cyst found
07/27/10 - Done with Herceptin!
02/15/11 - MVA-BN HER-2 vaccine trial
03/15/11 - First CA 15-3: 12.7 and normal, yay!
10/01/11 - Bone scan and CT scan clear, fatty liver found
now on Tamoxifen and Aspirin
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