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Chelee · 07-17-2007, 11:46 PM

There are so many different opinions on this one. I find it difficult to believe that catching mets earlier will not give a person a better out come. (Put the fire out before it burns down the house.) It only makes sense to me. If there are tools out there to catch mets before I start having symptoms I want to use them. I am a stage III'er with 5 positive nodes and I could NOT have radiation so I want to do everything I can to stay on top of this. I've never had to use my health insurance much and we've paid a fortune into it...and now I need it and I don't feel bad for using it.

I don't know how they can say finding mets doesn't have any affect on long term survial? I'll never understand that. The *sooner* I find liver, lung mets, etc...the more options I will have with chances for a better out come. The her2 serum test alerted Kate to a problem and I can't help but believe she will do great now that it was caught early and not *months* or a year later. Early detection equals a better out come IMO. To me this is so much more then having these tests for peace of mind. If I have a spread to my liver I want to know before my liver is covered with nodules verses one..and these scans and even the her2 serum tests can and have proven to be good tools for this. I realize there are false positives and no guarantee from using these tests...but again, they are TOOLS and can be very useful. Why do the insurance companies even agree to authorize these scans and tests if they didn't feel there were any benefits from early detection? We all have to do what we feel is best for us. So many decisions and none of them are easy.

Chelee

07-17-2007, 11:46 PM	#20
Chelee Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Southern, CA Posts: 2,511	There are so many different opinions on this one. I find it difficult to believe that catching mets earlier will not give a person a better out come. (Put the fire out before it burns down the house.) It only makes sense to me. If there are tools out there to catch mets before I start having symptoms I want to use them. I am a stage III'er with 5 positive nodes and I could NOT have radiation so I want to do everything I can to stay on top of this. I've never had to use my health insurance much and we've paid a fortune into it...and now I need it and I don't feel bad for using it. I don't know how they can say finding mets doesn't have any affect on long term survial? I'll never understand that. The sooner I find liver, lung mets, etc...the more options I will have with chances for a better out come. The her2 serum test alerted Kate to a problem and I can't help but believe she will do great now that it was caught early and not months or a year later. Early detection equals a better out come IMO. To me this is so much more then having these tests for peace of mind. If I have a spread to my liver I want to know before my liver is covered with nodules verses one..and these scans and even the her2 serum tests can and have proven to be good tools for this. I realize there are false positives and no guarantee from using these tests...but again, they are TOOLS and can be very useful. Why do the insurance companies even agree to authorize these scans and tests if they didn't feel there were any benefits from early detection? We all have to do what we feel is best for us. So many decisions and none of them are easy. Chelee __________________ DX: 12-20-05 - Stage IIIA, Her2/Neu, 3+++,Er & Pr weakly positive, 5 of 16 pos nodes. Rt. MRM on 1-3-06 -- No Rads due to compromised lungs. Chemo started 2-7-06 -- TCH - - Finished 6-12-06 Finished yr of wkly herceptin 3-19-07 3-15-07 Lt side prophylactic simple mastectomy. -- Ooph 4-05-07 9-21-09 PET/CT "Recurrence" to Rt. axllia, Rt. femur, ilium. Possible Sacrum & liver? Now stage IV. 9-28-09 Loading dose of Herceptin & started Zometa 9-29-09 Power Port Placement 10-24-09 Mass 6.4 x 4.7 cm on Rt. femur head. 11-19-09 RT. Femur surgery - Rod placed 12-7-09 Navelbine added to Herceptin/Zometa. 3-23-10 Ten days of rads to RT femur. Completed. 4-05-10 Quit Navelbine--Herceptin/Zometa alone. 5-4-10 Appt. with Dr. Slamon to see what is next? Waiting on FISH results from femur biopsy. Results to FISH was unsuccessful--this happens less then 2% of the time. 7-7-10 Recurrence to RT axilla again. Back to UCLA for options.