So far, increasing my oxycontin hasn't helped :( For the most part, the "spikes" of pain are less frequent and not as painful, but my sternum is aching at a higher level of pain than normal all the time. This makes me cranky. The extra percocet I'm taking makes me sleepy. I know things will get better, but right now the pain sucks. If you've had chronic pain before, then you know how difficult it can be to live with chronic pain. I'm getting tired of it, I'll tell you.
I am still managing to create things, though. I made a beautiful pair of garnet and freshwater pearl earrings and a matching necklace today. The garnet is high-quality polished, transparent, marquise-shaped ovals. As long as I can still make things, I'm (mostly) happy.
There is an excellent interview with a doctor about metastatic here. The doctor talks about coping, emotional impact, differences in treatments based on estrogen-receptor status, how they do those tests, and pretty well all of the different treatments available. There are a lot of pages with an index on the left and everything is explained in a very clear way with user-friendly language. I'd strongly recommend that you read it if you have any questions about my diagnosis or treatment. The doctor explains everything better than I can.
While reading this article, please keep in mind that I have ER-positive, HER2-negative, metastatic breast cancer and that I was premenopausal when I was first diagnosed with the bone mets. I am currently taking Femara (an aromatase inhibitor) and I'm taking a bisphosphonate. I had my ovaries removed for treatment, making me postmenopausal. I did take Tamoxifen for the first cancer but was taken off it early due to crystals in my corneas - this is a sign of toxicity, which means that I won't be able to take it again.
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