Stage 1B/grade 2 what tests to request?

aqua...newly diagnosed and going through active treatment, it is not uncommon to worry if you might have a more advanced cancer. I'm sorry to say that with a favorable diagnosis, it is unlikely that your team would require more imaging. That said, if you are symptomatic, then discuss it with your team. If not, feel safe in knowing you are being aggressive in your treatment and you will hopefully not visit this disease again! Many of us worry often early on and most of us do, one day, let go of that worry as we move further away from active treatment. I wish you well!

This is so normal and you will worry for a while.  I had a hard time hearing my good prognosis. All I could think about was cancer.  That will pass. You know your body. And you are in active treatment so you can bring these things up. I found that seeing a counselor right after treatment helped me ease my mind.  You can ask for a PET scan. Some docs will do them for early stage people but many don't. They are expensive and there are lots of false positives that require follow up. 

I also highly recommend Ativan to help during this difficult time

Good luck with radiation

aquafriday121- I am a "worry" type of person (high anxiety) on a normal day and I worry about everything. So, as you can imagine as a newly diagnosed woman (Dec 22nd), my mind has been torturing me about all the what ifs and what if this thing is carrying on in other places of my body besides my left breast, etc. I called my doctor today and asked for a prescription for Zoloft and I tell my counselor (who I see weekly for grief counseling from the loss of my father 3 years ago) tomorrow about my diagnosis. I will make the decision then if I should stay with her or perhaps seek a counselor who specializes with people with cancer. I actually have on my list of questions for the doctor about how exactly will I know for sure that it is gone and is not attacking some other little corner of my body. Not sure what answer(s) I will get, but I must ask for my sanity Anyhow, I'm no help with advice, but wanted to say I understand where you are coming from and you are not alone in what you are thinking.

Hi Aqua!

It sounds like your ob/gyn has been your de facto "regular doc." Many women use their ob/gyn as their PCP. You just need to make sure that yours is ok with filling that role for you...or they may prefer to help you find a PCP instead. Your ob/gyn may well (then) order tests like blood cholesterol, etc. that they would otherwise assume were being handled by (another) doc (your PCP).

You will want to make sure that your PCP (either your ob/gyn, or a PCP that the ob/gyn helps you find) gets copies of everything. You should expect that eventually you'll come out of treatment and be "beyond" follow up by the cancer specialists. You'll want your "reg doc" to have copies of all of your cancer paperwork.

Call the ob/gyn and ask for an appointment--tell them that they're your PCP and referred you to the breast surgeon, etc. You'd like a followup w/ them. Given they referred you, they should be happy to see you. And you can talk about formalizing a PCP relationship (or getting help for a referral to someone else.

HTH,

LisaAlissa

ps - is there any chance you are actually pt1b which is actually stage 1A. I'm basing that on the size of your tumor (under 1 cm)

Aqua, the part about people's signatures changing? That may be a bit misleading... Generally, people come here during their diagnosis or treatment, then leave. If their biopsy is negative (80% are!) they leave and move on to the other challenges in their lives. ( Looking at the stories of the people who stay makes it look like nearly everyone who gets biopsies has cancer...and we know that's not true.)

Similarly most people stay through their treatment, then leave. And while they're in treatment, they tend to post on threads related to what's going on in their treatment stage. The people who stay long term (and who are thus more likely to post in support of newcomers) tend to fall into a couple of categories.

Those who stay in treatment, (or return and then stay in treatment) which would be the Stage IV people and the Lymphedema people.

And those who just continue to post, like (for a very long time) Beesie. For example, I returned recently to help a friend, and saw a few threads where I thought I could be helpful, so I did), but I don't expect to stay.

So the fact that you see so many Stage IV signatures shouldn't be taken as a prophecy of your own future.

HTH,

LisaAlissa

Everyone talks about “chemo brain” and “endocrine fog,” but nobody mentions the main psychological side effect of breast cancer: PARANOIA! We all suddenly revert to being like second-year med students, who are convinced they have symptoms of every disease they study, except for us it’s a corollary. Because cancer has happened to us, we see it lurking beneath the bed and just around every corner. Symptoms that we would never have noticed before--or that we rationally accepted were due to infections, injuries or aging--are suddenly ominous harbingers of metastases. That is completely irrational...and entirely par for the course. Before we had cancer, we were all at risk of one ailment or another, and cancer doesn’t change that. It doesn’t turn angina into lung mets, migraines into brain mets, arthritis into bone mets, or ulcers/gallstones/GERD into liver mets.

It will get easier to let go of fear and get on with and past treatment. But it may take some time. That’s why we’re here for you in the meantime.

Diane, I am feeling exactly like you, diagnosted November 24th, On anxiety pills since then. Reading all this makes me feel way bette

I saw my oncologist on Monday and he was telling me about my good prognosis, no chemo in my case, hormonal therapy for 5/10 years but I am really having a hard time asimilating the "good news" I asked him for a PET scan, but he says there is no need for it in my case. I am moving countries in 2 weeks and already have an appointment with another oncologist, let's see if he agrees with this one, but if he offers chemo I am jumping on it.