Another Four-Years-Out Person

I appreciate the kind words, all.

This is not a place many of us expect to be at the beginning.

pupfoster1, yours were some of the posts I read when I first started lurking years ago.  You're a year ahead of me and also IIIc.  Thank you for your inspiration.

Much appreciated, ladies.  

dancingdiva, I hope you found the thread to which Joy refers by now.  In wild summarization, though, I can tell you that what is done for follow-up is:  It depends.  How unsatisfactory, right?

It depends on our individual health situations.  It depends on our personal socioeconomic status (i.e., if in the US, can we afford the recommended follow-up; if outside the US, do we have insurance that supplements the national plan.  In all cases, can we afford whatever out-of-pocket is required or desired).  It depends on the part of the country (world) in which we live.  Within that, it depends on our treating oncologists, and on the practice requirements of the hospital/clinic/center where they are employed.

In my case - and I doubt I'm special - it depends on where your oncologist is on the org chart and how much experience they have.  My MO is the head of the Cancer Center where I was treated.  He didn't get there by doing anything other than strictly "by the book," which is to say the American NCCN guidelines.

I, for one, wonder why we Stage III/locally advanced patients are pretty consistently offered, despite the much higher risk of recurrence, the same follow-up care that a Stage I patient gets.  We, with a few exceptions, get a h*ll of a lot more treatment - therefore, much higher potential for long-term complications from it.