Well... another one... - 1264492

dkm5859
Posts:89

First..thanks for all of your help, caring and information it was/is invaluable and greatly appreciated beyonds words that I can describe adequately. Thanks.

I hope you and your loved ones are well , becoming well and or will be well. My Mom has her scan this Monday and so far all of her scans have been very good. Of course..I hope this one and all of upcoming ones are very good as well. I hope all of yours will be very good as well. All of the scans are important obviously but this one seems very big and most likely it is..since.. if this one is clean she will go to long term monitoring of every six months...about a four hour drive to Penn early Monday morning!! Please take care and God bless. It makes for a very long day but without a doubt worth it so far. Thanks

Forums
Full Archive

Reply # - June 20, 2014, 04:19 PM

Dr West
Posts: 4735

Yes, the longer someone is doing well, the more likely it is that they'll continue to do well, so it's very common and reasonable to extend that interval as time goes by (6 months is about as far as I'll go).. And as prognosis only improves with each favorable scan, I definitely wish you good luck with her upcoming scan.

-Dr. West

Reply # - June 27, 2014, 03:16 PM

dkm5859
Posts: 89

We are very happy. Not sure how exactly but my Mom got another "clean, clear and free" scan as I call them. What exact combination of only/partly God's good grace, lucky, great medical care, knowledge, input and advice from many different people and of course the awesome very good, caring people on this site. I hope a very sincere thank you to you all and to God, Mother Nature and lady luck is sufficient.
We are blessed and humbled.I wish everyone the best and hopefully they might be able to have the same or a similar great outcome that we have had so far.
I hope my Mom , your loved ones and friends can be happy and in good health for a very long time. She does not go to a six month interval yet... they stretched it one more month for a four month interval...extra cautious I guess...?? What do you guys think about the four month interval rather than a four...her oncologist already had her at six months but her radiologist wanted three and now four month intervals? Take care and God bless.

Reply # - June 27, 2014, 05:27 PM

JimC
Posts: 2753

Such great news!! Congratulations to your Mom and to you and your family!

The scan interval really is just a matter of preference from one doctor to another. Personally, being a worrier I'd probably side with the radiologist and be conservative, opting for more frequent scans. But again, that's just the way I think and it would be perfectly reasonable to go to six months.

JimC
Forum moderator

Reply # - June 27, 2014, 08:17 PM

Dr West
Posts: 4735

First, congratulations. Though there are many factors involved in a good result, I always try to take credit to the extent that I possibly can.

There are no good data, so it's just a matter of judgment. I generally transition to every 6 months after the first year for follow-up of stage I and II, and by 18-24 months out for stage III NSCLC. But I don't follow firm rules, particularly for stage III, modulating based on the ambiguity of the scans and my perception of the degree of risk of the underlying cancer.

It might be more accurate to just characterize the recommendations as voodoo, with so little actual evidence to guide our surveillance protocols.

-Dr. West

Previous PostNext Post