Surviving Mets

jmears
jmears Member Posts: 266
edited March 2014 in Breast Cancer #1
Hello - I don't post often ... mostly when I get scared. After a stage 2 dx in 2000 I had a relaps in 2005 with mets to the bones. I have had various radiation and biological treatments and after a years had two clear pet scans (about 8 months)... then in May it was back again ... I am now taking Xeloda (which I was taking during the previous clear time) and I have been switched from Herceptin to Tykerb. The hot spots are in my spine mostly. I don't think I have any pain from them ... I have stiffness and aches ...which I attibute to inactivity and age (closing in on 50). I would love to hear some survivor stories that have mets but are still working and living a normal life. I need a lot of encouragement ... I'm really starting to freak out that it keeps coming back. Thanks

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  • susabella
    susabella Member Posts: 46
    #2
    Hey JMears!

    I'm praying for you and it sounds as if you have more courage than you realize. We all get scared, or we wouldn't be here, it's human. Just remember that some people have a very good prognosis and get sick again, and some have a grim prognosis and are alive and kicking years and years later. It's a mystery to me, but I give it to God, and hope. I had a bilateral mastectomy 7 months ago with immediate reconstruction. My mother died of BC 13 years ago, my grandmother had it aqnd survived, but her sister died at 38 of BC. I was terrified when I was diagnosed. I'm grateful for each day of health. I want to share a story with you of my neighbor, Sue. Sue is in her late fifties, and was diagnosed with BC in 2004. She had her right breast removed, chemo and radiation. All was well till a few months ago. She lives 3 houses down, in her first home. She was a single Mom, on welfare living in the projects. Her tiny Victorian cottage was bought with so much pride and she was the first to own a home in her family. Her gardens are gorgeous and we all enjoy walks by her home. Well, when her chemo started again, her house needed painting, and she could not do it. Sue was heartbroken and embarrassed that her pride and joy did not look like she wanted. She was more concerned with her home than her scars or her bald head. As neighbors, we took up a collection, surprised her one weekend, and scraped and painted that house!! Now, I had just had some tweaking to my reconstruction, and couldn't climb ladders, so friends took down her shutters, and put them on saw horses for me to paint. And what color did we all vote on? Her little cottage was white, with a wrap around porch and picket fence, so we had to paint her shutters and front door "breast cancer pink"!! Sue was moved to tears. The next day she had a shunt put in for her chemo, but was so excited about her house she didn't mind. We all smile every time we drive by, and it was a labor of love. She's full of laughter and fight in spite of her outcome, and that's all any of us can ask for. We have no guarantees about anything, so we have to live today. Tomorrow takes care of itself. I think that's what cancer survivors know that other people don't, and we don't always want to know that. It is what is, though as Sue says, and we keep going.

    I'm sorry for the rambling, but Sue inspires me, as do all the survivors in my family. Living long isn't necessarily survival. Living well, is.

    Love and prayers, and remember, if cancer makes you afraid, it's a bully. Fight back!!

    Love, Sue

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