Scans- the anxiety never fades
I have been stage iv since 2017 and you would think at some point scans would be no big deal. They aren’t and I’m not there. My doc was comfy with waiting another 6 months and just scan once a year. I decided that I wanted it. I wanted to go into fall and the holiday season knowing my cancer is under control.
I feel like I’m living 6 months at a time. I’m very fortunate to be living a pretty normal, boring life, ya know- except for this stage iv diagnosis. My scan is at 7am and I usually have the radiologist report before I even get home. I will see my MO tomorrow.
Anyone else get anxiety when you are 99% sure it’s all going to be fine? Or is it just me?
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finallyoverit- I too was diagnosed in 2017, LOL. I have thought the same thing, that as time passes and I have hundreds of scans behind me that I would feel less anxiety at scan time. But I am still anxious. I guess I feel that one of these times I will have more progression. You see, I was on Ibrance first line for 4 years, then the progression came and I switched to Lynparza. Now it is the 4-year mark with Lynparza. When will the progression come again??!! We scan with me every 3-4 months still. One time, maybe a year ago, my MO nurse was in the room with me and the doctor, and she suggested scanning every 6 months. He piped up and said NO. I guess he does not want to go that long. Are you bone-only? You do not have a profile, and I cannot remember. I am bone and liver. I too feel I live scan to scan.
Let us know a report when you get it. 🙏
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Hi Candy. Yeah, I need to fill out my profile. Yes, I’m bone only. My CT results just came in- all stable. Now I can exhale. My MO is fine doing it only once a year, but always gives me the option to scan pretty much whenever I want. I usually do every 6 months. I’m still on Ibrance and Femara and have been since 2017.
The crazy thing is, when I was very first diagnosed stage 2A, Ibrance was still in clinical trials and would not have been available. When I was dx stage iv in 2017, I started on it right after having a spinal fusion. They found a tumor wrapping itself around my spinal column. My neurosurgeon told me that if we had waited only a week to operate, I would be in a wheelchair now. It had wrapped itself around so tightly that it would have taken my ability to walk. I’m grateful every single day that I can get up and go about my normal day on my own two feet. Pretty scary when I sat and thought about it.3 -
Congrats on your stable results. And Ibrance since 2017, WOW!!! I understand you wanting to scan every 6 months. I think that is reasonable. I knew a live person (a lady in my town) that had bone-only MBC for I think 14-15 years before it progressed to her liver. So, you may have several years of stability in your future. I know each person is an individual and each case is different though.
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@candy-678 - Wow, that is some story about lady who was bone only for so long - that is amazing!
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thanks, everyone! My MO doesn’t put an expiration date on me, but tells me that he doesn’t think BC will be the thing that eventually takes me out. No one has a crystal ball, but because I’ve been stable on first line for so long, he doesn’t see a reason why I wouldn’t continue like this for many, many years to come. It was 8 years in June.. so technically I’m in year 9 of Ibrance/Femara. I’m so grateful for that oblong purple pill.
My MO graduated top in his class and did his training at MD Anderson. He is absolutely brilliant, but extremely humble. I hate that I have to have a relationship with him, but feel extremely grateful that I’m a patient of his. He could tell me to go stand out in traffic and I’d do it. I trust him that much. He will give me a fist bump tomorrow when I see him and we talk about today’s scan.
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