Mum has breast & bone cancer - does anyone have any experience of this?

[BrownPaperandString]

Mum was diagnosed with breast cancer 4 years ago and had a lump and lymph glands removed. last summer, after lots of pain and lots of chest infections, we discovered it had spread to her bone.

She is on herceptin, a cement drug and xeloda and has been doing well though the mets have spread to more ribs / vertebrae etc. The xeloda (oral chemo) has just been increased and the doctor said there may be a brief period where it helps. there are 2 more chemo's they can try and then that's it. They are the toxic nasty ones that make you feel awful with hair loss etc.

Last week she got another infection and the coughing caused her horrible pain in her ribs and we think it might be a fracture. The Doctor said they don't do anything about it.

Is the fracture (if it is one) likely to heal and is she now likely to just keep fracturing and be in lots of pain. Is this the beginning of the end?

I know every case is different but i just wondered if once the fractures start, they come in quick succession and then the other complications start to kick in...

Sorry for such a long post and thank you for reading it

Brown paper - I am so sorry, I don't know. But I wanted to say hugs to you all, and hoping someone with more info happens along.xx

Thank you so much for your lovely reply x

Yes my mum had this and unfortunately she eventually died...BUT this didnt happen til 25 years after she was diagnosed with breast cancer....and it was more than 10 years after the breast cancer spread to the bones...of those 10 years she had a good quality of life for most of them..and they never stopped treating her...in fact they had been about to try some sort of new treatment but after 25 years her body had had too much

Don't lose hope xx

BrownPaper - very sorry to hear about your mum, what a very difficult time for you all. I'm sorry I don't have much info. for you, but I'm directing you to the Macmillan website, in case you haven't seen it. They have a helpline and will answer any questions you have - plus written info and booklets on many aspects of cancer. I've found them very helpful(I'm a BC patient)best wishes to you all.website here

The fracture could well have happened due to cancer in that part of the bone, but even for non-cancer-related rib fractures the main treatment is to leave until it gets better on its own.
My late Mum only lasted 6 months after it spread to her bones, in her case it was in the spine and caused collapsed vertebrae (=immobility).
Sadly a lot of treatment at that stage is mainly palliative. I also think that in my Mum's case some of the drugs had awful side effects and contributed to the damage to other parts of the body. She also had lots of infections and then you are in a vicious circle, b/c antibiotics further knock out the immune system and the gut. Cancer "steals" iron so she ended up very anaemic, but when she was given iron, that fuelled cancer too.
We still used things like probiotics and juices to keep her going, hard to just stop and give up.
I think the rest is very important, also being in the fresh air lifts the mood. We used homeopathy too.
Stay strong BP&S.

Hi BrownPaper, it's horrible isn't it, my mum was diagnosed with breast cancer 11 years ago and found out it had spread to her bones just over 2 years ago. She had chemo and is now on herceptin and zemeta, and bondramat to strengthen her bones.

Where is your mum being treated? My mum goes to the Marsden in London, it's quite a way but really worth it as the care is so good. Earlier this year she had some radiotherapy which has really reduced the pain and hopefully perhaps killed some cancer. Can you ask about palliative radiotherapy because as I said it helped the pain a lot.

I don't know about fractures I'm afraid but I DO know that there is a lot they can do now to help, it's not an immediate death sentence any more.

My mum also uses Pilgrims Hospices who offer aromatherapy and other complimentary therapies- of course they won't make her better but it does wonders for her state of mind, which I think can have a bearing on her physical health.

God bless and hope this helps a bit.

My mum got treated at the Christie in Manchester and they were amazing too....like Debka's mum mine also had aromatherapy and also reflexology at the hospice and it did wonders

Hope ur bearing up ok x

Me again, my mum told me to tell you that the hospice specializes in pain relief.

Thank you everyone for your replies - I will reply properly tomorrow - I've had a long day driving up to mum's - I think there are actually a couple of breaks. I was holding her back while she coughed and I felt a piece of bone shoot out in to my hand. It was awful.

I must go to bed now. Thank you so much again xxx

BrownPaper, I have no advice but wanted to send you a hug. Remember to take care of you as well as your mum. Be strong for her, but let friends help you through it all. Really hope she gets some relief from the rib pain soon.

Marie Curie nurses are fantastic, they worked wonders for my Gran, they were the only ones who got to grips with her pain management. Hope your mum gets good help soon x

SIL has breast cancer with 3 secondary bone mets. hers were stable for 5 years ans she's only recxently developed liver mets. SIL only gave up FT work when she started chemo for the liver mets.

I think if they catch them early they can be kept under control with a high quality of life for some years. breast cancer bony mets apparently are quite slow growing.

Thank you all and it's so lovely to hear positive stories and helpful advice. I really appreciate it.

Mum has more mets now than she did last June, so I'm not sure if that would count as stable or if it's starting to progress rather quickly. Either way, we can't change it so it's all to do with making the best of things isn't it?

Kurrikurri - I'm sorry you're going through it all yourself.

Can I just ask you all who had mums with bony mets - for caring for them at home, did you have a reclining chair / bed for them or was something like that never needed?

We didn't get to need any specialist equipment at home. My mum went into a hospice for 4 weeks towards the end as my dad couldn't cope and my ds is disabled. I'd say maybe if you can obtain any equipment it's worth trying as it would ease the discomfort.
At the same time as bone mets were discovered, they also found liver mets, which on top of the infections and antibiotics was just too much.
Not helping, but the cough could also mean involvement in the lungs, my Mum also had breathing difficulties, then again it could have been radio damage.
It's really tough, so sad for you,

Hugs from me too. I am currently having treatment for BC but my father dies of lung cancer in a Marie Curie Hospice and the care was really impressive. They were extremely good at pain releif and at helping us to cope with the emotions of it all. I couldn't praise them enough if you get to the stage where your need a hospice for your mum.

Meanwhile though I hope a lot can be done for her as I could be speaking about hospioce care far too early and some people do manage with mets for a long time. Good luck.