My First Blog!
I am new to the BCNA blog. I was diagnosed at the age of 28 with grade 3, ER and PR negative, HER 2 positive and 2 positive internal mamory nodes involved. I have just completed my 6 months of chemo ...
Forum Discussion
Hi Erin,
I am so sorry you are going through all this at such a young age (and you too, Louie!). This is what I was told about having post-treatment scans.
I saw my breast surgeon yesterday after a scare with an infection (scar swelled up and was very red and sore - first time ever in 12 months) - and I asked him the same question. Should I have a PET scan to locate any cancer cells anywhere in the body? What if this was recurrence?
He said that at present, with the infection, I would "light up like a Christmas tree", and that any "hot spots" could raise the blood pressure without actually being cancerous. He recommended having a scan if anything was unusual or really worrying me, or if the oncologist found my tumour marker levels had gone up considerably after each blood test. At present they were in the normal range and had come down since treatment.
I had a bi-lateral mastectomy, so mammograms/US didn't come into it, but if I had concerns I would ask for a scan in a minute. I believe our intuition is as good as a symptom any time, so if you are worried, run with it.
Wishing you both all the very best - big hug - Michelle xx