imworried
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My sister was diagnosed 4 years ago with stage iv bc. Her 2 positive mets to liver lungs and lower bone. She now has 3 brain mets ranging from 1-2cm. One met is pushing on her brain stem. Before being diagnosed with these she dexided to quit treatment as she was in a very mild chemo but it was tanking her numbers. Now she is receivimg 20 days of wbr to releive symptoms. This is only week one of wbr but her symptoms like word finding and memory loss are fetting worse. Is that a sign that her tumors have grown more?
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Reply # - September 6, 2012, 09:10 PM
Reply To: Sister with brain mets
No, not necessarily, but I understand your concern. Sometimes people can have some inflammatory changes/swelling from the radiation itself that might cause transient worsening of symptoms.
We often do see improvement in symptoms by a couple of weeks into whole brain radiation (WBR), so I hope she's doing better soon.
-Dr. West
Reply # - September 7, 2012, 12:59 AM
Reply To: Sister with brain mets
Hallo, I just wanted to say I am sorry about your sister - but also to report from a patient's point of view that I experienced a worsening of symptoms early in treatment as Dr West describes. In fact the radiotherapy nurses had a catchphrase to the effect that the treatment "stirs up" the symptoms. Best of luck to your sister.