First Post Treatment Checkup (new doctor)

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GryffinSong
GryffinSong Member Posts: 439
edited June 2014 in IDC (Invasive Ductal Carcinoma)

Tomorrow I meet my new oncologist. I've moved clear across the country since I finished treatment, and this is my first 3 month checkup. I'm starting to get nervous about it, and am hoping you all can help me know what to expect. Since everything will be new (doctor, cancer center, not being actively treated) the unknown is starting to get to me and I'm feeling weepy and anxious. It would really help to know what kinds of tests they do at this point.

Help? Will I be scanned? Blood tested? Just talk?

I have a list of questions, and know that I want a consult with a plastic surgeon to see if they can do a revision on my left side and underarms. I don't want reconstruction, but I look like a lumpy monster. And I've got pain and tenderness I want to ask about.

Other than that, I have no clue.

Thanks!

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  • Ezscriiibe
    Ezscriiibe Member Posts: 598
    edited February 2010

    Wow, I have no idea, and I have to admit that I'd be somewhat stressed myself!

    How confident are you that they have all your records? I am keeping a binder of all my results and blood work ups, etc., but I don't have the doctors' notes, which I'm sure will be important, nor do I have actual copies of the images that were taken along the way.

    Keep us posted and trust that if nothing else, you can use this visit as a staging visit to let them know what you expect and need from them and ask them how they can help that happen.

    Best of luck to you!

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  • GryffinSong
    GryffinSong Member Posts: 439
    edited February 2010

    Thanks Michele. They were faxed all the info they said they needed, including chemo flow charts and doctor's notes. I also have hardcopies of much of it. It was really interesting to read through the doctor's notes.

    I found one place online that said these visits are generally a physical exam (I assume of the scars and such) and a time to ask/answer questions. It sounds like I wouldn't get a scan of any kind, and certainly no one told me to avoid deoderant or anything.

    I'll post about it in case anyone else is wondering, although if I were going to my regular/old oncologist I wouldn't be worried because there'd be consistency from my last appointment, and I'd feel a little better clued in.

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  • otter
    otter Member Posts: 6,099
    edited February 2010

    Every oncologist seems to have a different protocol.  Some do scans, others don't.  Mine doesn't, except for a DEXA bone density scan every 2 years and for my annual mammogram.

    I finished chemo in June '08, and had my 3-month onco recheck and my 6-month post-surgery mammogram and BS recheck on the same day.  After that, the onco rechecks were staggered so I saw her twice a year and my BS once a year.

    My onco ordered some blood work to be done a few hours prior to my 3-month recheck, so that she would have the results at my visit.  It was really routine stuff -- basic CBC and chem panel, focusing on liver function tests.  I had been on Arimidex for 3 months by that point, so the liver function stuff was needed to monitor for residual chemo effects, Arimidex SE's, and I guess for possible mets. My onco had also ordered a DEXA bone density scan to be done as a baseline when I started on Arimidex, and those results were also available at my 3-month visit.

    We spent a lot of time talking about possible SE's from Arimidex.  I really didn't have anything that might be interpreted as a symptom of mets, but she asked some relevant questions.  She also did a thorough physical exam, including a very careful exam of my mast/SNB scar, chest wall, armpits, "normal" breast, and anywhere there could possibly be a lymph node.  It was probably the most thorough exam I've ever had -- abdominal palpation, chest auscultation, reflexes (Taxotere can cause neuropathy), the whole deal.  I figure if I ever have a new lump somewhere, she's the one who's going to find it.

    My mammogram and BS recheck weren't until later in the day, so we didn't have that information to discuss.  It was a long onco visit, though.  She's very thorough and really patient.  She does not do "surveillance" scans -- the standard-of-care at my cancer center is that routine scans are not done on women with early-stage BC (Stage I, anyway) unless they have symptoms or abnormal or suspicious test results.

    All these things are very different at different centers, though; and there might be more routine testing done for women who had positive nodes or a larger or more aggressive tumor than mine.

    It must be nerve-wracking to have to go through this with a totally new onco and unfamiliar cancer center.  That's one reason why I am not more nervous than I am about my rechecks -- I am comfortable with the place and people because they're so familiar by now. 

    Hugs...

    otter 

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  • GryffinSong
    GryffinSong Member Posts: 439
    edited February 2010

    Thanks, otter, the strangeness of it all is definately freaking me out. Knowing that I'll walk in and not know a soul. Heck, I don't even know what the building looks like or parking or anything. It's all getting to me. My mom's offered to go with me, and I haven't decided if I want company or want to tough it out alone. Putting it in writing makes it sound silly to me to go alone, but this journey has been mine alone up until now. This is the first time I have the opportunity to have my mom there with me during this journey.

    I am a bit worried about tenderness and lumps and such, especially on my right side, so I do hope he does a very thorough exam and takes plenty of time to talk with me. My old oncologist and surgeon were both women, so having a male doctor is also new.

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