Next Steps on the long winding road.........

After my spinal biopsy last week I was quite sore around the spot where they'd taken their samples from, in addition to the 'normal' daily pain in my spine. I'm sure now it's a different type of pain because I had two pains at the same time - the draining, constant dull ache in the spine from the mets PLUS the soreness around the area of the biopsy...however, now I'm back to just the one pain, the soreness at least has eased off.

Saw the palliative care team on Monday and had the pain med's tweaked around  a bit. We are reviewing in two weeks to do the same again.

Wednesday I met with the Breast Care (BC) team. Saw a very nice Doctor who discussed the MRI results with me. They showed 'a mass around and covering T9 with further limited spread into T10. Bone is impacted along with vertebrae around that area - but at the moment no spinal compression'.
MDT meeting on Friday decided after reviewing MRI that the way forward is Radiotherapy - 5 sessions over a week (Mon - Fri) starting this coming Monday.
The purpose of Radiotherapy is to reduce the 'mass' as much as possible and repair the damaged bone in that area.
The biopsy results are not yet back from the lab - however she feels that it will show the origin as being 'rectal' rather than a new primary.

We discussed why Cyberknife isn't an option and she explained that it is due to cost reasons. She explained that it hasn't been taken off the table but has been delayed for now because as it's an expensive treatment they would have to apply to the Cancer Fund for funding - the Cancer Fund would then refuse saying that they hadn't tried normal Radiotherapy on that area yet.
They would then have to do this first then reapply...all this would take at least 6 weeks, during which time I'd be having no treatment.
Therefore the MDT decided to go for normal high dose Radiotherapy and if they don't get a good enough result they WILL apply for funding for CyberKnife
We also talked about neurosurgery - she confirmed that they do not want to risk it at this point. The 'mass' is larger than they'd want it to be for surgery purposes and therefore they wouldn't be able to guarantee a good result with a positive outcome. It's major surgery and after weighing it up they've decided it's off the table for now. I really didn't want spinal surgery anyway.

After the Radiotherapy, they are interested in using  Bisphosphonates

IF these treatments work she feels they can buy me time  - 'possibly even as much as a couple of years compared to the alternative of months'....Therefore, much now depends on the Radiotherapy initially - then the Bisphosphonates afterwards.
However, if the Radiotherapy didn't work I'm not sure where we go from there - therefore it HAS to work this time :) Simple eh :)

Had my Radiotherapy planning meeting on Thursday. Four new tatoo's - so now I have seven in total :) Brief chat about side effects, usual stuff.

So, have Radiotherapy every day next week - side effects may include extreme tiredness, nausea and vomiting but NO burns this time :) Pain may well increase during treatment and for a week or so afterwards then if it's worked, pain should reduce dramatically or even disappear for a time.

Following Monday I have a follow up with palliative care. Then a further appointment with BC team on 30th November.
I also have a colorectal check up appointment on 28th but will probably reschedule this - because I've had scans recently, they've all been checked and double checked, my next CT is on 19th Dec to check the lung question so it makes sense for me to see the colorectal team AFTER they've got these results and we've got something to talk about, rather than me just stopping by for a chat about things that are already being dealt with now.

I just want this ongoing pain to give me a break now. I'm totally fed up with it...........