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Posted by Anne on 5/19/2008, 10:41 am, in reply to "Re: dr's want to stop chemo??"
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Deanna - - funny you should ask . . .
My radiosogy onc ordered the 15 rounds of radiation to my whole brain, but then because it works 80% of the time, felt no need to follow up with me. I found out from a different source that follow up too soon might just look at dead cells and not be able to tell the difference. I have insisted in follow up with both of my regular oncs, and so I have had an MRI in April and I will have another in a few months. CT scans monthly otherwise. Since I felt I was asymptomatic, I wanted to know what was going on. They just poo pooed the idea. I keep fussing that I don't usually come with symptoms, but I end up with cancer somewhere, I want to be very aggressive with the inquiries and with the treatment. My onc here in Maine has tried Arimidex and Xeloda with not much reduction of tumor markers. But, that having been said, and the onc knowing where I am coming from, I am thankful to enjoy a very good quality of life. I do get winded earlier than I did before recurrence. I am tired earlier in the day than before recurrence, but I know that big guns have not been used yet. My first time around in 1994 I had the mastectomy, CAF chemo to be very aggressive in shutting this down, and then reconstruction (tramflap). But then 12 years later I learn my bc has returned - -not a new cancer, but the old one. So we can never be completely sure, I guess. This is such a do my own research and then trust the professionals to do their jobs, too. Good luck as you try to help your mom make the best decisions and to be offered the best options.
Blessings
Anne
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