What are follow up protocols for III stage BC survivors.

I was dxed May 2005 and was followed up every few months and had cbcs, chemistries and tumor markers at each followup. At 5yrs ( I think?) I started every 6 months.

The 3 week rule is a pretty good one. If there are pains that get worse or do not subside in 3 weeks time, you should get it checked out.

My onc only does bloodwork every 3 months, a chest x-ray annually and I'm now seeing her only twice a year.   She wants to limit radiation exposure so we haven't done any other scans although I am scheduled for my first bone scan since my original dx this year.

Momini - you seem to have one of the most comprehensive follow-up schedules I've seen for our stage.  May I ask where you are being treated?

Momine--you are lucky.  Women in the U.S. are not getting the staging done periodically after treatment.  I guess it's not the "standard of care."  I get so sick of those words!  We can only get scans if there are symptoms to warrant them. 

Mary, I do feel like I am in good hands. Many Greeks asked why I chose to stay here for treatment instead of going to the US. They tend to think that everything is bigger and better in America, but I gave birth to my daughter in a US hospital and had very poor care that gave me chronic pain for 20 years (until a Greek surgeon patiently fixed the problem for me). 

The scans are controversial. But my docs feel that the load is worth it the first two years after a DX like mine.

My breast surgeon was for years the head of the breast surgeons' association here and he goes to all the international conferences on breast cancer. He claims that he has a few tricks up his sleeve for taking lymph nodes, for example, that he feels reduce the risk of lymphedema. He has tried to interest American colleagues in his techniques, but they dismiss him because he is Greek (perfectly dressed, perfect English, 30 years of practice). My surgeon told me, unprompted and based on what he has seen there, that he did not recommend going to the US for treatment. 

However, I repeat, I have excellent private insurance and am being treated in a private hospital. The public system here is in quite a shambles, due to the crisis, and I have no idea what goes on there. Also do keep in mind that my insurance only covers limited testing, so I shell out about 1500 dollars a year for tests.

Momine--I do believe that health care is better in many countries other than the U.S., for example, Germany. I feel that the strict adherence to the standard of care developed from studies often flies in the face of common sense. For example, it's my understanding that we don't get the scans here because a study found that women only live 2 weeks longer with mets discovered by scans rather than symptoms. But it just seems to be common sense to me to try to find the mets as soon as possible if they are there and start treatment.

Sometimes I hear that oncs have told their patients it doesn't make any difference if you catch mets early, which doesn't make sense to me.  If liver mets are caught early, and are small and not distributed throughout the liver, surgery is an option.  The same with brain mets.