What was your follow up plan????

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GreenEyes81
GreenEyes81 Member Posts: 389
edited November 2017 in IDC (Invasive Ductal Carcinoma)

I have no action plan other than take tamoxifen and they would call me after 30 days to see how I was doing...I have choose not to take it. So I called several weeks ago to notifiy them of that and ask what the plan was otherwise. Like bloodwork, MRI, mammo ect. I have called the MO's office 3x times with no call back. Finally spoke to a nurse today that said I should have a mommo at 6 months, which would be January and then just see the doctor once a year. She's going to confirm this with the doctor....hopfully.

That just seems very relaxed and not very assertive. I do have an appointment in March with my BS side kick lady. I asked him about watching for occurrence ect and what I should be doing. He said when I meet with them they just ask how I feel. Feel good, nothing to worry about. That kinda surprised me too...

Thoughts?

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  • gb2115
    gb2115 Member Posts: 1,894
    edited November 2017

    If you're not taking hormone therapy there's not much else they can do for you and no side effects to monitor since you aren't taking meds. Many many MOs don't do blood work for early stage, in the absence of an actual problem. I looked this up and found it to be pretty much standard of care. So that leaves you monitoring yourself for weird symptoms that stick around, and following up with imaging. Some do mammograms once a year (again standard of care), some do something every 6 months, like alternating mammo and MRI, which is what they are doing with me at least for now.

    My docs have me rotating amongst themselves ever 3-4 months so that someone does a breast exam regularly. That makes me feel better.

    If I were you I would try to have someone lay eyes on you at least a couple times a year for that breast exam. But your surgeon can do that too, doesn't have to be MO. But I'm not surprised that the MO only wants to see you yearly if there's nothing specific to monitor.

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  • GreenEyes81
    GreenEyes81 Member Posts: 389
    edited November 2017

    Thanks gb, I didn't expect to be to intense being an early stage, just something. And I guess that makes since less visits not monitoring SE for tamoxifen. Thanks again.

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  • ElaineTherese
    ElaineTherese Member Posts: 3,328
    edited November 2017

    Yep, you won't get monitored much if you were Stage I and you're skipping Tamoxifen. As someone whose cancer was Stage IIIA, Grade 3, and HER 2+ and is taking both Zoladex and Aromasin, I have been seen by my MO every three months, and I have had mammograms every six months. However, now that I'm over 3 years out, I am only doing mammograms once a year from here on out.

    Just pay attention to your body. If something is bothering you for longer than two weeks, call your GP.

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  • ksusan
    ksusan Member Posts: 4,505
    edited November 2017

    If you didn't reconstruct, there's no way to do a mammogram on that side. They'll look at the other. I agree that it's good to have someone do a manual exam on the surgical side. The schedule for that tends to be more frequent than once a year, but that could be due to med monitoring more than manual exam. Perhaps someone who didn't do anything other than surgery can chime in about how frequently she sees any doctor for monitoring.


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