Hi From Australia!

This Easter, my wife was diagnosed with secondary Breast Cancer, a very rare and inoperable Bone Cancer, which according to the full body scan was present in 90% of her body. Best case scenario is 2-3 months, and since Easter, she has begun to slide rapidly. We have been together for 20 years(Marrried for 18), watching my best friend, lover, wife and partener lose a piece each day has been crushing. The pain started in Feb' this year, and at that time, my wife was on Tamoxefin, her GP insisted repeatadly that her pain and vision problems were mere a side affect of this drug, and that her vision would improve, while her pain in her left leg and back was Sciattica, again a side effect of "Tamy". On Easter Monday, we took her to our GP saying that the pain was so intense, she was close to passing out. He agreed that, yes, "there appears to be a problem"! SO after a lower lumber CT, it was descovered that a large metasticised lump and Pathologincal fractures were in evidence, which ensued an urgent full body scan.................it was everywhere, skull, ribs, stirnum, arms, legs, fingers and toes. Please I urge people to get a scan if they have had a previous cancer and are feeling sciattica-like symptoms. THis has happened just when we are to recieve the keys for our new dream home that we built together, I am gutted........I could rale about the mis-diagnosis, but I may save that for another day. Thanx for reading!

PS> Have since discovered that approximately 20,000 people world wide are misdiagnosed with bone cancer, sciattica it seems is the preferred prognosis.

  • So sorry to hear what your wife and you are going through, must have been such a terrible shock. I lost my beautiful mum to Metastatic Breast Cancer and it was a shock diagnosis (after being cancer free for 10 years) she gained her angel wings 3 weeks later as like your wife it had spread everywhere (and including organs) if your wife's secondaries are restricted to bones only this can be managed quite well for a good period of time although there will be a focus on quality of life rather than quantity. X

  • Sadly, general consensus is that for the cancer to have spread to so much of her body, major organs would have had to be affected as well, onco's thought is that this is what is killing her, why discomfort her more with more scans, as the bone scan caused her incredible pain, as she is unable to hold the position required of her to endure it, also it is believed that her optic nerves are under pressure as her vision is squirly, she has completetely lost the feeling in her left leg, her saliver glands have ceased to function, making swallowing difficult as well as giving her a dry mouth. Her left side of her face is occasionally going numb, which again makes drinking or eating difficult, not that she has had solid food in 2 weeks(I bought a juicer, best that money could buy, so at least twice a day she drinks fresh vegetable juices), and nervous tic's occasional rack her body(Stroke has been ruled out). After her mastectomy, and the removal of all her lymphnodes and the destruction of 50% of the nerves in her left arm, she has very little strength left in her left hand, so without her walking stick and me she is unable to sit up or indeed leave her bed. She has also since last week lost all feeling in her bottom, and is unable to clench, for example, her body tells her she has to go to the toilet, but because of the numbness, she can't tell when she's finished, this has also affected urination, so she uses sound or lack there of to tell her she's done, this has made her feel humiliated, even though I have comforted her and reassured her there is nothing to be ashamed about, she was once a very proud & independant woman, I think that feeling of helplessness is worse than the pain for her sometimes, and she often breaks down and cries that she wants to be dead. We have noticed that although her GP has said that she should be able to get 3 days relief from her patch, her pain breakthroughs are more frequent towards the end of the 2nd day, I am seeing our GP today, and will share this fact with him. Also it should be noted, that after 6 months of chemo for her breast cancer, which nearly killed her, the huge amount of flesh with her breast that was removed during surgery, and the horrible scarring left after the radio therapy, she is quite reluctant and has indeed refused any more of that type of treatment. The radio therapy in particular has blackened her left side, and left hard lumpy skin, which although mostly numb gives her phantom pain and icthyness. The fact is 3 weeks ago, although she had massive amounts of pain, she was still very independant, now she hobbles to the toilet and realizes that without her meds, she would be a wreck, I for one would be glad if she passed quickly without more pain, and her her onco's have warned me it should be quick but brutal. I live in dread, fearing yet knowing what is to come, that her body will betray her more as the cancer progresses........... While she can still type on her laptop, she has written a DNR (Do Not Resuscitate) letter, which I will get our GP to sign later today. He has asked her to pen this her own words to make it leagally binding.

  • FYI, she did have regular scans, all of which showed her to be clear, infact she went on a brief holiday to visit her elderly mother in Malaysia, after her last scan cleared her, 2 months later the trouble began.

  • Addendum:- Her Breast Cancer was discovered Christmas 2014, her treatment began 2 weeks later and finished September 2015, so her first scan was 3 months later, December 2015, then 6 months June 2016, then her last scan in December 2017, all of which as stated earlier were clear, I realize you had no knowledge of this when you commented, so I will not take offence to that, however please be assured we did all that was required to ensure she stayed healthy and cancer free, she was on Tamoxefin the day she finished therapy, and continued to take it even though the side effects were horrendous, she has since thrown the pills in the trash, after her diagnosis.