Rib Cancer anyone?

[Adriana Mangus]

Has anyone experienced mets to the rib area?

I've had this pain on my breast and next to the breast for about a week now, not sure if I should be concerned about mets to that area.

Has anyone been dx with this?

I've been taking primrose-- it's supposed to help with the breast tissue, post-menopause symptoms and other -- the pain on the breast is not as bad anyone since the primrose, but not the one next to it, like in the rib cage.

Also, I will be having a pet scan within a week or so, would it show if the ca is in the rib area. I think so, but I'm not sure. If it does show, how good of a picture would it be? Would I need anymore scans?


One more thing..there we go again...

Thanks for your response. I appreciate.

[hutchibk]

My doc always tells me that mets are possible anywhere, so we follow through on aches and pains. Personally, all of my mets have been asymptomatic... which is kind of scary, and that's why I feel so very lucky that my tumor markers have always been our earliest indicator of activity.

PET/CT did shown my bone met on the rear pelvic bone... it's just not efficient at measuring it. That's why we MRI it.

[ElaineM]

Sorry to hear that you are having pain. There are other things besides ribs next to, above and below the breasts.
The Pet/CT scan should be able to determine if the pain is related to cancer or if the pain is from something else.
By the way, I saw on your bio that you were diagnosed in 1994. Congratulations on 15 years of life after cancer so far !!!!!! Many more years of life to you.
Take good care of yourself.

[Pam P]

My bone mets first started in my 4th rib near my vertebrae. It showed up on a routine bone scan. I now have pet/ct sans routinely and yes they show up on those scans. I had no symptoms from that rib met. I suspect the pain you are experiencing could be due to something else - pulled muscles perhaps? The upcoming scan should give you some answers.

[Adriana Mangus]

Pam,

Thank you so much for your response. You can just imagine I have been worrying about it so much...I will have a pet scan soon...can't wait.


Love,

Adriana

[Adriana Mangus]

Brenda,

Thank you so much for your response.

That's what I was hoping for, the Pet Scan results will yield some info regarding rib cancer.

That's good. I want to know what the pain is associated with.

Pam mentioned a "pulled" muscle, maybe that's what it is, I started doing a little of aerobic exercise (dumbells) about three weeks ago. Oh boy I feel old now...

Love,

Adriana

[StephN]

Dear Adraina -
I have another friend who had mets in her rib as her first bone site. Hope that is not the case with you.

Yes, have that PET and I am hoping for All Clear in your bones.

[CourtneyL]

Hi Adriana - I am sorry to read that you are experiencing pain. I pray that it is not disease spread.

About 3 months after I felt my lump (which was originally misdiagnosed as "dense tissue"), I began experiencing sharp pain in the rib area below the breast with the lump. I had no reason to think it was mets because I had not been diagnosed with a primary. I thought it was sore muscle do to a persistent cold/cough that I had. But the pain continued and worsened. Flash forward 5 more months and I was diagnosed with widespread metastatic disease, including mets in the ribs. I'm certain they were the first mets although this can't be confirmed. So it is possible for the cancer to spread there, and in my case, it was quite painful.

The good news is that these mets had a complete response to Herceptin/chemo and have never come back.

Thinking of you and praying for benign results.