StephN
10-31-2009, 11:09 AM
It was good news - a real treat! This one shows no new brain mets activity and the old scar areas of Gamma Knife treatment are perhaps receding a millimeter or 2.
It will be FIVE YEARS in January that the two mets in my brain were discovered and treated. How time does fly!!!
Discussed a few items with my rad onc. One was progress on better imaging. He says there is little improvement in these 5 years. Not enough to distinguish scarring/necrosis from actual tumor activity. Same problem many of us have had after treatment for brain mets. He says there are some promising studies, but funding is hard to get.
Secondly, should I continue to monitor so frequently (every 6 months now)? He says some in his field would argue to wait for symptoms after this long. But he feels that since I had NO symptoms in the first place, this is not a good option for me. Also, when my cancer starts growing it takes off quickly, and he prefers to catch anything new early. So, I will do the brain MRI routine again end of April.
Last argument for continued MRIs is that since I am not taking Herceptin now and have no coverage systemically, he feels even more strongly about surveillance at 6 months.
It will be FIVE YEARS in January that the two mets in my brain were discovered and treated. How time does fly!!!
Discussed a few items with my rad onc. One was progress on better imaging. He says there is little improvement in these 5 years. Not enough to distinguish scarring/necrosis from actual tumor activity. Same problem many of us have had after treatment for brain mets. He says there are some promising studies, but funding is hard to get.
Secondly, should I continue to monitor so frequently (every 6 months now)? He says some in his field would argue to wait for symptoms after this long. But he feels that since I had NO symptoms in the first place, this is not a good option for me. Also, when my cancer starts growing it takes off quickly, and he prefers to catch anything new early. So, I will do the brain MRI routine again end of April.
Last argument for continued MRIs is that since I am not taking Herceptin now and have no coverage systemically, he feels even more strongly about surveillance at 6 months.