PET and CAT scans after treatment

[tandy24]

Hello Everyone,
I am one chemo treatment away from being done and I asked my chemo doc. when will I get my scans. I was told that it will be one year from the date of dx because if he was to scan me now with having radiation and chemo before surgery and then more chemo after surgery that my body is still healing and the test would prove just that. Well my year of dx is in April so i am ok with that. But than I asked him if I would be getting scans every 3 months. Now take into consideration that when i first went to him I was told by the nurse that i would get scaned every three months for the first year. He told me I would not get scans every three months that they will do a CEA count every three months and if that goes up or if I am having some symptoms then I will get a scan. I am stage 3b with one lymph node infected. Has anyone else been told this? Is this the norm?
any feed back would be great thank you!

[klryder02]

Hello-

Ok, so you haven't been scanned since you started chemo..which was last April??

I have only had 4 rounds of chemo, and I was scanned after the 3rd round.

The first oncologist I went to said that he would watch the CEA count and scan regularly, but the 2nd guy I went to (who is who I stayed with) makes it sound like the CEA count isn't 100% accurate, and he likes to scan regularly to see what is actually going on.

Although I am physically handling chemo well, it if weren't for that scan (which showed FABULOUS results) I would be mental mess wondering if this crap is actually working and worth the effort.

Do you think your insurance be the reason he has held back on scans???

[Lifes2short]

I was dx in December '05 with Stage III cancer. Ultrasound suggested local node mets, so I guess I was a T3 n1 (or something like that, I don't really recall). My CEA count was low - 2.7. During chemo/rad and prior to surgery I kept asking for a CT scan and my docs said there was no need as I had been scanned in November and my liver was clear then and my CEA counts were low.

Well, they were wrong. A CT scan in April, just a month after my surgery showed three liver lesions. I had mets during treatment and while my CEA was low. This would have been good info to have BEFORE surgery. I'm still a bit mad about the whole thing.

If you have not been receiving regular scans, you should demand one now. April is still far away. If, by chance. you do have mets you need to know this now and not four months from now.

Good luck and please keep us posted on what you hear.

[NICK THE BRIT]

Hi Tandy,

My chemo finished end of december, stage III like yourself. I had the initial scan before surgery. My onco also advised that its common practice to scan after 12 months. I pay for private health care in the uk, so he asked if id like one sooner. I had it last week. Hes just rang me with the results today he advised my scan has come back clear which is a relief, but has said that some fluid was picked up in the bowel area, which could be a leak, so he has referred me for a pet scan. anyone else have this problem???

Cheers nick

[tandy24]

SH@! Life2short!!! I am going to my doc. Monday and I am going to demand to have a scan done, what you wrote has really frightend me! I am so very sorry that this has happened to you.
Good Luck Nick on your PET scan.

[Lifes2short]

Tandy,
I'm sorry to have frightened you. Hopefully your case will be much different than mine. I'm glad that you're going to demand a scan!

[tandy24]

Lifes2short,
Please do not say sorry, because of you and Missjv and others I am demanding a scan! I thank you.

[Magnolia]

Wow! I got a CT before surgery, and a PET and a CT before chemo. I got an incidental CT three months into chemo to diagnose another problem, and one when I finished chemo. I'm being treated under a clinical trial, so maybe that's why. They need more data to evaluate how their new drug regimen is working. That explains some of the scans. But the pre-op eval, and the pre-chemo PET scan were just good medicine. I wan't enrolled in the study then. I don't think you need scans all the time. Too many can be bad for you. Some of us are getting a boatload of radiation as it is. But knowing what stage of disease you're dealing with sounds like a good idea to me, and reasonable follow up too. Waiting for symptoms is waiting too long. And you can't trust CEA. Mine never did elevate, even when I had a belly full of tumor.