appt with my oncologist

anamerty

Had an appointment today with my oncologist.She explained that it was probably not helpful to keep having CT and other scans and tests unless I have symptoms, as it just causes anxiety and doesn't change anything. As some of you know, they have been watching a spot on my rib,I have had now 3 CT's and a bone scan. Its still there but hasn't changed.She said thathere still is a question as to what it is but if it is mets , it will present at some point,but if I have no symptoms now,(which I don't) they will just do follow up appt. I have heard this a lot, and I actually agree with her. Finding mets early doesn't change anything and tx is the same. Only if you find  your initial bc early does it make a difference usually ,but not mets,so I will prod along and just pretend that I'm"cured"(sure!!)So I'm off to Vegas for a week this coming Sunday and will try hard to just enjoy......Brenda

bluepearl

Gee....with tumors that small and with clean nodes, I would have thought mets would be a remote thing for you. You even had chemo which my oncologist didn't want to give. I was stage 1b (7mm).

anamerty

bluepearl, I thought that too, but because they found a 1.8cm tumor and 7 nodes were clear, they staged me at 1 but being tn high grade 3.Believe me I never thought I could have had mets from the get go either, but the docs just don't have another explaination for why the spot "shrunk" between the 2 weeks that the 2 ct scans were taken, they are making an educated guess that it was the chemo that shrunk it thus it "must" be mets. But I don't know, and the ro said there is still a question. I guess it is not that common to have mets right out of the gate, but it does happen.Also not all women with mets had cancer in the nodes sometimes it is in the blood even before surgery.Believe me I hate it,bad enough having to stop the chemo due to the taxatore causing pnemonia and everything I've already gone through, I don't need this, the not knowing

She

Brenda, I hope you're having fun in Vegas!  Will you be back by June 1?

anamerty

Hi she im back now I had fun but should have taken a coupld of dxtra days