|
Dear Donna,
BEST ADVICE...get a NEW onc....smile...but seriously, are you going to base perhaps one of the most MAJOR decisions for your life on an 'onc's' "belief" that you have no more cancer in your body??!!!! Especially when there are so many empirical methods out there to PROVE it one way or the other??? Personally, I hope and pray that you do NOT have any cancer anywhere, but noting that you are ER-PR- and Her-2 +++ (which can become high risk, though it looks like you caught it early thank goodness) as I am also, I would strongly advise you to monitor yourself somehow. I know a lot of oncs don't adhere to the markers because they really don't understand much about them and, in truth, interpreting markers can be very tricky. You really have to start charting your own on a regular basis and find out what, if anything, they say about you. Right now, for instance, given what you have just mentioned about your treatment and the fact that I believe you are still getting regular Herceptin, your marker numbers are probably quite normal. However, it has been my personal experience (long time user of Herceptin and "believer" in empirical data..wink; Dx 97) that if the numbers suddenly take a run for the worst it is a STRONG indication to get back on Herceptin or up the dose you are already taking. The only way you will NOTICE this increase, is if you are checking them at least once every 3 months, just to be safe. If you wait till symptoms, to scan...most likely, by that time you will have serious mets that could have possibly been prevented. Also, ask your onc if he has ever heard of a simple PET scan...GEEE!!!! Let me at him...wink. One last caviat..., if I had believed everything an onc told me or followed even 50 percent of what they "thought" was the perceived 'wisdom' at the time...I, like many of our sisters before us, would be long since dead, dead, dead. It is your life. I can see you have a GOOD mind and strong will. You will make the right decisions. Also, if--for other reasons--you like this onc and want to stay with him/her, you can get the markers taken usually at least once or twice a year from your primary doctor when you get your physical. Many will simply include it in the normal blood work-up, especially, since now you have a solid breast cancer history, you are well within your rights to ask for it. Good luck to you, Gina
|