Brain Scan?

Options
peacestrength
peacestrength Member Posts: 690
edited June 2014 in Stage III Breast Cancer

Anyone get a brain MRI after or before chemo?  I pushed to get one shortly after chemo because PET did not scan that part of my body.  I had small vessel change and they said it's probably due to 6 months of chemo.  My MO isn't concerned.  Sometimes I think I push too much/hard and it opens a pandora box of new questions and worries for me.

Do most stage 3 women not get a brain MRI unless there are symptoms?  

· Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Comments

  • wifessupport
    wifessupport Member Posts: 57
    edited January 2014

    Hi PeaceStrength,

                  My wife got a brain mri during the chemo.  Her MO was not worried either but suggested anyway.  I think it is a protocol and it eases your anxiety too.

    Wifessupport

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Kicks
    Kicks Member Posts: 4,131
    edited January 2014

    I had a full body MRI CAT,PET (wound up having a biopsy along jaw because PET 'it' up on it - path. negative- as expectrf) between DX and start of neoadjuvant chemo.  A year later I had a brain MRI because of horrendous pain that developed around/behind right eye just ot be 'sure'    Nothing showed so the decision was that for some unknown reason a nerve had gotten 'irritated' - 2 weeks of Dex took care of it.  Unless there is a known reason - I refuse radiation/scans as I don't want any unneeded radiation.

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Sandyland1
    Sandyland1 Member Posts: 31
    edited January 2014

    I had a brain MRI just before chemo started due to severe vertigo that I had been suffering for months.  I actually didn't tell my MO until my husband insisted.  I am not an alarmist by nature, but it felt SO bad to me that I was pretty certain my BC had metastasized into brain cancer.  I was wrong.  My MRI was clear and we have since determined that my vertigo (which I continue to struggle with 2 years later) is a result of my atlas bone slipping out of place and putting pressure on my brain stem.  Even if it is scary, it is always better to know <3

    Blessings,

    Sandy

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • TectonicShift
    TectonicShift Member Posts: 752
    edited August 2014

    I've had two since dx 2+ years ago. My grandmother died of breast cancer that traveled to the brain, so I insisted on it.

    Also had a friend die last year of ovarian cancer that traveled to the brain and went undiagnosed because they never gave her a brain scan. She had a seizure one night and was dead less than 48 hours later.

    My onc says brain tumors can be treated very effectively but if you wait until seizures start happening then it's too late.

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • SpunkyGirl
    SpunkyGirl Member Posts: 1,568
    edited January 2014

    Peace,

    I liked my oncologist's philosophy, which was let's not go looking for trouble.  Brain scans aren't done unless there are symptoms.  I had one last year because I had numbness in my cheek, and it was the weirdest thing.  The scan was clear and the only thing we could come up with was that either tamoxifen or the low dose aspirin were causing it.  I'm not on anything now, and I haven't had the problem since.   Good luck whatever you decide.

    Bobbie

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Momine
    Momine Member Posts: 7,859
    edited February 2014

    Peace, I had CT of the brain/head, lungs and belly at the same time that I had my biopsy. I also had a bone scan (the cancer-detecting kind) and a MUGA of my heart (to make sure I could tolerate chemo etc).

    They then repeated all those scans on each of the first 2 anniversaries of my surgery. The 2nd was this past September.

    From now on, we will not do all those scans, but we will do a chest X-ray and a liver U/S annually. Any other testing or scanning will be if there are symptoms warranting it. I will continue to get a full blood panel regularly, including tumor markers.

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • jennyboog
    jennyboog Member Posts: 1,322
    edited February 2014

    I've never done a brain scan, my PET scans the top of my head to knees.  So, that and symptoms is all I depend on and my onc. has never mentioned one either.

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • peacestrength
    peacestrength Member Posts: 690
    edited February 2014

    Thanks everyone for your feedback.  

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • hopefour
    hopefour Member Posts: 459
    edited February 2014

    peacestrength...it's a bit of a fine line seeking answers about our health and having to much information to think on. I don't know if this in anyway relates, but my leg veins took such a beating with chemo that I had to have them striped between chemo and rads..not fun! I developed several blood clots and had to do blood thinners while on chemo. I had always had vein issues, but the chemo really weakened them. 

    I have never had a MRI of my brain. But injured  my knee in the last several weeks and needed an MRI for that. Once you've had BC it  appears that is forever on the table with all situations. Suddenly what I thought would just be a knee injury had to be looked out closely "because of your history of BC". Never thought of BC of the knee cap..yikes...but I guess nothing can be innocent again with our health and all things are possible....but most are proven to be just what they are..not cancer!

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • peacestrength
    peacestrength Member Posts: 690
    edited February 2014

    So true, hopefour.  Thanks for sharing.

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Member Posts: 1,376
    edited February 2014

    Peace - I had a brain MRI done the end of July last year, because I was having some dizzy spells.  That was the first one since dx.  So not all MO's will order unless of course, there are symptoms that can't be explained due to something else. 

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Categories