How do you know if you have brain mets

09-20-2005, 01:38 PM

What are the signs. God just the thought of it scares me to death. If I read the article Joe put on, it seems to me that if you have her2neu++ you most likely will get it. Please tell me I'm wrong.

DX at 42, IDC, er, pr and her2neu ++, clean margins, no node or lymp involvement, 4 a/c done, 4 of 12 taxol and herceptin done. Still have 6 weeks of rads and 40 weeks of herceptin every 3 weeks.

have not had a brain scan but all other parts of bodies scans done no cancer anywhere else.

I'm just worried and most likely over reacting.

Thanks.

Joe your work on this board is wonderful and I love all the laides here, so much support and love.

09-20-2005, 02:51 PM

I read the article and felt the same way, but I'm not sure that we are really understanding it correctly. My diagnosis and treatment are identical to yours.
Joe - does this really mean all HER2 positive, even those of us who are node negative? Should we be having brain MRI's too? They don't seem to interested in giving them to us with our node negative status.

Lisa · 09-20-2005, 04:06 PM

Along with the lungs, liver and bones, the brain is one of the most common places for bc mets to spread. Although I don't entirely understand Musa's message, I DO know that you should be scanned for a brain MRI along with other scans. My original BC was Her2+++, with 20 neg nodes. Three and 1/2 years later, I had mets to liver and bones, then to brain...with NO BRAIN SYMPTOMS. I am certainly not alone in that no symptom boat. Perhaps oncs hesitate to give brain MRIs until they see mets elsewhere. Makes no sense to me. Why not just ask your onc for a brain MRI (better than CT scan) the next time you get your regular scans? My insurance had no trouble paying for it; it's not all that expensive. But if they balk, some women suddenly "develop headaches" I've been told.

Love and light,

Lisa

Lisa · 09-20-2005, 04:08 PM

...before I developed them, I too was scared to death of them. But like everything else around this disease, fear of the unknown seems to scare us the most. I was treated with whole brain radiation, and other than hair loss and some memory issues, no big deal really. Nothing to fear.

Love and light,

Lisa

Montana · 09-20-2005, 05:53 PM

I "developed" a constant headache and had an MRI recently. I really does work if you have a caring onc. All was good. Must have been my bad eyesight....(wink).