Beliefs, Attitudes, and Evidence

Dukenuken,

While I haven’t been part of this group of CC survivors very long (I already consider myself a survivor, though it’s not been long since my surgery), I have already thought about frequent testing of some kind….even if it were a simple, abdominal ultrasound of the liver to look for any new growths (assuming they would show up). I’m concerned about having so many CT scans because of the cumulative radiation, but in the grand scheme of things and life with CC, I can see the need. I probably am going to push for an MRI inbetween CT scans, just for my own sanity, depending on how anxious I begin to feel. My blood tests never showed anything abnormal, right up to surgery Feb 28th, so it’s doubtful that blood tests will be any indicator of a returned disease state in my case. Even the CA 19-9 was smack in the middle of normal. My only symptom was a sudden drop in blood sugar (43) that I later found out was a sign of liver cancer. However, that didn’t happen until a week before the 4.3 cm tumor was found. I weigh the anxiety I already felt before my 6 week post op scan, worrying about whether the scan would show a new tumor., with the relief that came after the scan in finding no new tumors. I think I could live with CT scans every 3 months, which would give a length of time when I might be able to have some less anxiety prone time, not that CC will probably ever let me be free of anxiety.
I know that I”ll never be free from worry about this cancer, but knowing how aggressive it can be is enough to convince me that being ultra watchful for recurrence may be a good idea. It certainly has “my” attention with a return rate for ICC of upwards of 80%.