Normal to wait three months for scan?

My first post-treatment scan
was just a couple of weeks after tx ended, then three months after that (and I continue on a three month schedule for the time being, as I haven't gotten to NED yet). Ann

Treatment
Doctor had me scanned one month after chemo ended. I'm sure that the three month mark is very common as well. Good luck on your scan.

Kim

One month
Had my first scan a month after my 11th and last infusion, Nov , 2010.
My second was one year later.

Mine was 3 months. I
Mine was 3 months. I finished chemo last May and had my CT in August. I just had my first colonoscopy last week since diagnosis June, 2010. Congratulations on finishing your treatments! Week by week and month by month you're going to see changes in getting better and stronger

plh4gail

annalexandria said:

My cancer is not the norm-
as it's a very rare, super-aggressive tumor type. Its rate of growth is about 3 cm every 3 months. My HMO would be thrilled to quit giving me PETs because it costs them a lot of money, but I keep insisting because being on top of things and getting frequent surgery is what keeps me going. The "national standards" say I shouldn't need them, but they need to tell my cancer that because it apparently never got the message! Ann

Ann -

Please keep in mind that there is a cumulative life-time limit
for radioactive exposure. Most of us that get scans and xrays
may reach the maximum a lot sooner than expected. Unfortunately,
the ramifications of radiation exposure can appear long before
that "absolute maximum" is reached.

Scans and life-time radioactive limits

Since we're here because we all are susceptible to cancer.
And since PET scans use radioactive glucose, you may be
getting more than your body can tolerate.

If the physician you trust is telling you that there's no need,
why argue?

My best hopes for you,

John

annalexandria said:

Well...
because I almost died last fall for lack of a PET! My doc is perfectly willing to do CT scans because they're cheaper. He's not worried about my radiation exposure, just about maintaining his rep at the HMO. But my cancer doesn't show up on CT scans until I'm basically at death's door (the CT suggested that chemo was working when it fact the cancer was spreading rapidly), and as I'm kind of fond of living, I now insist on the PET...it's the only reason I'm sitting here typing this right now. Can't do much worrying about future cancer due to radiation when my continuing survival in the present depends on getting the PETs done, and often too, because my cancer grows so darn fast. But I'm an anomaly-there are only about 20 documented cases of my tumor type (carcinosarcoma) in the colon; this usually shows up in the uterus and kills within two years, even if you start out stage 1, due to it's aggressive nature.

Instinct...

Ann, you know I'm a major advocate for listening to one's
instinct and intuition. If that's what's guiding you, you're headed
in the right direction.

Too many cancer patients ignore their inner instincts for survival,
and allow industry literature, nurses, and physicians to guide
them to what they assume will be safety..... Too often they
find that the "educated opinions" were wrong, and they should
have been listening to that inner being that we are all born with.

You're headed in the right direction - don't stop! You have to
do what you, and you alone, feel is the right thing to do.

My hopes and wishes are for your good health!

John

John23 said:

Instinct...

Ann, you know I'm a major advocate for listening to one's
instinct and intuition. If that's what's guiding you, you're headed
in the right direction.

Too many cancer patients ignore their inner instincts for survival,
and allow industry literature, nurses, and physicians to guide
them to what they assume will be safety..... Too often they
find that the "educated opinions" were wrong, and they should
have been listening to that inner being that we are all born with.

You're headed in the right direction - don't stop! You have to
do what you, and you alone, feel is the right thing to do.

My hopes and wishes are for your good health!

John

Thanks, John!
And the same to you.

christinecarl said:

I don't know what normal is.
I don't know what normal is. I actually have only ever had a scan once, it was in the ER when I was diagnosed that I had a CT scan. I have not had any other scans, I do go in for bloodwork every 6 months and my Onc seems to feel that is all I need. At first I was slightly freaked out by it, how does he know my cancer is gone? But I guess he must be right, since 3 yrs later I am still here.

Getting mine every 3 months
Getting mine every 3 months also. Just had one & next one is scheduled for Apr.

John23 said:

Cancer scans


My scans were 6 months apart for the first two years, and
one each year thereafter.

Cancer can be aggressive..... but it generally takes a (single) cell
between 1.5 and 2 years to grow large enough to be identified.

New technology is being studied by Johnson & Johnson and
researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital that may (or not)
be able to view a cancer cell that is in the blood.... but if it isn't
traveling around in the blood...?
(See: Johnson & Johnson and Massachusetts General Hospital

So while getting a scan every 3 months is an absolutely fantastic,
worthwhile schedule for the provider (think $$$), it actually
doesn't really provide the patient with much of anything useful.

A scan isn't going to locate a single cell, or a very tiny growth,
and the cancer usually won't grow substantially within 3 months;
what isn't identified today, usually won't grow big enough to
identify 3 months from today.
(not just -my- opinion, it's the industry's opinion)

Cancer is miserable; it takes and takes and takes. Long after
we might remain "NED", or in remission, we remain suffering
from the mental trauma, from the treatments, and from the surgery.

Cancer just steals our life away. It doesn't do so for any reason;
it's just surviving because our immune system allows it to remain
behind, uncontrolled....

Fix that problem, and you will have the "cure".

Best wishes to all,

John

CT Scans seeing/not seeing Tumor Growth * UPDATE
John, I've seen measurable changes in tumor size many times between scans. I'm on an every 3 month schedule.
I guess that once again I fall into that unique group of patients that is in the 21st century as far as treatment goes.
We've had very different experiences from the get-go treatment-wise as well as how we view cancer.
That's neither here nor there, it's just different.
Be well...
-p

* UPDATE
Just got scan results today. Small shrinkage of tumors. The report said no noticeable change, my oncologist measured them and saw there was a noticeable difference. I guess it's depends on how well one notices things...

coloCan said:

Every three months first year,now every six months but CT
rather than CT/PET lately due to kidney function numbers and onc's reluctance to go with contrast/dye that might hurt...I get nervous going over three months w/o CEA so i'll probably ask lung doc to run one for me (i know his lab gets different results than onc's but this gives me a general idea where i am as number keeps fluctuating)...

Scans
Hi all: I had one (MRI) right after the last of 12 treatments of oxaliplatin, etc. and another set (CT) two weeks ago. In total I've had about 12 or even more scans, most of them MRIs (which don't use radiation). The "normal" routine is every 3 months for a couple of years and then 1 a year after that.

I wonder if anyone else has experienced this: my scans have been done at 3 different hospitals (it just depends on where they can get you in) that all have different radiologists and probably machines. Whether it is an MRI or a CT scan, the results of each scan, when compared to other scans, all appear somewhat different. For example, some radiologists do a very "sparse" interpretation while others are quite thorough measuring each and every nodule. I realize that MRIs give different information than CTs but the trend should be the same. Last year I was told all of my nodules on the peritoneum were gone and we could rejoice, but then a CT scan a month or so later for my surgeon told a different story - they were still there. It's driving me crazy. I can only hope my oncologist is looking at the actual images and not just the reports! I am a trained image analyst (albeit for monitoring vegetation changes) and feel I could do a good job on them myself! Any ideas on this? I see the oncologist tomorrow about the latest scans which almost contradict previous scans.
Cheryl