Scans post adjuvant chemo

Hey @kmakm,

Yeah you would have to pay I would imagine.  The price for them up here is $575.  Sux huh.  The only way you will get one for free is if the hospital agrees to pay for it.  The only reason they have started paying for mine is I kicked up a stink about how hard it was to find.  I did pay for the first follow up one though.

The fear of recurrence does slowly get pushed further towards the back of your mind over time.  It's not going to go but gets easier to somewhat ignore.

I guess it's up to you of course.  If you are prepared to pay for it what's their issue?  Why don't they recommend it?

Just thought it might help if you had something to go by regularly.  On the other hand they do pick up lots of things, look at me, that caused a massive amount of stress the first time. But at least I can tell regularly if it's just sitting there doing nothing.
xoxoxo

@kezmusc Yes, I am too. But no one, no one has suggested it. Not onc, not BS, not GP, not genetics professor. I've asked the BS & genetics professor about it and they both say I don't qualify for a subsidised one and they don't recommend it anyway. Am I crazy for following their advice?? I do worry about it but I'm told worrying about recurrence is normal and will fade over time... Do I pursue an MRI or forget about it and just move on? So many women here seem to get one without any issue. I don't get it.

@youngdogmum,

At the end of the first 12 months (since surgery date)  I had mammo, u/s and MRI.  I don't trust the first two on their own (long back story).  Physical examination is a waste of time with me as nobody could ever feel the original tumour and now since surgery and rads, the darn thing is still pretty hard so I highly doubt they would ever feel anything if I can't.  

My second yearly MRI picked up some weird thing that the other two couldn't and no one knows what it is, so I've been having MRI's every three months. At the last one they threw in an u/s and mammo and a CT as well.

See what your surgeon recommends as they are normally the ones that line up all the follow up scans. There's lots of variables given your own particular situation as to what they will recommend.

I'm not  up on the recon side of things, but I have heard of a baseline MRI after reconstruction so they can tell if anything changes. 

@kmakm I'm surprised they haven't suggested this baseline for you given the family history and genetic test results. At least that way you would have a 12 monthly update.  Might give you some peace of mind being able to check up on it yearly.

xoxoxo

@youngdogmum, no they don’t do mammograms on reconstructed breasts. Just clinical examination & ultrasound if required.

Sorry no I don't think so. But I'm not in that territory, best to get advice from someone who is! 

If I got bilat mastectomy and then bad recon with flaps, do they mammogram that tissue? Interesting to hear what actually goes on post cancer!

So sorry, I meant in general, not specifically for you @kmakm! Shouldn't comment at 3 in the morning, not entirely lucid! 

No mammo left to gram for me @Afraser!

No mammograms? I had ultrasound and mammograms regularly for 5 years. My surgeon will continue to do an ultrasound if I insist but the degree of transparency in my remaining breast and 3D mammograms make it unnecessary now. 

It's curious isn't it? You're cautioned to be vigilant, find a cancer, hit with massive amounts of science in whatever your treatments are, and then it's 'cheery bye, come and see us if there's a problem' as the door slams shut behind you! As @lrb_03 says statistically it's been proven there's no benefit to extra scans just because you've had cancer.

My breast surgeon and oncologist will physically examine me every few months, decreasing as time goes by, and that's it. No ultrasound or anything. 

It took me a while to get my head round it. I've had a double mastectomy and reconstruction. I've reduced my risk factors massively, done everything I could. It could recur in my scar, my skin, my armpit, the tiny bit of breast tissue that remains in the fold of skin beneath my foobs and in my chest wall, to which my tumour was very close. It's the latter that bugs me. There's just no way of me ever knowing if there's anything going on in there. I just have to cross my fingers and hope for the best. K xox