Dear Gail,
You have a good prognosis tumor! It was small with no nodes and you can have the herceptin and the anti-oestrogen treatment. All good news. Most patients with Her2+ cancers are helped by Herceptin, but there is no real way of measuring the response.
You will be seeing your surgeon intermittently and you'll be given a form for a mammogram (+/- ultrasound, depending on your breast tissue density) at about 12 months. Earlier if you have any symptoms like breast tenderness or thickening. Then annually forever.
No other scans are done to search for mets because, at your early stage, your chance of having mets are low after full treatment. The scans can be falsely positive and cause a lot of anxiety, as well as being expensive.
Your doctor may like some yearly blood tests (eg. liver function tests) and a physical exam. You can check yourself for breast or armpit lumps and see the doctor should you find one. The following list of symptoms are the ones you should go to the doctor about.
- Pain, such as chest or bone pain
- Persistent, dry cough
- Difficulty breathing
- Loss of appetite
- Persistent nausea, vomiting or weight loss
- Severe headaches
- Fever and Chills (uncommon)
Obviously, other things could cause these symptoms and your risk of recurrence is very low. After treatment it is easy to get anxious about the risk of recurrence, but you have to go on living like you are going to live forever, whilst taking care of your health in a common sense way.
Good luck
Aussie girl
Threaded Mode