The One I Never Wanted to Write
How do I even start this one off?!
So... I've got Metastatic Breast Cancer (otherwise known as Secondary Breast Cancer or Stage IV Breast Cancer). You might wanna get a brew and get comfy for this one cos its gonna be a long one, there's loads to catch up on (apparently this is a 7 min read!).
I've literally sat with the laptop open so many times to try and write this and so much has changed everytime I've tried to do it I don't even know where to start anymore. Then my brain is telling me is there any point if there isn't a complete journey?! Blahhh, F it, I'm gonna try to do it anyways.
When I started this blog a good 5 years ago I definitely didn't envisage I'd ever have to write a post about this, but then again does anybody?! Everyone admitted in the cancer club hopes it's a short term membership but sadly (although I'm not keen on the sadness shit at the mo) it's just not the reality for a lot of us. Quite ironic that my last blog post (that I wrote in June but didn't publicise didn't age well! (Link is here: 5 years on...)
Discovering lurker #2/3
It all began rather mundane really, I was at work one day in May when I went to get a patient in a wheelchair to bring them in for their X-Ray and I felt this 'pop' in my back/chest and was seeing stars. I was in agony so went to A&E to get checked out and they did an X-Ray of my upper back (T-Spine). That came back fine and I was told it was probably just my back in spasm so I just got on with things albeit lifting and moving things. A few weeks later I had a really horrible pain in my chest that felt like I was having a heart attack so ended up going to A&E to get checked out. As part of them checking me out I had a chest X-ray in which the AI reporting software detected a rib fracture on my 6th rib on the right hand side. FYI this is common now and is used as a tool for Drs in settings such as A&E to help highlight things that may be overlooked i.e gives suggestions on what might be wrong but ultimately its up to the Dr to make the judgement. When the Dr reviewed the image she was confident that the software was wrong and it was due to some overlying anatomy. I literally joked and said "oh god thats giving mets" and she was like "nooo dont be daft its not". I then had the loveliest weekend ever and went to Spain with my bestie for the weekend and lived my best life - no kids and chatting shit drinking sangria in the pool all day.
When I got back on the Monday I had my usual Zoladex injection so asked the nurse if my chest X-Ray had been formally reported yet as I wasn't overly convinced there wasn't something there. The nurse read the report out to me and instantly booked me in with the GP that afternoon. The report had said there was a fractured rib that was healing - I was thinking maybe I had fractured my rib when I had hurt myself at work back in May. Fast forward a few days and my Oncology team had also picked up this report and wanted me to have a CT scan and Nuclear Medicine Bone Scan to check the rib out. At this point we're at the beginning of July. The reports of the CT and Bone Scan showed an expansile lesion in my 6th right rib and a possibility of something going on in my 4th right rib but Oncology were not entirely sure if this was definitely cancer. I then had an MRI scan so they could have a look and decide what to do next.
Touring Hospitals
After what felt like forever, I was referred to Birmingham Orthopaedic Hospital for a biopsy of the 6th rib as Oncology felt there was no definite way of knowing what we were dealing with otherwise. We headed to Birmingham for this on the 13th Aug, thankfully, it was done under general anaesthetic, as I was absolutely shitting myself at the thought of them trying to biopsy my rib while I was awake. It was a strange experience, I literally climbed onto the CT scanner and they wedged me how the wanted me then put me to sleep. I was able to go home later that afternoon and we stayed in a hotel nearby which was actually a blessing as it had aircon and it was when it was 30 odd degrees outside! We also went the see the eclipse in a park in Birmingham as we stopped the night before the biopsy and there was this random massive exotic parrot just flying round (still have no idea if this is normal in this park or someone just brought their parrot out?! WTF).
We also had to miss Jack playing at half time at Leeds Rhinos as it was the same day as my biopsy which was gutting. This boys had very little knowledge of what was going on other than I needed a test on my rib at this point. I sat snuggled up in my hotel room with the aircon blasting out watching them on TV instead.
The waiting game
We were told that the results of the biopsy would take 2-4 weeks as bone takes longer to process in the lab (as I know from my previous lab rat job) but it felt like forever. It was the 6 weeks holidays and we were doing the usual juggle of entertaining the boys, working and having fun with all this sitting over us. It's been really difficult because there were people around us that knew what was going on but we didn't want to tell the boys just yet until we had enough information to give them the answers the would inevitably want. Everyone around us has been brilliant, but we were so worried that the boys would catch on.
D-Day 01/09/2026
On the 1st of September, I finally (after ringing the Breast Care Nurses and Birmingham every day) got the result that I didn't want. They confirmed that the lesion in my rib was breast cancer that had spread from my original tumour back in 2021 - so I have a metastatic lesion or "met" in my rib. Once they had ascertained it was Breast Cancer they were dealing with the next job was to send it off for receptor testing to determine what treatments will be effective against in (we described this to the boys as "what food it likes and what we can kill it with"). Unfortunately for me this takes a FURTHER 2 weeks. Cue more waiting, uncertainty and endless phone calls and we eventually got the result that the Cancer is ER/PR+ (hormone receptive) which is how it was the first time. The other receptor they are interested in is HER2 and again, unfortunately for me, my result came back as borderline so they have had to send it off for further testing which, as you may guess by now, takes ANOTHER 2 weeks. So now we're on 25th September, and I still don't know exactly what F'er im dealing with. I am hoping to hear back by Tuesday 29th Sept as this will be 2 weeks since they sent it back off.
What the Future Holds
Welllll at the moment, we don't particularly know. My case has been discussed at the MDT (team of Doctors from different specialities) and they have advised that either SABR (ablative Radiotherapy) or Surgery could be options in the first instance. I met with the Radiotherapy consultant on Tuesday and he talked me through how they can nuke the lesion over 3 sessions and that they generally get really good results with this. I've got an appointment with the Thoracic surgeon next week to discuss what surgical options I have. I have also had another round of scans this week so they have baseline scans compare things to when I do start treatment. The 4th rib is still up for contention as to whether its also affected and I think this may affect what surgical options are available.
I can't start any systemic therapy until they know the HER2 result as this influences the pathway massively. If it is HER2- I will probably be starting on CDK4/6 inhibitors (an immunotherapy), whereas if it is HER2+ I will be starting with chemo (NOT happy at the thought of this). My cancer has also come back whilst I have been on Hormone Therapy (4 years of massive injections and feeling 70) so they need to change that up too but I'm not sure what's what with that just yet. So now we wait! If I'm honest I just want to get started ASAP I don't like the thought of sitting here doing nothing.
There has been no mention of "How long I've got" which I know is the question on everyone's lips when you mention this kinda diagnosis. We have no idea yet but I feel well at present, not in any pain (the ribs were a bastard a few months ago) so we're not gonna think and talk that way. It's only in 1/2 ribs at the moment which is positive but other than that I don't have much else to say! I'm still working, dancing and doing all the normal shit I usually do with a few extra F it fun bits thrown in for good measure. We have now spoken to our boys about this, but that's another story for another time.
Well done if you have got this far! Like I said earlier were not doing sadness so please don't feel sad. I don't want people to feel sorry or pity me, im still the crazy bugger I always have been and will continue to be. Now I have got things out I will continue to update!
Love,
Kirst xx
Fingers crossed x