Help

[John21]

Hello all,
My wife has bone mets to the spine around S1 and other places. Despite being stable elsewhere for being stage IV, ( scans just received - good) this one has finally become a disabilitating issue. She has symptoms of sciatia with severe numbness and pain in her left leg. She is going through the injections and therapy, but is not working. The CT scan does not show much, but they seemed to think it is the disease pushing on the nerve. We have tried radiation, but we think they missed it. Has anyone experienced this and what relief have you found? We are finally getting to see a Neuro guy on Wednesday.

Please help!
Husband

[BonnieR]

I don't have anything to offer in the way of advice but I just had to respond and say God bless you for being such a good and loving husband. You guys mean more than we can ever express.

I am glad you are seeing the neurologist soon. Keep the faith.

[Joan M]

Hi John,

Sorry to hear that your wife is having problems with what seems to be a very small spot in a tough place.

Perhaps you should revisit with the radiation oncologist. Also, radiation interventionalists can use radiofrequency ablation either to stop or diminish bone pain from cancer.

Here's some information: http://www.mayoclinic.org/radiofrequency-ablation/

[SoCalGal]

Hi John-
Don't know much about your wife's specific issue but I can say that about a year ago I had a neck situation with nerve pain. Pain just shuts down your life and nerve pain is the mother of them all. Until the pain is resolved there is no room for anything at all. It was a horrendous time and I finally (thankfully) got relief with an epidural to my neck. I feel for your wife (and you) - she must be suffering terribly.

There is a drug called Neurontin that many women in my mets group use to get relief from nerve pain. Also many of them use a pain patch and see a pain management doctor to get pain under control and get relief. Many use a combo of pain meds including pot to manage their pain. When you are in high levels of pain it seems that meds that would normally make you delirious really don't. The meds seem to do a decent job of blocking the pain. And hopefully during that time the docs will find a more permanent solution.

Hope this helps.
Flori

I was diagnosed in Dec. 2004 with Stage 3 breast cancer, had left side mascectomy and lymph node removal - 23 of 29 effected, did a/c & Taxol and radiation. Tried tamoxifen - didn't work. Did Herceptin. Was put back on Taxol when spots showed up in the liver in Nov 2006. I have been battling with bone pain for almost a year now. I first ended up in the hospital in November when the pain was so bad in my legs that I could walk. I had a tumor in the low spine that was effecting the sciatica. They did radiation and started me on Tykerb/Xeloda and I was up and around by Christmas. I then had another recurrance on New Years eve when I had spots show up on my sternum and directly behind that in the back. They did radiation on this area as well. This time I was in the hospital for 1 1/2 months. My insurance company decided to have home health care come in to do pain management for me. Everything was going great and I was hoping to go back to work when all of sudden in July my neck and shoulder area. One morning I couldn't move my arm and it got worse and worse. My husband called and ambulance and well now I had mets to be neck. Again radiation. They stopped my Tykerb/Xeloda until we get new scans. I am home again now with the home health - they are great. I have a PET scan tomorrow to see how everything looks. Hopefully things are shrinking and I can get back on the Tykerb/Xeloda or something else. My main stress right now is that my short term disability is up in November and I need to figure out what to do next. I am hoping they will be willing to extend it for 6 months because my plan is to be better and get back to work soon. I am sorry for rambling, but you are all so sweet to listen and give advice back.

Stephanie