Follow Ups for Her2+

Same here..

I do bloodwork but no scans unless symptoms. Your onc will give you a physical exam ie, check the breast, underarms, colar bone area for enlarged lymph nodes.

I personally don't mind NOT having scans...they cause more anxiety for me and the waiting is horrible. PLUS some times there are false positives with these scans which can end up doing MORE testing..more anxiety...blah blah...

I have have had enough of radiation exposure to last me a life time...so I dislike scans right now. But if I needed to have one I most definatly would do one.

Has anyone had digital mammography --or ultrasounds --on top of ,or in lieu of, mammogram follow-ups.

 I was hoping for a close watch on the breast tissue itself.... I want anything that were to come back found WAY before there are ANY mets -

 Am I hearing from you guys that some doctors are saying that it doesn't matter if there are no mets yet -- if it comes back -- then there will be mets?

I'm feeling kinda scared about the notion that the "outcome" is the same whether or not they catch the mets early....what is the "outcome" that we're talking about here?

Deep breath. Sigh. Help. Bethany

If you have a local recurence (in the breast or axillary nodes), you may be able to be treated and become NED.

However, if you have a distant recurrence (Mets), you are Stage 4.  The disease is no longer considered treatable and the goal is to control the met progression (hopefully with some periods of NED).  The eventual outcome is death.

Bethany- I am sorry that this scared you also!  I personally have this bad habit of always looking ahead and anticipating the worse scenario.  As I was going through chemo and reading several books on breast cancer, I started reading about stage IV and the prognosis. Fortunately, I had an experienced and compassionate social worker who sat down with me and talked to me about that possibility when I asked.  She pointed out that she had many stage IV patients who had lived for many, many years due to the advanced therapies available. As a medical professional for 30 years, I always thought that cancer was totally untreatable if it spread to the liver or brain.  But there is a woman in my breast cancer support group who had liver lesions removed surgically and a brain met reomved with gamma knife. I am definitely not a specialist at advanced cancer!  But there IS therapy even then.  Remember when Elizabeth Edwards was diagnosed with bone mets 2 years ago?  The media emphasized the poor, incurable cancer victim over and over. She is still here! Hugs to you all and good luck with your decision making!!

lexislove- you were diagnosed the same week that I was...and with very similar pathology!  Hope all is going well for you at followup.

I had my 1st follow-up mammo (digital) in Feb. I also had an ultrasound on the surgery boob. I had a lump that I thought was scar tissue. It wasn't, it is a Seroma. Nothing to worry about and will shrink in time. It may be from the surgery or the mammosite. As long as it's normal and will go away...I won't worry about it.

My first mammo after BC was a regular one and they had to use CAD to read it. The scar tissue and effects of radiation made it difficult to see clearly. The next follow up mammo, I made the appointment at a facility that uses digital and it was much clearer. They also did a US on a suspect spot, but it was scar tissue near a surgical clip. The last follow up was also done at the same place and it clean and showed that scar tissue was resolving. I will continue to have digital mamms as long as the insurance will pay for it.