Seems like we are all getting our check ups!

jararno

I am scheduled to see my ONC on Wednesday. I finished my 12 rounds of Folfox in October ( For Stage 3C ) and was told to come back in three months. I have never been given a CEA level although I am sure it has been tested. I had a CAT prior to my sigmoid colectomy which was February of last year, but no tests since then. These past three months have felt like Limbo Land. I know I need to have more anwsers and will see what the Onc has in store next week. I know that a CAT or PET should be part of what to expect, but I feel kind of lost at this point. I was diagnosed as Stage 3C due to mets to the lymph nodes.

I am a very reluctant patient and had to be talked into the surgery and treatment so I am somewhat afraid that the ONC has been trying to keep things low key so I will cooperate. I was extremely sick from the Chemo and now have the peripheral neuropathy which isn't too bad, just annoying.

I know I should have another colonoscopy too, but haven't scheduled it yet. I guess I really need to be my own advocate and stop waiting for the Docs to tell me what to do? Any ideas??
What should I expect???

Thanks!

Take Care,

Barb

John23

Barb -
Re:
".........I had a CAT prior to my sigmoid colectomy which was February of last year, but no tests since then.
.........These past three months have felt like Limbo Land.......
.........I need to have more anwsers
........ I know that a CAT or PET should be part of what to expect, but I feel kind of lost at this point. "

Sometimes our anxiety causes us to expect too much, and demand the impossible.

A single cancer cell usually takes 1.5 to 2 years (or more) to become large enough
to be identified as a cancer cell. Having scans or a colonoscopy at three month
intervals won't help you, unless you're trying to help the physician put his kid through
law school.

A "follow-up" scan will allow the physician to check on what he already knows
about, and if things have worked as he believed it would, the cancer he saw will
be smaller, or not viewable.

You can't rush things; Cancer takes time to grow. You didn't know you had it
prior to them telling you, and you didn't worry about it then, right? So stop
worrying about it now. You did what you thought was right, and you followed
the physician's advice. If it worked, it worked, if it didn't, it didn't, there's no
"blame" or "mistake", it's just the way it is. (I sound tough, ehh?)

I was diagnosed 3c/4, over four years ago. I worry, and I probably worry
enough for both of us... at times. They said I would have absolutely no
chance of survival if I didn't do chemo. I didn't do chemo. I didn't suffer
the neuropathy, or suffer as most here have, and yet I still share the same
exact worries that everyone else does: Will it come back? Do I have
still have cancer growing inside me someplace? Will I die of cancer?

I still worry prior to a scan, and I get as mad as anyone else here, when
the radiologist put in the last report, that I should not need another scan
for three to five years. What's he NUTZ? 3 to 5 years?

When I read about people that get "clear reports", and yet cancer is found anyway,
during an operation, I feel intense panic.....

I'm about to get an operation to clear hernias and adhesions, and although
all scans were clear, the surgeon noted during his rambling, that my blockages
are most likely caused by hernias and adhesions, but it's also possible that
they "could be caused" by a tumor.

Nothing like an anxiety buster, huh?

So you're not alone, we all worry and we all feel symptoms of a panic attack
from time to time. That's part of the "Cancer Club Hazing Ritual", and it
doesn't stop anytime soon.

If they tell you to wait a few months, enjoy the hell out of the few months;
Do all the things you were always afraid to do. Get that divorce....

Seriously, you can't rush this stuff. But you're not alone in your desire to.

Best wishes to you,

John