Anyone Seeing Oncologist After 10 Years NED?

I've been on letrozole almost eight years and I'll definitely go to ten years. My onc kinda wants me to stop at ten, since my bones are beginning to show effects and it's caused my cholesterol to skyrocket. So now I'm on a statin, which will probably kick my already-borderline blood glucose further toward diabetes. Thank you breast cancer, for the handful of pills I take every day to counteract the effects of the pill meant to save my life.

It scares me to think of stopping at ten years, though, with so many recurrences later than that. Given the choice between porous bones+high cholesterol+high blood glucose and cancer recurrence, I'll take the former.

My onc stopped drawing tumor markers just this year. I've been stable for a long time, and he thinks it's a waste of time and money at this point. He also said it'd be ok to see him just once a year, instead of twice.

No lung issues, though. It's amazing, since they really cooked me with radiation.

sbelizabeth, taking statins and lowering cholesterol can also lower blood sugar/A1c as cholesterol and high blood sugar are linked. That is what happened to me.

I am 11 years out. I haven’t seen my oncologist since I hit the 5 year mark and I haven’t been taking any meds since 5 years Also. My oncologist stopped my Femara at 5 years cause he said he didn’t see the benefit after 5 years. I fought for 10 but lost the battle.

I’ve been seeing my oncologist for 20 years, in fact my original oncologist retired just last year and I transferred to another doctor in the practice for my new diagnosis.

Tracy

Shelly - yes, I do have permanent functional heart damage from the chemo (non-ischemic dilated cardiomyopathy, to be precise). In fact, 2 years ago my ejection fraction was down to 20% (before chemo it was between 50-55% which is close to normal). I take Carvedilol twice a day and Lisinopril once a day, and in August of 2018 they put in a defibrillator which will shock my heart if it gets to 220 BPM. They can't increase my dosages due to my low blood pressure, so I'm kind of stuck where I am for now (although my EF had improved to 40-45% as of December). I'm especially worried about getting COVID-19, being 64 years old with a heart condition and living in Washington state, but at least my office has closed down now so I'll be working from home for the forseeable future.

Anyway - it's always good to see you, my fellow baby-boomer!

Julie

Yes, I was still seeing my oncologist for a cancer from 2009. He was very likely going to release me at my annual wellness check in January of this year but I got diagnosed with a new primary so I will still be his patient for at least another 5-10 years.

I'm twelve years out last month and I still see my oncologist once a year. He does bloodwork, checks for any bumps around my upper chest, ask about unusual aches or pains, and answers any questions I have. We discuss my ongoing treatment (anastrazole), and he asks about side effects. We decide whether to stay the course (yes-minimal side effects) or stop.