newly diagnosed breast ca with lymph/hip involvement

[Lorie]

My sister was just diagnosed with breast ca and 2 lymphnodes at this time involved, they are in the process of staging her but her scans have also shown what they are suspecting is mets to the left hip. She does have positive Her2 cells. what does this mean for her treatment. Doctors still meeting to see if bone marrow biopsy necessary. Looking for answers

[christinel]

It should mean that she can get Herceptin which seems to be doing great things. When you have mets they give you Herceptin easily.

[Alicia]

Lorie,
Sounds so similar to my situation...diagnosed a year ago 2.5 cm tumor, 19 pos. nodes, and mets to hip. After 10 rounds of chemo(herceptin, carboplatin & taxol) and 33 days of radiation my scans show no evidence of disease!!! Just had my third one!!!! Feel free to email me aannc222@hotmail.com!! Best wishes! Alicia

[karen]

hi
my name is karen i am the sister off lori, i was wondering if you had lots of pain to the left hip. i am now walking with a cane, hoping the 3 kinds of chemo will help like it did for you. thanks for the positive attitude. karen

[Alicia]

Karen,
Hi! I did have a lot of Hip pain. It was right before my surgery. Then it went away seemingly on its own? I had radiation to that hip and the pain never came back. I do find that I get a little pain when walking up hill but that seems muscular. My hip started hurting me and I was taking a lot of advil. Then when I was diagnosed I had to stop for surgery. That was a rough week...the pain is excruiciating. Are you going to get radiation on your hip? What chemo are you going to be taking? I hope you feel better very soon and am sorry to hear you have so much pain. Peace and Love, Alicia

[Lorie, Karen\'s concerned sister]

just wondering if you had a biopsy of the hip to detemine the hip mets or were they able to tell by the kind of CA and the scans, mri's etc. Karen's doc is taking her case in front of a board of radiologist, oncologist etc to see if they feel she should be put through another surgery or just go with the scans. If they did do a biopsy how did they do it her mets appears to be on the inside of the joint right at the socket. Also what did they stage you at we will know for sure once the meeting of the minds have taken place on 8/31. THANKS SO MUCH FOR YOUR RESPONSE YOU ARE TRUELY THE 1ST SIGN OF HOPE WE HAVE HAD...

[Alicia]

Lorie and Karen,
I did not have a biopsy. I had a bone scan and an MRI of the hip. Both showed abnormal activity and tumor. I don't think they mentioned a biopsy because the tumor was evident. I am considered stage iv ... which allows me to get herceptin and appears to be working well for me. Did karen have an MRI? Is Karen Her 2 positive by fish test...if so you want herceptin anyway right? Sorry I can't be of more help. Maybe a second opinion would be a good idea if your doc opts for a surgical biopsy.Best wishes and let me know how you are doing Karen! alicia

[Lorie, Karen\'s concerned sister]

Yes she did have MRI brain is clean but hip has a rather large spot. She had an x-ray prior to the ca diagnosis due to pain filed a work comp claim though she pulled it or it was sciatic nerve. the x-ray showed a shadow but they thought it might just be a congential cyst since there was no cancer diagnosis yet. She got the lump within a couple weeks of the x-ray and once we found out it was breast ca, i had a bad feeling had additional x-rays and mri the onc feels 99% sure that is mets. My other sister does not understand how they can say ca without testing the spot. That's why I wanted to hear your story to show her that they can tell by the scans. the big meeting of the minds is today and will know for sure her treatment plan and get her started, anxious to get started. Thanks again you've helped alot. will talk to you soon.