[Debra]

Hello -
I just wanted to let you know your situation sounds quite like mine. After starting an exercise regime, I too started with radiatiing hip pain in low back and gluteus area. It too would be relieved by remaining active.
I finally decided to get it checked out after doing the chiropractor etc. with no relief. It turned out to be trochanteric bursitis. I have it in both hips. It often can be brought on by being more active but interestingly, may be relieved by being active.
I have had both CT's and MRI's and no cancer, just the bursitis. Chances are, yours is something similiar. Of course we like to get these things checked but I also do not like to subject myself to unnecessary radiation from many of the diagnostic tests so I first had the MRI. The MRI results in a CT which I tried to avoid but of course they found something funky in my upper abdominal area which turned out to be nothing.
Keep in mind that once you have cancer, you will most likely never have a "normal" CT or MRI. Meaning, they will always find something that looks abnormal because of the many things that can appear as unusual densities on a imaging study. Things are often dictated as "undetermined" when you are a post-cancer patient. We all have funky things that show up that are often nothing. This is why doctors often prefer to pay attention to the symptoms and not jump to ordering imaging studies. MRI's are not radiation such as CT scans. They use magnetics and frequency. If you want to rule out bone mets, maybe that is something you could ask for. PET scans are expensive and quite a bit of exposure to the patients. I do hate that bone pain because it does always make you wonder. Cancer doesn't always follow the rules so even when doctors say, "it doesn't sound consistent with bone mets", you still always wonder in the back of your mind. I feel better having the MRI and knowing it is not mets.