This may sound silly....... but mets?

[Shannon]

Ok, I am a newbie, when it comes to all of this cancer stuff. I have truely educated myself so I thought. I know my diagnosis, I get my treatment plan, but I dont understand mets (brain, liver etc) and what kind of stuff do you look for when you cant feel a lump in those areas?

I dont think I was "sick" when I got diagnosed, could have been when I got the "flu" last year it could have been a sign... but other then the lump sticking out of my boob... even then the doctors didnt think anything. How will I know if I have any other tumors (ok, had a pet scan and nothing was shown, although that only shows tumors at least 2cm.) are there signs, how do I know my "chemo brain" isnt really something else.
Truely, I am not trying to be paranoid, if it happens again, I will deal with it at the time, but I dont want to get at it too late.

Can any of you recommend a site that talks about these mets things I see on the site?

[michele u]

Shannon,
Don't we all wish we knew the answer to this one! I too have had 2 neg pets and am paranoid of mets. Who isn't. Other then feeling a lump, lets say in your armpit,breast, or neck, the only way you will tell if mets is blood test, like a liver enzyme being out of whack, pain, like in your abdomen or headaches, dizziness or catching it on a scan. My dr. told me if it came back it would rear its ugly head somehow. There is the new blood test, cell search, but my dr. doesn't believe in it. It's really supposed to be for stage 4 and to determine if the meds are working. All we can really do is demand scans and get regular blood tests every 3 months. Its not enough i know. But right now they don't have anything better!

[Patty Hall]

My lung mets were found on a routine scan. I was feeling good and I had walked 8 miles that day to come home to a message from my oncolgist on my phone. From there they checked farther and found my bone mets. I still get nervous over each ache and pain but my Dr. said the rule of thumb is if it last two weeks or more. Patty H