a friend of mine had to have back surgery a few years ago becasue of herniated discs. after the surgery she seemed to be doing great for a while. she does, however, overdo things and would later complain about her back hurting.

recently it has gotten pretty bad for her and when she went to the dr he performed a lot of tests, a biopsy of the spine was one.

She said something had metastasized, but when i pushed her for details she mentioned the rheumatoid arthritis.

Is that possible?

the only thing i ever thought metastasized was cancer. I know she gets some kind of shots every so often for the pain, but she also takes some pain killers that she is out of control with.

I'm worried but not sure if she is covering something up or making things sound worse than they are so she has excuse to pop her pills.

any thoughts about the subject are much appreciated.

Rheumatoid arthritis is not a form of cancer therefore cannot metastasize. If they doctor told her something had metastasized, then most likely she has some form of cancer. R.A. usually is localized