In one month, it will be two years since I've had my surgery for Stage III rectal cancer (29 nodes removed, none with cancer; I need to do my signature some day). After my surgery, I would experience an ache here or there and would also notice bumps this place and that. For every ache, I wondered if it was a sign of metastasis, especially when they occurred on the right area of my abdomen. As for the bumps, I would wonder if they were inflamed lymph nodes. For years now, I've developed "fatty deposits" that feel like round bumps under my skin so I'm pretty sure that's what the bumps are. As for the aches, I'll be 45 in December; maybe I'm just getting old.
I said ache, but you said pain. Is it enough to compel you to take over the counter pain meds? Mine wasn't.
So far so good with my scans, I'm on a 4 month schedule as I was promoted a while back.
I believe that a significant part of dealing with cancer is "fear management". I told my family doc about my fears and she put me on a couple of meds to help (back when I told her, I was a hot mess). Today, I only take Zoloft, but when I see her next, I'll be ready to talk about discontinuing that as I feel happy and calm these days.
Sure, my disease can come back and I could die from it, I know that, but as time passes, the fear fades. My onc told me that she'll probably know about any recurrence before I would. Are our doctors right all of the time? I'm sure they aren't, but I've learned to trust mine.
One last thing, I make deals with myself. I tell myself, "It's ok to be afraid, but not today. I can be afraid a day or two before my scan". Ok, I said, "One last thing", but I've got another last thing. One day I was waiting to see my doc to talk about my CT scan results. I was nervous and I noticed another guy nearby and he looked nervous as well. I asked him, "Are you waiting for scan results too?". Nope, this guy was there to see if he qualified for a trial because he had inoperable stage 4 pancreatic cancer.
My heart sank and I felt terrible for him and then shortly after I felt like a wuss. After some time, I felt lucky. I felt lucky that I was able to sit in a waiting room and hope that I am still NED because some people don't have that.
I've shared all of this because, when I read your post, I thought, "This person sounds like me about a year ago". I'm still afraid at times, but do your best to fight it.
In spite of all I've said, don't hesitate to tell a doc about the things you feel; better safe than sorry for sure. Good luck and let me know if there's anything I can do to help.