Hi Ladies, im a bit concerned about a pet/ct scan ordered by my oncologist, after my treatment ended, when i spoke to the onc secretary to query it she said that it was a post herceptin scan, i didnt think you had a scan after treatment unless there was a problem and as far as i know, there isn’t one, so now im worried that something will be found on there so im anxious again, just like i was before treatment plan ect… (i had a pet/ct at the start, just after diagnosis which was clear from spread then) im worried about it now tho and my mind is working overtime again, has this happened to anyone else?
We don’t do it in the US for exactly the reason you describe. Anxiety and just in general there is no such thing as catching stage 4 cancer early. The medication either works or doesn’t so why look for something that’s not causing any issues. Plus there’s a lot of radiation in scans and if you don’t have symptoms the risks are greater than the rewards. But in the UK it does seem some people get scans maybe for more aggressive tumors after treatment. Not many though it seems. Practice there seems to be falling more in line with what the US does. So maybe with that, ask if it’s necessary and why the need for it since most people don’t have them. It’s okay to tell them you don’t want one for monitoring purposes but only for diagnostic ones. Heck I have massive scanxiety and made my plastic surgeon forego a scan he likes to do for reconstruction. Just told him I wouldn’t do the surgery if I had to do the scan. He felt fine enough with me to skip it and surgery went well anyway. But my attitude is you don’t touch me unless I give you permission so you better explain to me the rational and it better make sense.