Decision to make...

Every cancer survivor has to consider how to approach the idea of follow-up. Each doctor that I asked regarding follow-up seemed to hav a different suggestion as to what kind of imaging would be best for that. I spoke with Dr. Luke and my blood will be tested every three months initially, but as for whether or not I should be followed up with a PET scan ( a test that indicates where cancer is present in the body) every 3 or 6 months or even yearly is up to me.
Let me explain this a bit. I mean, at first it seems like a no-brainer, right? I mean, have a PET scan every three to six months to monitor if there is a recurrence somewhere else in the body. Well, let's look at two scenarios:
1) Let's say that one year down the line I take a PET scan and it comes out positive but I don't feel any symptoms. I would start a chemo regimen, and statistically it would keep me going for some years and then about year eight I would be gone (again, statistically speaking).
2) On the other hand, let's say I don't do a PET scan and year two I start having some symptoms so I go in to get a PET scan then, which confirms that it has come back metastatically (in another words in another part of my body). Well I would start the chemo regimen then and it would keep me going until year eight, equal to what was mentioned in the prior example.
The difference in the two examples is that in the latter case, I've basically had an extra year of a "cancer free" sense life as compared with the former example. So, you can see that the decision of how often to administer the PET scan has consequences either way. However, that being sid, there is little chance of it recurring so it's not something that is a given.
I'm going to ponder this over the next couple of months since I don't have to decide this right away. I'll see Dr. Luke again after the next few herceptin treatments and I can let him know then.
Your comments are welcome on this if you'd like.

Julie