[Debbie L.]

Hi Catherine,

Everyone wonders about follow-up, and everyone does it differently. Just keep in mind that scans do not prevent recurrence, nor even give any kind of longterm assurance that there is no recurrence. You don't have to stop worrying about recurrence, you just have to accept that the worry will be there. It's normal for the worry to be there, not much we can do about that except just keep on.

As for your hips, I'm younger than you by a bit and my hips always hurt the worst at night after I lay down. Sometimes they'll be fine at first and wake me up in the wee hours for a trip to the kitchen for motrin, or just getting up and walking around for a few minutes will relieve the pain. So that part of your symptoms seems normal, to me. Yoga helps keep my hips behaving somewhat, but they are always cranky, and they take turns - sometimes one worse, then the other.

Before asking your provider for scans, figure out what it is you want. Do you simply want reassurance that the hip pain is not cancer? Then probably a bone scan (not a dexa for density but a bone scan) will be most accurate. If you want something done about the pain itself, because it's so bad -- that's another issue and maybe after the bone scan, an x-ray (and an orthopedist) would be the place to start.

Debbie Laxague