[Sherryg683]

Once you have cancer, you never really know if you are totally cancer free. I had PET/CT scans done every 3 months for the first two years because my Oncologist felt that it would most likely come back within that time. I now have them done every 6 months and will continue that for awhile. I am lucky that my oncologist seems to think that if that's what gives me peace of mind, he doesn't mind doing it. I have not and never will buy into the "wait till you have symptoms" thing. I had no symptoms when I was diagnosed and it had already gotten into my lungs, if I would have waited too much longer, I probably wouldn't be here now. I have been lucky enough to be NED for quite awhile now but I am still uncertain. In the beginning, every ache and pain that I had that wasn't normal, I thought was cancer. I am now becoming familiar with what my new "normal" achy body feels like and don't freak out near as bad. If it concerns me, I have it checked out. But I know all too well that cancer sometimes doesn't give any sypmtoms at all. My brothers liver was totally eaten up with melanoma and he didn't feel anything in that area. Going through scans is very stressful, but it's not half as stressful as sitting here wondering "if" it has come back. I guess if it does come back, I want to be on top of things and not regret that I hadn't done everything I could to make sure everything was OK. I am speaking from a stage IV diagnosis here, if I were diagnosed at an earlier stage, I may be more inclined to put it in the past and not have near as many scans done. So when people ask "how are you". I smile and say "fine", I kind of cringe inside when I say this because I really have no way of knowing if I'm fine or not....sherry